The festival of the Ga people, whose city Accra originally is. The name means “hooting at hunger”.
It commemorates a famine the Ga survived during their migration, and celebrates the harvest that ended it - the response to hunger being not mourning but mockery of it.
Held around August and September, with each Ga town - Ga Mashie, Osu, La, Teshie, Nungua, Tema - keeping its own date. Chiefs and elders sprinkle kpokpoi, a steamed corn dish, through the streets for the ancestors, and it is eaten with palm-nut soup.
A ban on drumming and noise-making is observed in Ga areas for weeks beforehand. It is taken seriously, it is enforced by the traditional authorities, and it has caused real friction with some churches. If you live in a Ga neighbourhood, respect it.