Ada Asafotufiami - Warriors March to Sacred Forest

Описание: Ada Asafotufiami Festival, the welcome of brave soldiers and war heroes back home.

In the first week of every year in August, the Chiefs and people of Ada celebrates their Asafotufiami Festival.

The 2023 edition started on Monday 31st July and will climax on Wednesday 9th August.

The Asafotufiami festival is very significant to people from Ada, history has it that, the Ada’s were involved in a lot of wars between 1750 to 1876. They fought in the Katamanso War of 1826, The Battle of Nonobe in 1750 and many other significant wars including the Anlo invasion in 1770.

After successful weaving through these battles, the Chiefs and people of Ada gained hold of their present territory and has since lived there for centuries.

During the time of unrest and attacks from other neighboring tribes, after a successful war, the warriors are welcomed back home with some rituals and the most notable of them was the washing of feet and firing of their muskets. Those rituals gave birth to the Ada Asafotufiami Festival we’ve all come to know.

As there were no wars in the early 1900s, the Chiefs and people of Ada successfully transitioned the jubilant welcoming of warriors into one of the biggest traditional festivals in Africa.

The present Asafotufiami festival as I witnessed from Friday, 4th to Sunday, 6th August is a proud moment for me firstly as an Adangbe and also as someone who loves to learn from experience.

I witnessed the warriors dressed in traditional battle attire and stage a mock battle as they initiate young men to warfare whom membership are acquired through matrilineal lineage.

Big Ada was flooded with these warriors clad with leaves and palm branches signifying conquering heroes returning from the war fronts amid firing of musketry and war cries.

They also sang and danced until about 3:00PM when they began ‘Kpomkpo-Panya’.
‘Kpomkpo- Panya’ is the place which served as the departing point for warriors going to wars as well as the landing point for soldiers returning from wars.

The warriors known in Dangbe as ‘Asafo’ fired their muskets and then washed their feet, hands and faces in the river. This symbolizes washing away of all evil and bad omens of the past year and looking forward to better years ahead.