A Ghanaian Easter

Ghana is predominately a Christian country. There is a smaller faction of Muslims, but they are located mostly in the Northern part of the country. Ghana is divided into ten regions: Central, Eastern, Western, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, and Greater Accra. We live in the Greater Accra Region. I equate the regions to our states. Each of them has a capital city and a government.

On one of our trips to the store, Michael and I discussed Easter in Ghana. Michael is from the Ashanti Region and his wife is from the Central Region. He told me that while Easter is important to all Ghanaians, it is the biggest holiday of all for those from the Central Region. He refers to the holiday as a “festival,” and described one tradition of the Central Region in particular. Eight to ten men form a group. Five to six of these groups are sent out into the bush to catch a deer. They aren't supposed to kill the deer, but rather they are tasked with bringing the deer back alive. Whichever group brings a deer back first has the honor of slaughtering their animal and sharing it with the rest of the community. Evidently, it is quite an honor.

I naively asked Michael how they actually catch the deer. Do they surround it? Do they jump on it? I’m thinking of mule deer in Nevada that are big, quick, and very strong. I just can’t envision a bunch of men trying to chase down and catch a deer! (Dave assumes that deer here are much smaller than those in the U.S.) Michael laughed when I asked him this and said, “I don’t know how they capture the deer. I am not from the Central Region, and so I have never participated in the ceremony.” I told him that I would love to see it, and he told me he would be happy to take me to the festival. I explained that I didn’t just want to go to the festival, I wanted to go into the bush to see how the men catch the deer. Again, he laughed and said I was not allowed, as I was a woman and I was not from the Central Region. Not even he can go into the bush!

We then turned to Easter in the U.S. I asked Michael if he knew anything about our traditions and he said, “Oh, I saw on the TV that you color your eggs! Why?” I was honest and simply said, “I have no idea.” Honestly, I don’t know where the Easter Bunny came from and how it got mixed up with this important religious holiday. But, I explained to him that yes, we color and decorate hard-boiled eggs. On Easter morning, we hide the eggs around the house and yard, and the kids go on an “Easter egg hunt.” I explained that some of the eggs are plastic and have candy or money inside of them.

Because Easter is so important here, I wanted to do something for Michael and Charity. I actually found some plastic eggs at The Hacienda (the store that gets shipments from Sam’s Club). I filled them with pesawas (coins) and cedis (bills) and told both of them that they had to hide the eggs on Sunday for their children. I bought Charity’s son, Akufo, a bubble gun – you know, a gun that you fill up with water and then it shoots out bubbles. For Nana Akua, Michael’s daughter, I bought a Winnie the Pooh doll not knowing if he would even know what it was. He did! His face lit up when he saw it, and he said, “Oh, Winnie the Pooh!”

There is a Catholic Church not far from our house, and we had considered going today, but we have no way to get there. It’s too far to walk, and I really didn’t want to ask Michael to take us, especially considering our conversation about how important Easter is to his country. I wanted him to spend time with his family.

So, on our first Easter in Ghana while all of you are probably still sleeping, we are sitting in our living room, drinking coffee and chocolate milk. (The Colorado folks might just be getting to bed…thanks a LOT for the 6:30 a.m. wakeup call!) :) The birds are chirping outside, it is overcast, with a light breeze. I haven’t been outside, but the weather is virtually the same every day – hot and humid. Dave is reading USA Today on his iPad, and I am writing this blog. While we miss our friends and families, we are so thankful for technology. We have a Skype date with my family from Colorado scheduled for this evening, and I’m sure we’ll touch base with our Nevada families as well.

Happy Easter to all of our friends and family!