Elmina celebrates Bakatue Festival first time since Covid-19 pandemic

The Chiefs and People of Elmina commenced the celebration of the Edina Bakatue on Tuesday, July 6, 2022, amid jubilations for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on gatherings were announced by government.

The festival which has been observed by the residents of Edina for more than one hundred and fifty years is said to summon Nana Benya, the god of the lagoon as a protector of the state and its citizens.

Bakatue is an annual festival celebrated on every first week in July by the chiefs and people of Elmina to invoke the gods of the lagoon and their ancestors for bumper harvests during the farming and fishing seasons.

This year’s celebration is on the theme: eat made in Ghana, wear made in Ghana

Addressing the people of Edina during the Bakatue, Marketing Director at Ghana Tourism Board, Mrs. Roberta Dawson-Amoah urged the people to begin to look for opportunities to make the festival better and also to take full advantage of the celebration after the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Describing the festival as an integral part of Ghana’s culture, she urged Ghanaians to continue to share the Ghanaian culture to the world as it contributes to the promotion of national tourism.

“We say experience Ghana, share Ghana in what you do so when we see such moments, it only affirms what we want to achieve, our campaign of urging everybody to experience Ghana in whatever you do,” she said.

The Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem, Municipal Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Solomon Ebo Appiah, touched on the theme for the celebration and said, the surest way to develop the country is to eat and wear made-in Ghana goods.

He revealed that the government is doing its best to make sure that KEEA becomes the Centre of tourism in Ghana and also to promote modernized tourism in the municipality.

The climax of the event was the casting of the Omanhene’s net in the Lagoon to determine whether there would be a bumper harvest for the coming season.

This was done thrice and it caught fish at every cast, indicating that there would be a bumper harvest this fishing and farming season.