List of festivals in Ghana


Festivals in Ghana are celebrated for many reasons pertaining to a particular tribe or culture, usually having backgrounds relating to an occurrence in the history of that culture. Examples of such occurrences have been hunger, migration, purification of either gods or stools, etc.

Reasons for celebrating festivals

The importance of each festival's celebration includes:
  • Planning developmental project. The festival is used as an occasions to meet and plan developmental projects in the area since most citizens are likely to attend.
  • Purification of gods. The period is used to clean ancestral stools and perform important rites.
  • Thanksgiving. The festival is used to thank the supreme God and the lesser gods for the guidance and protection
  • National and political significance. Prominent people in the government are invited to explain government policies and programmes.
  • Dispute resolution. The occasion is used to settle family and individual disputes for peaceful co-existence.
  • To promote tourism. Some festivals celebrated in Ghana attract many foreign tourists to the country. An example is the Aboakyir festival. Tourism is the third foreign-exchange earner for Ghana.

List of traditional festivals and their month of celebration

Below is a list of all traditional, religious commemorative festivals celebrated throughout the year in Ghana. These may not entirely consist of festivals of Ghanaian descent.

Commemorating farming season

Commemorating migration

Religious

Others

Oti Region)
  • Ɔvazu Festival Oti Region, formally Volta/Trans-Volta Togoland