This document provides an overview of festivals and cuisines in Ghana and China. It describes several national day celebrations and festivals in each country, including their origins and traditions. For Ghana, festivals discussed include Bakatue, Akwasidae, Homowo and Kundum. For China, festivals mentioned are Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn Mooncake, Lantern and Qingming festivals. The document also gives brief introductions to sample cuisines from each country but does not provide details.

1. FESTIVALS AND CUISINES OF
GHANAAND CHINA
Written
by
ERNEST NII LARYEA AMARTEY (阿玛雷)
& SAMUEL KOFI ANAMOR (那莫)
of
China University of Mining & Technology
中国矿业大学
China Overview

2. CONTENTS
FESTIVALS AND CUISINES OF GHANAAND CHINA
NATIONAL DAY
CELEBRATION
1
FESTIVAL
CELEBRATIONS
2
SAMPLE
CUISINES
3

3. FESTIVALS AND CUISINES OF GHANAAND CHINA
中国
加纳

4.  Celebrated annually on 1 October as the national day of
 Commemorating the formal proclamation of the
establishment of the PRC
 The Chinese Communist Party victory in the Chinese
Civil War resulted in the Kuomintang retreat to Taiwan
and the Chinese Communist Revolution whereby the
PRC replaced the Republic of China
 The Independence Day is celebrated on March 6 every year
 Remembrance of the day that marks the declaration of
Ghanaian independence from the British colonial rule by
Kwame Nkrumah (first Prime Minister of Ghana) from
1957 to 1960
NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATION
Ghana People's Republic of China
(国庆节 guóqìng jié)

5. Bakatue Festival (Harvest festival)
 Celebrated by the chiefs and people of Elmina
 Observed on the first Tuesday in the month of July
 Beginning of the fishing season: “the draining of a lagoon”
 Paramount chief & entire state pray for peace and offer the
sacred festival food of eggs, mashed yam and palm oil to
Nana Brenya, the River god
Bakatue & Akwasidae of Ghana
Akwasidae Festival of the Ashanti Heritage
 “Akwasi” meaning Sunday and “Dae” meaning Rest
 To celebrate ancestral bonds and Spiritual renewal
Eto

6. Dragon Boat Festival Of China (端午节 duānwǔjié)
 Fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar
 To Commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan (c. 340-278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu during the
Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty
 Qu served in high offices-However, when the emperor decided to ally with the increasingly
powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance and even accused of treason
 28 years later, Qin captured Ying, the Chu capital, Qu Yuan committed suicide by
drowning himself in the Miluo River. The local people, who admired him, raced out in their
boats to save him, or at least retrieve his body
 When his body could not be found, they dropped balls of sticky rice into the
river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body (origin of Zongzi)

7.  Harvest festival celebrated by the Gas of Ghana
 Starts in the month of August with the planting of crops
(mainly maize and yam) before the rainy season starts
 Kpanlogo dance
 Reason
 To commemorate the famine that once happened in their
history in precolonial Ghana
 Homo - hunger, wo - hoot meaning “to hoot at hunger”
 Origin
The tradition of Homowo started with a period of hunger
leading to famine due to failure of the seasonal rains needed by
crops in the Greater Accra Region,
Homowo Festival (Hooting at Hunger)
Kpokpoi

8. Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (冬至 Dōngzhì)
 Held in the month of December every year
 This is the most famous festivals in China and is also called
Winter Solstice
 Is one of the most important Chinese festivals celebrated by the
Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong Chinese,
Overseas Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese and other
East Asian-related people during the Dongzhi solar term
 Time: between December 21 to December 23
 Is the making and eating of tangyuan (湯圓) balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize Reunion
 People (northern China) typically eat dumplings (originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty)
 Origin
 On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears
 Ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among
the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains
 Zhang named the dish “qùhán jiāoěr tang” (祛寒嬌耳湯) or dumpling soup that expels the cold

9.  Celebrated by the chiefs and people of Anlo in the Volta region
 Celebrated annually on the first Saturday in the month of
November
 Major Anlo towns
 Include Anloga (capital), Keta, Kedzi, Vodza, Whuti, Tegbi,
Dzita, Abor, Afiadenyigba, Anyako, Konu, Alakple, Tsito,
Atiavi, Deʋegodo, and many other villages
Origin
The name of the festival is derived from the Ewe language and
translates as, the festival of exodus or “coming from Hogbe (Notsie)”
 Southern Sudan Notsie Togo Ghana
Hogbetsotso Festival
Yakeyake Agbilikaklo
Agbaza

10. Chinese New Year or Spring Festival
(春节 Chūnjié)
 Celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and
solar Chinese calendar
 Marking the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season
 Take place from New Year’s Eve, the evening preceding the first day of the
year to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year
 Time: The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that
appears between 21 January and 20 February
 Is associated with several myths and customs
 The festival was Traditionally a time to honor deities as well as ancestors
 Families gather for the annual reunion dinner (Eve of new years day)
 Decoration of windows and doors with red paper-cuts and couplets
 Popular themes: good fortune or happiness, wealth, and longevity
 Other activities: lighting firecrackers & red envelopes with money
Spring couplets written by Qianlong Emperor of
Qing dynasty, now stored in The Palace Museum

