Aboakyer festival

What it is

Aboakyer is a hunting festival kept by the Simpafo, the people of Winneba, a town on Ghana's central coast. The name comes from the Fante language and means hunting for game or animal. Each year the town keeps it on the first Saturday of May, and it counts as a major event in Ghana. Two Asafo companies, which are warrior groups, take part. Their task is to bring back a live bushbuck, a small antelope, which is then shown to the gathered people at a durbar, a formal assembly with drumming and speeches.

Origins and the shrine

According to the tradition told by the Simpafo, their ancestors travelled from Timbuktu, a town in the old Western Sudan Empire, to settle on the coast of what is now Ghana. Two brothers led the journey. The people served a god, and once they reached their new land they placed it at a spot called Penkye, after which it was known as Penkye Otu, to mark the final home of the god. Divination was used to ask the god to accept a different offering, because the people feared that offering up a member of the royal family would finally wipe out the royal house.

How it is kept

The answer given through divination, as the story is told, was a wildcat, to be carried alive to the shrine and then beheaded there. Hunters lost their lives trying to take the animal alive, so a second appeal was made. This time the god accepted a mature bushbuck. Since then two groups, Tuafo Asafo and Dentsifo Asafo, have carried the duty. On the morning of the festival they set out very early, with bare hands and no weapons, into a game reserve kept for the purpose. The group that catches a live bushbuck first brings it back for the durbar.

Stories and songs

Long before anything was written down, the account of the migration and the god was passed on by word of mouth. The Simpafo sang it in their war chants and told it as a story on moonlit nights, handing it to their descendants. This lasted until European colonisers arrived on the coast of the Gold Coast, bringing the English language with them. Scholars then wrote the story down, translating it out of Fante, the language spoken by the people of the Central Region, into English. The songs and the telling keep the memory of the journey alive for the town.

How Aboakyer festival is kept

On the first Saturday of May the two Asafo companies, Tuafo Asafo and Dentsifo Asafo, leave Winneba very early in the morning. They go to a game reserve used for the festival to find a live bushbuck, using no weapons and only their bare hands. The first group to catch one carries it back. Then the town gathers for a durbar, where the animal is presented to the people. It is a major event in Ghana.

When and where

Aboakyer is celebrated once a year, on the first Saturday of May. The hunting parties set out at dawn, and the presentation of the animal at the durbar follows later the same day. The date shifts within the first week of the month from year to year.

The festival belongs to Winneba, a town in Ghana's Central Region on the coast. According to the tradition of the Simpafo, their ancestors reached this land from Timbuktu, in the old Western Sudan Empire. The hunt is made in a game reserve kept for the purpose, and the offering is tied to Penkye, the place where the god was settled and took the name Penkye Otu.

What Aboakyer festival means

For the Simpafo, the festival carries the memory of where they came from and the bond between the town and the god who travelled with their ancestors. The hunt is a test of courage and skill, since the animal must be taken alive and without weapons. The change of offering, first from a royal life to a wildcat and then to a bushbuck, is told as a sign of the god's care for the people and for the royal house.

Aboakyer festival dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

Questions people ask about Aboakyer festival

See also

HomowoA harvest festival of the Ga people in Ghana to remember surviving famineDamba festivalA Ghanaian celebration of royal authority, ancestral memory, music and danceWorld Festival of Black ArtsA recurring month-long gathering of arts, music and writing from Africa and its diasporaHogbetsotso festivalAn Anlo Ewe festival in Anloga recalling an escape from Notsie

Good reading and sources

• Aboakyer festival on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.