Adae Festival

The calendar and cycle

The Akan calendar sets Adae celebrations into a repeating six-week sequence, spanning forty-two days. Within each cycle, two distinct festival days take place: Akwasidae on a Sunday and Awukudae on a Wednesday. This pattern occurs nine times over the course of a year. The final gathering of the sequence, known as Adae Kese or the big Adae, matches the arrival of the New Year. During this ninth observance, the community offers gratitude to the gods and ancestors for the recent harvest. These established dates have remained constant since ancient times.

Eve of the festival

Preparations begin on the day before the main event, known as Dapaa, which typically falls on a Tuesday or a Sunday. Households thoroughly clean their homes and sweep the surrounding ground. As twilight arrives, the divine drummer approaches the residence of the chief to pay respects. Drumming continues outdoors from sunset deep into the night, accompanied by traditional chants and ceremonial melodies that signal the start of the sacred period of rest.

Sacred stool rituals

On the festival day, the chief consumes an unsalted meal of boiled plantain or yam, as spirits are believed to dislike salt. Accompanied by an entourage, the chief enters the room housing the sacred royal throne. Leftover food is scattered in the courtyard while a hand bell rings, calling ancestral spirits to partake in the meal. Attendants perform a sheep sacrifice and daub the blood onto the chief's chest and forehead. The queen mother then presents fufu paste prepared from yam or cassava. Rum is poured over the ceremonial seat, and attendees share the remainder.

Public courtyard gathering

Following the private rites, the chief sits formally in the open courtyard to receive the community. Gathering guests offer the traditional greeting of Adae morn. A court poet stands before the assembly to recite verses commemorating the brave actions and character of previous rulers. Horn players join the continuous beat of royal drums, maintaining musical performances late into the night. Offerings left on the ceremonial stool are gathered in the late evening, though portions of meat stay in place for longer.

How Adae Festival is kept

Celebrations open on the eve of Dapaa with house cleaning and nocturnal drumming outside the chief's home. On the festival morning, the chief eats an unsalted dish of yam or plantain before moving to the royal stool room. Leftover food is scattered for the ancestors amid bell ringing, a sheep is sacrificed, and the queen mother presents fufu. Rum is poured over the throne and shared. In the open courtyard, subjects greet the seated chief with Adae morn while court poets recite praise poetry and musicians play drums and horns late into the night.

When and where

Adae takes place every forty-two days across a six-week cycle, recurring nine times each year. Each cycle features Akwasidae on a Sunday and Awukudae on a Wednesday. The ninth celebration, Adae Kese, aligns with the Akan New Year and harvest.

This custom is observed throughout the Ashanti Region of Ghana, centred around the chief's courtyard and the sacred stool chambers of the Ashanti people.

What Adae Festival means

Adae translates to resting place, marking a sacred pause from work to honour heritage. The custom reaffirms the connection between the living, past chiefs, and spiritual protectors. Unsalted food respects ancestral tastes, while libations and stool offerings feed the spirits, sustaining harmony and inviting blessings for the harvest and community.

On the table

• yam
• plantain
• fufu
• cassava
• rum
• sheep

Questions people ask about Adae Festival

See also

Akwasidae FestivalA Sunday gathering of the Ashanti people to honour ancestors and the kingHomowoA harvest festival of the Ga people in Ghana to remember surviving famineDamba festivalA Ghanaian celebration of royal authority, ancestral memory, music and danceFetu AfahyeA harvest festival of cleansing, boat races and royal durbars in Cape Coast, Ghana

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Adae Festival on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• 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 2026-10-04.