For the past years, whenever you mention Easter, Kwahu comes to mind. But most questions people ask are,
• What brought about Kwahu Easter?
• What is so special about the celebration that gets Kwahu to a standstill during the period?
First of all, Easter is not the traditional festival for the people of Kwahu; they celebrate Akwasidae just like many Akan tribes.
The Easter festivity in Kwahu was a homecoming celebration for natives from Kwahu living in the diaspora and also those in Accra. The majority of Kwahus travel to settle in Accra and few others travel overseas.
They are mainly known as business-oriented people, who travel far and wide to trade. Kwahu is located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, on the west shore of Lake Volta.
In Abbosey Okai, Okaishie, CMB, Katamanso, and other major trading centres in Accra, it is believed that about 85% percent of traders are from Kwahu. It is believed the Kwahus started trading at these centres. Therefore, this made the whole Kwahu township “deserted” having a majority of the youth and young adults travel abroad and to Accra to make ends meet and living a few of the aged behind.
During Christmas festivities/seasons, it turns out to be a peak season for traders and business owners in Accra which does not allow them to visit their families on the mountain.
So, they began to find the Easter holidays as a flexible season, unlike the Christmas season.
Kwahu which is blessed with natural scenery, chilly weather, and tourist sites made them visit the mountains with friends from Accra and other parts of the country.
It has gradually become an annual homecoming for Kwahus to return home during the Easter season for family and community meetings.
Over time the season celebration became an occasion scores of people look forward to as it turns out to be an occasion for fun activities like street jams, carnivals, and hiking on the mountains.
In 2005 the government of Ghana introduced the paragliding festival.
The paragliding festival has become an annual event held during the Easter holidays and it has also attracted seasoned pilots from all over the world to fly hundreds of people during the 3-4 days event at Kwahu-Atibie.
Kwahu is a tourism hub with beautiful sites and here are 6 beautiful places you ought to visit.
- Stone City (Kwahu Amartey) A visit to this place will expose you to more than 50 shaped rocks like crocodile rock, Independent ark, sofa rock, star rock, oware rock, and many more.
- Bruku Rock (Kwahu Tafo) a mountain on mountain is believed to have saved the people of Tafo and its environment. Buruku Rock also stands for “God Rock” stands for very tall and huge
- Stone Age (Abetifi) A place where people lived in 13000 BC according to research and after it has been turned into a beautiful park. There is an artificial waterfall and an ancestral cave.
- The Ramseyer Building – (Kwahu Abetifi) One of the first Presbyterian churches built by Ramseyer with stones in 1903. It was built like the one in Switzerland and its shape is like a cross. The building is also located at the highest habitable point in Ghana.
- The caves of life – ( Twenedurase)The Cave of life known in the local language as ‘Nkofieho’ is a sacred protectorate for ancient warriors who migrated from the Asante Kingdom to save themselves from total defunctness due to the various wars being waged by the Asante kings.
- Odweanoma Paragliding Site – (Kwahu Atibie) The Odweanoma Mountain is the pride of the Kwahus. The mountain stands at the height of 2000ft high above sea level.