Reason for KpoKpoi sprinkling during Homowo
The sprinkling of “Kpokpoi" or “Kpekple” during the celebration of Homowo is significant in many ways. Its spiritual significance cannot be underestimated.
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Kpokpoi, a maize meal eaten by Gas essentially during the celebration of their Homowo festival, is prepared with the primary ingredients of steamed and fermented corn meal, palm nut soup and smoked fish.
The Gas believe that the activity promotes communion between the living, the dead, and the ancestral spirits.
The people also believe that as human beings eat, the spirits and the dead should not be left to their fate, because it is through their benevolence and that of Ataa Naa Nyɔŋmɔ (masculine and feminine attributes of God) that there is bumper harvest.
The sprinkling of the kpokpoi is done by chiefs and elders of the various communities, heads of ancestral homes as well as Wulomei, all of them within specific jurisdictions. The ultimate sprinkling is done by the Ga Mantse who sprinkles in the 21 houses that form the Ga stool.
History
Narrating the historical background to the sprinkling of the food and its linkage to the Homowo festival, Nii Kwardey Ntreh from the office of the Ga Mantse, told the Daily Graphic that the sprinkling of the festal dish had been with the Ga people, who migrated from Cush in modern day Egypt to their current place in Ghana.
Kpokpoi and palmnut soup
He said while the Gas were migrating from Cush (Egypt) they were struck with hunger and many people died.
“So after sometime, they settled and set up farms, and during the harvest, they hooted at hunger. So Homowo means hooting at hunger. You know, with the Gas, when you hoot at something, it means you detest or hate it,” he explained.
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Homowo, which is celebrated annually between August and September, is to commemorate that day when hunger was defeated, hooted at, and ridiculed.
This year's celebration at Ga Mashie was climaxed last Saturday, August 10, 2024.
Movement
Nii Ntreh explained that the Gas migrated from Cush to Sudan, Ethiopia, Ile Ife in Nigeria, Benin, Togo and to communities dotted along the coast from Ga Mashie all the way to Ada.
“Written history about the Gas dates as far back as 1600, but the actual migration started long before that. Because we went through many places, and in fact, at a point, the families separated.
“It is the reason we arrived differently and at different times. Others came and settled at Ga Mashie, La, Nungua, and the rest,” Mr Ntreh further explained.
The food is prepared with white corn, palm nut soup with a particular smoked fish known as “Tsile" (red sunbeam fish). Kpokpoi used to be prepared with millet. However, corn serves the same purpose.
Explaining how it is prepared, Mr Ntreh said corn is soaked in water for just a day. But first, the SooBii (Thursday people) bring the dry corn from their respective villages to Ga Mashie on Thursday before the Homowo celebration.
He said in the evening, the corn is soaked in water then on Friday, at sunset, it is taken to the mill. The corn flour is brought home and spread for the heat to evaporate.
Mr Ntreh said the corn flour is not allowed to ferment so it becomes unleavened corn.
“And this is one of the justifications of saying we are from Israel. The Jewish tradition of the manna which is eaten the same day used to be the case with the Ga people," he added.
Mr Ntreh stressed that Gas “believe the spirits, are still with us. We call them our ancestral fathers. During sprinkling, we are communing with them. We sprinkle all around. It's a day that we celebrate happiness with the departed fathers, and the spirits as well.”
He appealed to Gas, particularly the youth, to visit home to “re-establish the link with our elders.
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“This is our festival. This is who we are. The festival is all about bringing people together. It's about mending broken bridges. It's a house cleaning exercise to do away with all negatives.
We should all visit our ancestral homes and re-establish the link with our elders, so they can pass on the tradition and history to us,” Mr Ntreh further advised.