11. Aboakyeri Festival
 “Hunting for game or animal” in the Fante dialect as spoken by the
people of the Central Region
 Origin
 The institution of the festival was to commemorate the migration of
Simpafo (traditional name given to the people of Winneba)
 The people migrated from the north-eastern African town of
Timbuktu in the ancient Western Sudan Empire to their present land
in the central coast of Ghana (Led by 2 brothers)
 They believed that a god, whom they called Otu, had protected them from all dangers during their migration and to show
their appreciation, the people consulted the custodian of the god, a traditional priest who acted as an intermediary
between the people and the god, to ask the god for its preferred sacrifice.
 The god asked for Human sacrifice (someone from the royal family)
 At a point they couldn’t continue with the human sacrifice, so they consulted the god (Bushback)

12. Hungry Ghost Festival, Zhongyuan Festival (中元节)
 Time
 15th day of the seventh lunar month
 Special customs regarding dead people and their ghosts that
are thousands of years old (Ancestors)
 The popular folk religion called Daoism includes days for
dealing with errant ghosts in the land
 They perform special ceremonies to avoid the wrath of the
ghosts such as putting the family’s ancestral tablets on a
table, burning incense, and preparing food three times that
day

13.  Celebrated by the chiefs and peoples of the Northern,
Savanna, North East and Upper West Regions of Ghana
 The name Damba in Dagbani, Damma in Mampruli and
Jingbenti in Waali
 The festival is celebrated in the Dagomba lunar month of
Damba, corresponding to the third month of the Islamic
calendar (Rabia al-Awwal)
 Damba is celebrated to mark the birth and naming of
Muhammad, but the actual content of the celebration is a
glorification of the chieftaincy, not specific Islamic motifs
The Damba Festival
Damba dance
Tuo-zaafi

14. Mid-Autumn Festival :Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival
 The history of the Mid-Autumn Festival dates back over 3,000 years
 Yi-Chang’e (elixir of immortality)
 Based on the legend of Chang’e, the Moon goddess in Chinese
mythology
 Time: 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar
with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September to early
October of the Gregorian calendar
 On this day, the Chinese believe that the Moon is at its brightest and
fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn
 Lanterns of all size and shapes, are carried and displayed- symbolic
beacons that light people's path to prosperity and good fortune
 Mooncakes, a rich pastry typically filled with sweet-bean, egg yolk,
meat or lotus-seed paste, are traditionally eaten during this festival

15.  Celebrated by the Ahanta or Nzema people of the Western region of Ghana
 It is celebrated to thank God for the abundance of food at the time of the harvest period
of the area
 Kundum is both a harvest and religious festival
 The start of the festival is based on the day the fruit of a certain palm tree became ripe
The Kundum Festival
 Origin
 According to oral history and folklore, the festival began when a hunter, Akpoley,
during an expedition, chanced upon some dwarves dancing in a circle
 After observing the dance, he returned to his town and
introduced it to his people
 The ritual dancing is associated with expelling the
devil and evil spirits from towns and villages
Akyeke Cassava

16. Lantern Festival (元宵节 Yuánxiāo jié)
 Shangyuan Festival (上元节; Shàngyuán jié)
 Celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar
Chinese calendar, during the full moon.
 Time: February or early March on the Gregorian calendar, it
marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year
celebrations
 Children go out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles
on the lanterns (猜灯谜; cāidēngmí)
 Trace back more than 2,000 years ago and is popularly linked to
the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han dynasty at the time when
Buddhism was growing in China
 Emperor Ming, an advocate of Buddhism, noticed Buddhist monks would light lanterns in temples on the fifteenth day of the
first lunar month. As a result, he ordered all households, temples and the imperial palace to light lanterns on that evening
 Origin

17. Qingming Festival: Tomb-Sweeping Day
 A traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han
Chinese of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau,
Taiwan and by the ethnic Chinese of Malaysia,
Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines,
Thailand, Vietnam and Panama
 This makes it the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, either
4, 5 or 6 April in a given year
 Origin
 Jie Zitui & Prince Chong’er /Duke Mu of Qin invaded Jin
 Has been observed for over 2,500 years
 Falls on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar
 Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors and make ritual
offerings. Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper.
The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one’ s ancestors in Chinese culture

18. Qixi Festival 七夕 Double Seven
 Is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of the cowherd and weaver girl in mythology
 The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month on the Chinese calenda
people celebrated for the romantic legend of two lovers, Zhinü and Niulang
 A traditional holiday that was named “China’s Valentine’s Day” recently

19. Chongyang Festival (Double Nine Festival)
 “Height Ascending Festival”
 Time
 The ninth day of the ninth lunar month
 Double Ninth may have originated as a day to drive away
danger, but like the Chinese New Year, over time it became a
day of celebration
 In contemporary times it is an occasion for hiking and
chrysanthemum appreciation
 Other activities
Include flying kites, making flower cakes, and welcoming
married daughters back home for visiting
 Eat Chongyang Gao; with “gao” meaning both Cake and
Height

20. Ghanaian Cuisines

21. Chinese Cuisines

22. 谢谢
Thanks