Ghana is beloved, so it is celebrated every day in various ways.
On March 6, 2023, Ghana’s Independence Day was celebrated. It has been 66 years since Ghanaians gained independence from the British in 1957. This was when the Pan-African movement succeed in their fight for freedom. According to Stanford University, Kwame Nkrumah was a Pan-African organizer and the first prime minister of Ghana who was audacious and brave to have a dream and push the dream that helped lead the country of Ghana to liberation in 1957. Ghana was the first nation in Sub-Saharan Africa to be free. This sparked a movement for other countries in the African continent to fight for liberation.
According to several TikToks, Ghana has a national annual holiday parade, and the biggest one is in Ho, Ghana in the Volta Region. This celebration is for the domestic Ghanaians and Ghanaians that are international and are a part of the Ghanaian diaspora. There are lesser-known celebrations that are celebrated across the sixteen regions of Ghana. It was celebrated in Cape Coast, Kumasi, Accra, the capital, and more.
Over the years, the celebrations for Ghana’s Independence have been nuanced, but my family does not just celebrate Ghana’s Independence on March 6th, but many days throughout the year if not every day. My family loves to do block parties in front of my mom’s block of her grocery store and restaurant in New York City, specifically in the Bronx, New York. Traditionally, my mom will cook food, bring shrimp and goat meat kabobs for people to devour in seconds.
I have done my own celebration with my cousins where we have brought food from my mom’s restaurant and danced to old highlife songs, dancehall, and afrobeat, as it is called now. As stated in Pan African Music, Afrobeat is coined by DJ Abrantee, a Ghanaian based in Britain. He packaged the songs into the genre “Afrobeat” to be palatable to British audiences. My family hosted my brother’s 16th birthday in a hall owned by my mom which celebrated Ghanaian culture at its core. My mother and I, as a sibling tribe, had Kente print within our traditional Ghanaian garb that matched the color of my brother’s orange suit and his casual blue kente-lined shirts that matched his court filled with childhood friends.
For my 16th birthday, I dressed in traditional garb. I did a photoshoot with my cousins with jewelry wrapped around my forehead. I had jewelry that fit the middle of my arm, on both arms. I have bracelets around my wrists as well as ankle bracelets. My family prayed for me on the day after Christmas. At my cousin’s wedding, which was about two years ago, she and her husband had both a traditional Ghanaian wedding and a traditional Westernized American white (dress) wedding.
FourEyes filmed their wedding. They had it at Sanbra Hall in the Bronx, New York, my mother’s hall. There was a hashtag. It was #AsampongAllAlong. It was a three-day weekend which is part of a Ghanaian tradition. For the wedding of my older cousin, the first day was strictly for the Ghanaian culture. The fiancés were wearing traditional Kente cloth. The bridal side used the same silver sparkly cloth. The maternal side of the bride used the same purple cloth. She wore a Kaba and slit which is a top and skirt that had encrusted jewels on it perfectly crafted to her with rich pink kente. That was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
Additionally, there was a dance at the beginning of a rendition of the Adwoa dance. There is a dowry or bride price which is the list for the engagement which is jewelry, money, clothes, and more for the bride’s family. This was done at my older cousin’s wedding. It was metaphorical and symbolic of a sacred tradition of the past. It was paying ode and respect to the culture that my family and I were raised in.
Here is the video of the traditional Ghanaian wedding which is a facet of celebrating Ghanaian culture and commemorated how Ghanaians treasure liberation. Joy. That is pure joy and a sense of peace. This is a prime example of a Ghana independence celebration even if it is not on Ghana Independence Day.
On TikTok, people today of the younger generations celebrate in different ways with photoshoots, parties, and high school celebrations. There are countless ways to celebrate Ghana’s independence and for Ghanaians and anyone who supports the culture, it is not only on March 6, but anyway that one can honor the wildest dreams of the ancestors that pictured something great, that is what is appreciated.