People and Places: Soobii Homowo Homecoming
As part of activities heralding the annual Ga Homowo festival, the people of Ga Mashie in Accra have a homecoming event dubbed the Soobii Homecoming.
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This is a joyous occasion that welcomes Ga people from rural areas who return to Accra to join their families and loved ones for the festivities.
The event symbolises the unity and connection among the Ga people from the rural communities and the city dwellers, as they come together to celebrate their heritage and traditions.
It is a time for reunion and merrymaking, setting the tone for the Homowo festival which commemorates the harvest season and the liberation of the Ga people from famine.
‘Soobii’ in the Ga language literally translates to ‘Thursday people’– Soo (Thursday), bii (people). Though it may also mean people born on Thursday, the term usually refers to the rural folks who arrive on Thursday to join the celebrations which climax on Saturday.
The rural areas in Accra, particularly in the western part of the Greater Accra Region, include Afuaman, Kwashikuma, Okushibiade, Kojo Ashong and Doblo.
History has it that the Ga people settled at Ayawaso which used to be the capital of Accra. However, the capital was conquered in the 1600s during a war between the Gas and the Akwamus.
The Gas were displaced after the war, causing many to relocate to other areas away from the coast, some as far as to the Volta Region.
Every year, during Homowo, the rural folks, known as the koomlibii (village folks), return to celebrate the festival with their urban relatives (manbii). They bring with them produce from their farms, which are added to the fish harvested from the coast for the celebrations.
On day, the rural folks, clad in their traditional wear, are met by the Asafo groups at Nkponor, adjacent Agbogbloshie, amidst drumming, dancing and cheering from the town folks.
They carry foodstuff, made of mainly corn, palm fruit, palm oil, assorted fruits and vegetables, as well as lanterns and personal belongings as they are led in a procession to Bukom in Jamestown, where they are met by some divisional chiefs and queen mothers.
The homecoming ceremony attracts hundreds of people from all walks of life to Ga Mashie in the first week of August.