Preparations for 17th annual Ngmayem festival underway
Activities towards the celebration of the 17th Ngmayem Festival of the people of Manya Jorpanya and Dodowa are in full swing, with the citizens of the area arriving at Manya Jorpanya and Dodowa to begin the week-long celebration.
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Ngmayem is the Dangme word for millet, and the festival is celebrated every year to remember a period of drought and hunger followed by abundant rains that led to a bountiful harvest of millet.
The abundant rains and harvest happened after the ancestors of the area had offered prayers to the gods. The festival, which is for the Shai people, was originated by the people of Manya Jorpanya.
There is a tradition that after the people of Manya Jorpanya have celebrated the festival, the people of Dodowa would take their turn to celebrate the event and it would be followed by other towns within the traditional area.
Explaining the history of the festival in an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Divisional Chief of Manya and Senior Asafoatse of the Shai State, Dr Nene Tei Djahene Korabo IV, said the festival was etched in the exodus of his people from Israel to their abode in the Shai Hills.
Exodus from Israel
The Shai people, he said, originated from Israel and in the course of their migration to their present-day abode, they encountered a severe drought which culminated in an extreme famine for a considerable period of time.
During the period, he recounted, many lives were lost and in their desperation, prayers and sacrifices were made to the NADU Shrine.
He stated that unimpeachable oral traditions handed down from generations indicated that the gods of the shrine responded and sent abundant rain that culminated in bounty harvest of millet such that they lacked storage capacity.
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To celebrate the occasion and to hoot at hunger, the festival was marked as an annual celebration that takes place from the third week of the ninth month (September) of every year.
As part of the customs that are observed prior to the start of the festival at the NADU Shrine, millet is sprinkled to indicate an abundance of food and to hoot at scarcity and lack.
Explaining why some of the tribes had to leave the Shai Hills to the mainland, he said in 1890, the then Gold Coast administration asked the Shai people to leave the hills for the mainland.
Nene Korabo IV said while the majority of the people protested and were unwilling to resettle, the custodians of the NADU Shrine did not want to get caught in any scuffle that would involve a desecration of the shrine. Consequently, the people decided to find a new location for the shrine, which prompted them to move to their current location.
Theme for celebration
For this year’s celebration, he said the chosen theme was: “Promoting Culture and Education in Peace for Development”.
Elaborating on the theme, he said the chiefs and people of the area had development as their main pre-occupation and while striving for development, the rich culture of the people as well as education ought to be prime.
“We cannot afford to leave our culture behind as we strive to educate our children. Whatever education we give them must be embedded in the rudiments of our culture. We cannot have a kind of development that has no regard for our culture,” he explained.
He added that peace was the enabling environment that ensured that all the human cravings were achieved and “that is why we are also placing an emphasis on peace”.
Programme of activities
Nene Korabo IV said the week-long programme would begin with all citizens arriving on September 21, 2015 followed by a communal labour the next day.
On Wednesday, he said, the dead would be remembered while a journey would be embarked on to their ancestral home in the Shai Hills on Thursday. He said there would be games and free medical screening by staff of the Narh Bita Hospital on Friday and a grand durbar on Saturday.
Sunday will be for a church service, with a picnic on Monday to climax the celebrations. Nene Korabo IV, therefore, entreated all Ghanaians and foreigners alike to patronise the festival and be part of reliving the history of the famed Shai people.