Ban on drumming, noise making ends today

The month-long ban on drumming and noise making ends today June 11.

The ban is part of traditional practices towards the celebration of the Homowo festival by the chiefs and people of the Ga Traditional Council. This years’ ban started on May 11 and ends today after some traditional rites are held.

During the period of the ban, religious bodies, particularly, are entreated to ensure that their usual form of worship is confined to their premises, with noise levels minimized to the barest limits possible; the ban extends to the use of loudspeakers outside the premises of mosques and churches.

This years’ ban came under heavy scrutiny in the lead up to the celebrity vigil over power outages popularly referred to as “dumsor”.

In the end, the vigil took place because it did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ga traditional council, but the La Traditional Council, whose ban does not take effect till July.

Homowo is a harvest festival amongst the Ga people of Greater Accra region. It begins with the sowing of millet by the traditional priest in May after which a 30-day ban is imposed on drumming by the priests.

The word “Homowo” denotes hooting at hunger, so the word literally means ‘shame onto hunger.’