If
I had her contact I would have been in touch with Ghanaian actress Juliet
Ibrahim to clarify a picture post I saw on facebook by a friend who called it
‘Beautiful Halloween’. This was in November last year; apparently the Ace
actress Juliet Ibrahim organized a Halloween Fancy dress for Celebrity, better
still Fashion of Halloween in Ghana. Fashion of Halloween? This was attended by
a large number of Ghanaians at the Aphrodisiac Night Club on November 2 2012.
Halloween, a yearly celebration
observed in a number of countries on 31st October with Pagan roots,
particularly the Celtic Samhain. Samhain (pronounced
Sah-ween) had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of
the dead, which is in line with Origin of jack-o-lanterns etc. The Celtics
divided the year by four major holidays of the year. According to their
calendar, 1st November began the year and marked the beginning of
winter. Became the biggest holidays of the year were the souls of men who died
the previous years are invited to mingle with the living. Samhain became
Halloween when the Christians Missionaries attempted to change the religious
practices of the people. So I
ask, do the people now celebrating Halloween in Africa and Ghana my Motherland
know this? I honestly believed that,
most Ghanaians were lay on the Halloween concept…guess I was just wrong,
because the Fashion Of Halloween was attended in Grand style signifying that people even
understood it, hence their large presence at the Aphrodisiac night club.
On 31st Oct every year,
sidewalks are swarming with excited children masquerading as every imaginable
creature and character. There is batman, the Joker, witches, devils, ghosts,
skeletons. These kids move from door-to-door shouting “trick or treat” hoping
to gather tons of candies before morning sets. I haven’t experienced or seen a
Halloween night before, however I know children always get missing.
Moving straight to my analysis, is it
our same Ghana who is against witchcraft and witches as it is evident in our
Gambaga witches Village up North where accused witches are camped? Isn’t it our
same Ghana that we all never wished to be branded a “witch” due to the Social
Construct of our Backgrounds?
So why do we now have to adopt
Halloween? Is it because it is a Foreign Export into our Continent and Country?
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| image from last years halloween |
Well, imagine Halloween had an
African descent, an African background, an African history; let’s just imagine
Halloween emanated from an African country like Rwanda, would the remaining
African Countries buy into it? I Doubt. I am sure parents would say….What! Why should I
allow my kid to dress like a witch? Why would I have to buy my kids Ghost
Garments? Why should I have to allow my kid to some event I know she could possibly
get missing? Why should I allow my kids or friends go to a neighbor and
request/beg for food/candies as if I cannot provide them with such. I am very
sure such questions would have been raised if Halloween had an African descent.
So why are we not asking such questions now? Is it because Halloween is from
the whites? So we easily have to copy blindly?
These assertions are useless and of
no sense if we Africans for that matter, Ghanaians cannot be real and original.
So long as we have acted on our thoughts of
wearing ghoulish and some fancy dresses to celebrate Halloween, we
should also have to release our witches and have fun with them if we do not see
Halloween as an event of entertaining and welcoming Witchcraft.
Many
Ghanaians like many Africans genuinely fear witches, old men and women who are
said to cause all kinds of calamities and
misfortunes from infertility to impotence, poverty to death, accidents to
deformities and so on…of which suspicion fuel the accusation which are often
supported by nothing more concrete than just a dream. In the Gambaga witch camp,
women who are convicted of witchcraft are banished from their village and
sentenced to a life-time of loneliness.
Why
won’t we as Ghanaians and Africans wake up from this eye-blinder canker- culture
of believing, accepting and adapting foreign Cultures? When would we stand up
against our disbeliefs and speak out our minds and act on it with confidence.
It is best we take a critical stance as to the compromisation of our African
principles and values. We import too much of infiltrated cultures into our
society which makes us a ‘confused people’.
I
can speak with much confidence that if Halloween is to be entertained coming
October, it is going to be much bigger and better than last years’…if it really
ends up like that, then directly or indirectly Halloween has fully gained grounds in my Motherland and on our African
Continent. It is absurd to realize how we won’t copy things that would make us
grow as a nation but with the unnecessary issues and event, people call...
“Entertainment and fun”. I could
understand that such events help raise funds for projects; however, we have to
take the aftermath into considerations. We have now adopted western marriages,
westernized fashion trends (thank God we have been conscientised about our
African Prints), and our Educational structure in Ghana is deficient because we
have refused to adopt an educational model that fits the nature of our country.
It’s
high time we practically frown on some values and concepts imported in our
country, in as much as we are trying our very best to close our borders on
material and physical goods. I personally do not wish to see Halloween extend
its wings and legs in Ghana and in Africa.
Halloween cannot fall in love with Ghana,
Halloween cannot capture Ghana
Halloween should not win Ghana and
Africa!!
