Trip to Togo
I returned from Togo last night. I attended the Eke-Ekpe festival in Glidji, Togo with Jessie and his mom. I saw things that I never thought I would see in my life with these eyes. I had to eat and drink strange things. I had to walk barefoot for miles and cover myself with African cloth. I had to dance in traditional ceremony and offer coins to too many ‘spirits’ that were in ‘possession’ of a human body. I was bathed by priests and holy men. Oh this festival was too much!
There were hundreds of important spiritual leaders of the voudou religion. Their headdress indicated their status, so I was prevented from wearing a hat the entire time there.
I also was prevented from wearing shoes or a shirt most of the time. I stayed at the home of an important leader of the village, and it was a great honor. It was like the Hajj for voudou, and people were sleeping everywhere. People with powdered faces are ‘posessed’. A simple white headdress means you have some important connection to the gods. There was so much symbolism.
The President of Benin attended the festival one afternoon. That was the main day of this days-long event. Among the thousands of people that had descended into this small village near the Benin border in south-eastern Togo, there were a lot of whites. But only a few besides me were staying with Africans and wearing traditional dress, and most departed that same afternoon. The whites and other dignitaries sat in a shaded bleacher area, but because of my dress (African cloth with no shoes or shirt or hat), I had access to a lot of areas that most of the whites were prevented from entering.
This main ceremony lasted all day and involved singing and dancing and speeches before the main presentation. There were lots of video cameras, and it seemed like a big media event too (for Togo). Yes, I snoozed some during the speeches. The picture of Jessie and me is from that afternoon. There was nothing unusual about our dress at all, as you saw many men in such dress.While some of the whites and the military officers did look at me oddly
The main presentation was the presentation of a stone, bigger than a hen’s egg, but smaller than an ostrich egg. Everyone was overwhelmed when this stone was presented and pandemonium erupted. All the cameras were fighting to get a photo of the stone, which from where I was seated, looked like a big bar of Irish Spring soap. Apparently a sacred stone is presented at this festival each year. Each year the stone is a different color and location where the stones are obtained is a sacred, unknown location.
This festival also involved a lot of prayer. Yes, I attended prayer. At 3AM on the 2nd day, we had to rise and walk, barefoot of course, to an area of altars. I knelt in the dirt and prayed to closed doors, pressed my head to a wall and prayed more, knelt at a few more traditional altars, and then finally walked to a grove of trees to offer more prayer – all in the dark and twilight of the morning, barefoot.
.JPG)
The next day, we returned to this area and our host presented us to the big spiritual man. He was the only person wearing such a hat, and he accepted our offering of a bottle of schnapps and a bottle of Lion Killer soda. He and his entourage took us into the grove of trees and he offered our refreshments to the trees while all in the group were blessing us.
We then were taken to a sacred bathing area behind the trees. There were 6 men there who took our clothes. First the bottoms of our feet and the palm of our hands were held over a smoldering pot of some burning roots. Then we had to kneel on a special stone and be bathed by the men. Then the priest at the bath put a necklace of some scented vine around our necks while we were pronounced blessed and clean. Our host gave each of us a set of rings to wear for African power. One of Jessie’s is supposed to keep him safe while driving. One of mine is supposed to be warning me of danger when it feels hot.
On the way back to Ghana, at the border, it took me forever to cross. I have steadfastly refused to give up a ‘tip’ when presented with a hassle, so it is a long wait for me. Jessie just hands out a small ‘tip’ whenever anyone stops him with any question at all, and he quickly is ushered onwards. For the first time ever, I was required to show my vaccination certificate. It is required to have, but no one has ever asked to see it. So to be asked to present this document at the border was simply an effort to catch me unprepared and force a ‘tip’ from me. Then one of the Ghana immigration officers that examined my passport kept insisting that my visa to enter Ghana had expired. I had to show her many times that the visa had not expired before she finally let me pass. When I finally arrived on the other side, Jessie’s mom was annoyed that it took me so long to get across the border. She had been waiting in the hot sun for some time.
