akropong & the odwira festival

well, these pictures are chronologically backwards. week before last we were gone up to akropong to attend the odwira festival. we stayed at the akrofi christaller institute once again, and their staff held sessions with us where we learned all about the history and rituals in the odwira festival. basically, odwira is a cleansing festival which culminates with the start of the new year, according to the traditional calendar. we spent many hours just sitting in the palace waiting for events to begin, some of which included traditional dancing (in which each dance move carried a message or meaning), a processional of offerings carried to the ancestors in the mausoleum, a parade of chiefs, many different libations, and a goat sacrifice. the photo above is from the last day of the trip, when we went hiking in shai hills.

great view from the summit of our hike

creepy-crawly wildlife...

this area has many baboons, and the were not shy- they came right up to us and picked at all our banana peelings

some of our group walking through akropong to dinner
(dont worry, that hand-holding is entirely *agape*)

especially towards the end of the week, the small town of akropong was alive with the celebration. a few nights some of us walked around to talk with people and check out the revelry. i cannot describe how much alcohol was brought into town for the festival. interestingly enough, the people out and about, dancing in the streets were nearly all men. i counted less than 10 women. so, on the main "party" night we agreed it would be best not to go walking around- we didnt want to tempt disaster. i did appreciate having the akrofi staff there to walk us through all the aspects of the festival- i comprehend much more now than i ever would just as an observer.

today we had a class canceled so al our classes were done by lunch. arent those great days? with my free time i explored the library. i absolutely love libraries, and i checked out some things (as if i needed more to read), but i had a hard time spotting any books which looked more recent than the 1970's. so that made me kind of sad. yet another privilege i am accustomed to...
i know when i get back to calvin The campus will seem SO OVERWHELMINGLY WHITE!