General News of Wednesday, 19 July 2017
Source: Ghana News Agency
2017-07-19
Kpone celebrates Kplejoo festival
The chiefs and people of Kpone in the Kpone-Katamanso District, have celebrated their annual Kplejoo festival to usher in the 2017 Homowo festival which is slated for August, this year.
This year’s celebration followed its resumption in 2016 after a 15 year break due to chieftaincy disputes in the area.
The youth of the area and traditional leaders who were resplendent in their traditional attire with hyssops around their necks, participated in the colourful ceremony while some residents and visitors thronged the streets to admire the culture on display.
Performing the Kplejoo customs, Nii Tetteh Otu II, Paramount Chief of Kpone, accompanied by his sub-chiefs and the traditional authorities, paid homage to the town’s main deity.
They further visited the lesser deities located at various places along the town’s shoreline to seek for guidance, protection and blessing for the traditional year as well as to perform the needed rituals to pave way for the Homowo festival.
As part of the customs, the Paramount chief, sub-chiefs and other traditional leaders avail themselves to be accessed and criticized by residents especially the youth for activities they undertook during the past traditional year.
The various youth groups do this through the composition of special songs that have lyrics which either criticize or praise the activities of the traditional leaders.
They also use the songs to shame prominent natives who had engaged in unacceptable activities during the year in question.