I will upload more photos when I find some bandwidth.
Steve
www.EasyTrackGhana.com
There were hundreds of important spiritual leaders of the voudou religion. Their headdress indicated their status, so I was prevented from wearing a hat the entire time there.
I also was prevented from wearing shoes or a shirt most of the time. I stayed at the home of an important leader of the village, and it was a great honor. It was like the Hajj for voudou, and people were sleeping everywhere. People with powdered faces are ‘posessed’. A simple white headdress means you have some important connection to the gods. There was so much symbolism.
The President of Benin attended the festival one afternoon. That was the main day of this days-long event. Among the thousands of people that had descended into this small village near the Benin border in south-eastern Togo, there were a lot of whites. But only a few besides me were staying with Africans and wearing traditional dress, and most departed that same afternoon. The whites and other dignitaries sat in a shaded bleacher area, but because of my dress (African cloth with no shoes or shirt or hat), I had access to a lot of areas that most of the whites were prevented from entering.
This main ceremony lasted all day and involved singing and dancing and speeches before the main presentation. There were lots of video cameras, and it seemed like a big media event too (for Togo). Yes, I snoozed some during the speeches. The picture of Jessie and me is from that afternoon. There was nothing unusual about our dress at all, as you saw many men in such dress.While some of the whites and the military officers did look at me oddly
The main presentation was the presentation of a stone, bigger than a hen’s egg, but smaller than an ostrich egg. Everyone was overwhelmed when this stone was presented and pandemonium erupted. All the cameras were fighting to get a photo of the stone, which from where I was seated, looked like a big bar of Irish Spring soap. Apparently a sacred stone is presented at this festival each year. Each year the stone is a different color and location where the stones are obtained is a sacred, unknown location.
This festival also involved a lot of prayer. Yes, I attended prayer. At 3AM on the 2nd day, we had to rise and walk, barefoot of course, to an area of altars. I knelt in the dirt and prayed to closed doors, pressed my head to a wall and prayed more, knelt at a few more traditional altars, and then finally walked to a grove of trees to offer more prayer – all in the dark and twilight of the morning, barefoot.
.JPG)
The next day, we returned to this area and our host presented us to the big spiritual man. He was the only person wearing such a hat, and he accepted our offering of a bottle of schnapps and a bottle of Lion Killer soda. He and his entourage took us into the grove of trees and he offered our refreshments to the trees while all in the group were blessing us.
We then were taken to a sacred bathing area behind the trees. There were 6 men there who took our clothes. First the bottoms of our feet and the palm of our hands were held over a smoldering pot of some burning roots. Then we had to kneel on a special stone and be bathed by the men. Then the priest at the bath put a necklace of some scented vine around our necks while we were pronounced blessed and clean. Our host gave each of us a set of rings to wear for African power. One of Jessie’s is supposed to keep him safe while driving. One of mine is supposed to be warning me of danger when it feels hot.
On the way back to Ghana, at the border, it took me forever to cross. I have steadfastly refused to give up a ‘tip’ when presented with a hassle, so it is a long wait for me. Jessie just hands out a small ‘tip’ whenever anyone stops him with any question at all, and he quickly is ushered onwards. For the first time ever, I was required to show my vaccination certificate. It is required to have, but no one has ever asked to see it. So to be asked to present this document at the border was simply an effort to catch me unprepared and force a ‘tip’ from me. Then one of the Ghana immigration officers that examined my passport kept insisting that my visa to enter Ghana had expired. I had to show her many times that the visa had not expired before she finally let me pass. When I finally arrived on the other side, Jessie’s mom was annoyed that it took me so long to get across the border. She had been waiting in the hot sun for some time.
I will upload more photos when I find some bandwidth.
Steve
www.EasyTrackGhana.com
posted by Easy Track Ghana at 7:20 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home