Mamfe observes ‘Asafosa’ on Sunday
Mamfe is a very strategic town in the Akuapem State. Mamfe is arguably the central town of the state as it connects all the 17 towns of Akuapem as well as having a very good road passing through it to Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital.
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The Mamfehene, Osabarima Ansah Sasraku II, doubles as the Kyidomhene of Akuapem. Mamfe has featured regularly in the government’s budget statements when reference is made to the Tetteh Quarshie-Madina- Pantang-Mamfe road project.
That portion of the road from Akuapem to Accra was in a deplorable state until the 2000s when the then government secured funding to fix the Pantang –Mamfe portion. The Tetteh Quarshie to Pantang portion is in an advanced state of rehabilitation now.
Mamfe is thus a very popular town in Ghana in terms of geographical location and its role in traditional governance.
In terms of festivals, Akuapems are noted for their Odwira and Ohum festivals. Although the Odwira festivals of the people of Akropong, Aburi and Larteh appears to be more popular, the Ohum festival also has its own attraction.
The chiefs and people of Mamfe, Mampong and Tutu, among other towns on the Akuapem Ridge, celebrate Ohum.
But the Ohum of Mamfe is of a unique character. The Mamfe Ohum is also the occasion for what has become known as ‘Asafosa’. In other words it is the occasion for symbolic drinking, which also offers the opportunity for bonding, unity and peaceful co-existence..
This year’s festival will be climaxed with a durbar at Mamfe on Sunday, January 12, 2014, at 12 noon.
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‘Asafosa 2014’ will be unique because for the first time in many years all the towns on the Ridge that make up the Akuapem State will participate in the event. And their chiefs will participate with pomp and circumstance.
The Akwamuhene, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto, and chiefs from other parts of the country will grace the occasion.
Every year, the people of Mamfe celebrate the Ohum festival in December or January depending on the calculation of the traditional calendar (Akwasidae).
The Ohum festival is heralded by the performance of the “Asafo nsa” or “Asafosa” ceremony on Sunday, which is one week after the ninth Akwasidae in the year.
Two Mondays preceding the ninth Akwasidae, that is three weeks before the start of the Ohum or the ‘Asafosa’ day, there is a ban placed on the town on drumming, dancing, noise-making and funerals.
However, because at times this ban on noise-making coincides with the Christmas season, and so as not to impede church activities, the current chief, Osabarima Ansah Sasraku, and elders of the town have developed a system; anytime the Christmas festivities fall within the ban period, special rituals are performed to lift the ban till after the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over. The ban is then placed again so that churches in the town can worship without any hindrance. During this temporary lift of the ban, however, funerals are still not allowed to be performed.
During the period of the three weeks of the ban, whether temporarily lifted or not, the chiefs, heads of clans and families are expected to settle any disputes or iron out any differences that might have arisen among the members of the domain during the year. In pursuit of the belief in the adage that in unity lies strength, the leaders of the Asafo companies or ‘asafohenefo,’ led by the ‘osafohene supi,’ at the dawn of the Sunday after the Akwasidae, beat a drum called the ‘asabi kyene’ to signify the end of the ban on noise-making. During the period of the ban, the whole town will be cleaned up in preparation for the Ohum festival. It is during this time that the sons and daughters of the town who live outside of the town will come home to join their kinsmen for the Ohum celebration.
In the afternoon, the ban on noise making is lifted. The ‘asafohenefo’ or leaders of the Asafo companies are then made to call a meeting of the chiefs, clan and family heads, with some members of the community serving as witnesses.
Because it is expected that by this time, they would have settled all disputes within their families, and also among themselves, it is expected that there is peace and harmony within clans and families and among themselves.
Each chief, clan and family head is made to bring a pot of palm wine. After calling them one after another to bring their pots of palm wine, the ‘asafohenefo’ pours these individual drinks into one big pot. After mixing them, the individual small pots are filled again with the drink and given back to their owners.
Members of the community who wish to drink some of the palm wine can go and get some, a kind of community drinking, hence the name ‘asafosa.’
The significance of the mixing and drinking of the palm wine is that once you participate in the ceremony, it means you have no issue with anyone in the community or even if you do, you have abandoned any such issue — whether by yourself or by a representative of your clan or family head.
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If any of the clan or family heads or chiefs bears a grudge against anyone, then they cannot add their drink to be mixed with that person’s drink. The significance then is to unite the community so that it can pursue its agenda with a unity of purpose.