Bakatue: Festival of Elmina - Part 2

Coming back from Bakatue gave us some courage. Every evening we the young boys and girls meet in the community center in the middle oft he village. Everybody wanted to hear more about the festival. One evening in the middle of the conversation an elderly man came to us and said: „You young guys haven’t seen anything, this is only few things you have witnessed. So stop feeling big with it! When I was young do you know by what time we have to get up and hit the road to Elmina to the Bakatue. Thank God the road is now a bit better. We have to find our own way through the forest and bush. We have to leave about 2 o’clock in the morning. In that night we saw a lot of wild animals and scarry things and sounds of the forest. We needed to arrive early around 4.30 in Elmina, so that the people there will not see us coming from the bush. In those days our warrior team, the Asafo Wombir and Ankobea, was very strong and powerful. If they meet you feel the real power challenge among them. What have you guys seen? Specially on the evening when the traditional priests danced I have seen much stronger and powerful priests, then what you are talking about now.“

Then one of us jumped in and said: „ we have also seen a priest which was in trance and performing very strong and powerful!“

Another old man came in and shut up the elderly person who came in first. He was then asking the elderly man: „And you! How old are you? And what have you seen in that time?“

It seemed that we have digged a history, which we didn’t intentional wanted to scratch. The old man started to call the names of the warriors and powerful priests of Eguafo, who have past away. He spoke about how powerful they were and what they did to demonstrate their power. The proverbs they are using in their worrier songs, the drumming rhythms and the gunshots were giving a very strong message to the people of Elmina already before they arrived.

Another old man, who was a palmwine seller, came in and also told us his story. He was telling us about the way he went with his palmwine through the bush for many hours to bring his wine to the festival for a special ritual. He meet the priests who were taking part on the evening dance, sat down with them and conversed. In the moment they stepped into the marked dancing field, their personalty changed completely. He said:“ I remembered one priest. I sat so close to him, we talked for hours and I could watch into his eyes. When he entered the dancing field and sat on his stool, in that moment he changed and I was so scarred. I could not watch into his eyes anymore. So in those olden time, Bakatue was so powerful. The traditional priests music, the akom, was so powerful that the pusuban was shaking.“

I came in and said: „ We also saw some very strong priests. This is my first time I witnessed this dance and I can feel the place so strong. I was so scarred, that I didn’t move an inch untill they closed. I was inside the mood of the music and the dance so much that I didn’t realised any tiredness nor the feeling for the time, which hs pasted by. Only when they closed and people started to walk away I came back to my normal condition. I think for me this was very powerful and a special experience.

Then one linguist came in and called me by my name: „ Kofi Mensah, you are still young. In the time it was so hard to get a vehical to Elmina, we have to bring the special items to the elders in Elmina who are doing the rituals for Bakatue. For us not to be late, we didn’t wait for any vehical, we also hit the same road. And if we are performing the oracle for Saturday, do you know how heavy it is to stand among the ritual celebrations? But – oh – not everything we can speak about.“

So in this evening, through us we dig into history, which I never knew before. I felt proud about Eguafo and my ancestors. I realized that Nana Kwamena Ansah I, the founder of Elmina came from Eguafo.

As our family moved to Accra I made sure that I will go to Bakatue every year.

When I joined the cultural group, I was always remembering the festival activities in Eguafo and Elmina and taught them some of the songs from there. The group playes a lot of those songs from Elmina and Eguafo till today.

Soon part 3 will follow...

Peter Donkor