Three Categories Of Festivals

2.3 Categories of Festivals
Festivals have been categorised into various forms depending upon the perspective of the writer, his research and academic orientation and interests.
Opoku (1970) basically groups annual festivals in Ghana into two categories. These are harvest festivals and festivals for the dead. Striking examples of harvest festivals in Ghana are the Yam festival of Asogli, the Homowo of the Ga, Bakatue of the Edena, Kundum of Ahanta and Nzema, to mention a few. Then festivals such as Adae of the Akan mark the period of remembering the dead.
Perhaps a more complex categories of festivals has been given by Mbiti (1990) who opines that in the life of the communities, there are harvest festivals, planting festivals, hunting and

The Hogbetsotso celebrated by the Anlo in Ghana is a typical example of such festivals. Bame agrees with Opoku (1970) that there is the harvest aspect of festivals and the commemorative aspects of festivals which he called festivals for remembering dead relatives. He however added a third for the gods of the land. Bame further elaborates that during harvest festivals, the participating members of a community or ethnic groups sacrifice or offer first fruits of yam and other crops to the Supreme Being, spirits and gods. He, however, describes the second category of festivals as festivals whose central focus is characterized by activities aimed at honouring the memory of the dead and giving of offerings to the gods and ancestor spirits for the harvest as well as future well-being of participants. Bame explained that the third type of festival is simply “the festivals for the gods” and these are festivals celebrated annually in honour of specific spirits or gods that serve as protectors of the society. Example is the Apoo festival celebrated by the people of Wenchi and in the Brong-Ahafo Region to honour “Ntoa” their protective gods.
According to Chachah (1999), festivals are of two major types namely: harvest festivals and festivals in memory of ancestors and past leaders. He further

They are mostly Akan. Odwira is an Akan word which means purification and cleansing. Before the celebration of the actual festival, a period of forty days is declared for meditation and rest. This period is known as “Adaabutuw”. During Adaabutuw all the ancestors are expected to rest and are not to be disturbed in any way. Peace and calm is expected to prevail in the whole traditional area and therefore, a ban is placed on the making of noise. The meditation period enables the participants to prepare themselves spiritually so that they can perform their religious duties well (Amoako, 2001). The celebration period for Odwira is one