Answer: What is Ho?
It’s wedding season in PwC Ghana. A number of coworkers are getting married
(not to each other). Jen shared her
experiences at a wedding last weekend which was done in the Ghanaian take on
western weddings. During that weekend, I
was supporting a good friend with his traditional Ghanaian wedding in Ho (no
funny pronunciation, it’s just the way Santa says it).
Cast
of characters:
Author: MeGabby: (Male) coworker on secondment from Kenya
Pierre: Coworker from Cameroon/Ghana but on secondment in London and Gabby’s good friend.
Albert: Husband of coworker Dorothy
Rosemary: Gabby’s bride-to-be
The Kenyans: Gabby’s friends from Kenya
George: Partner at PwC
Albert, Gabby and I were drinking (juice)
together and decided that we needed to have a party, one last hurrah with Gabby
before he got married. Unfortunately,
Gabby’s weekends were being occupied by wedding stuff. Apparently weddings don’t plan
themselves.
However, according to Gabby, he had to
attend some traditional thing in Rosemary’s village (Ho) on 30 January. “It’s in the afternoon and I just have to
show up for five minutes, not say anything, and then leave. We can go up to Ho together and have a good
time”
Conveniently, that was also the weekend
Pierre was going to be in town – so he’d be able to join us.
The plan was simple, pick Pierre up from
the airport on Friday, head up to Ho, enjoy a night on the town, and head to
“this traditional thing” the following morning.
Hangovers be damned.
During the workday on Friday, there are a
lot more details surfacing about “some traditional thing.” It turns out that this is the traditional
Ghanaian wedding we’re headed to. It’s a
little more than just going for five minutes and being done. It seems that since Gabby’s family was in
Kenya, he needed someone of stature to speak on his behalf in front of the
elders. Enter: George.
Not only did Gabby need someone to speak to
the elders, he also needed to give a gift to the elders and some of Rosemary’s
family members. Specifically, cash. But not just any cash, new bills. To assist with this, Gabby and I headed out after
work to go to my bank ATM (closer than his) and start to sort through money
that I withdrew. What probably looked
like a suspicious exchange was actually completely legitimate.
Gabby and I grabbed dinner while the
Kenyans and Albert came to meet us. Pierre was set to arrive at 8PM on
Friday. Planes arriving from the UK or
US generally take about an hour longer than other planes because people are
always bringing half a dozen bags of goodies for their friends and family. Pierre’s flight was no different. About an hour delayed in landing and another
1.5 hours for baggage, Pierre was back in Ghana. Since Pierre was staying with Jen and me, I
was the welcoming committee while Gabby, Albert and the Kenyans were taking
care of Gabby.
I get Pierre settled and we meet up with
Gabby, Albert and the Kenyans and then we’re off in our caravan to Ho. Oh, and we’re also informed that this wedding
program is supposed to start at 7AM…
A few hours later we arrive in Ho at about
2AM. Time to hit the town!
Unfortunately, the town looks haunted.
You see, this time of year is harmattan.
Sand and dust blows down from the Sahara. The further north you go, the dustier and
sandier it becomes. As a result, we’re
driving through a quiet, poorly lit town with “fog” that restricts distance
vision.
Early mornings and quiet villages can’t stop
us though. We arrive at our hotel and
wake up the staff who were sleeping on couches and mattresses around the
property. Much to their chagrin, they
open the bar for us and our night on the town wraps up around 6AM. 45 minutes of sleep later, we awake to get
ready. Quick showers and a quick
breakfast is all we need (when you’re as naturally good looking as us, it
doesn’t take much). George had arrived
in Ho and was escorted to meet the elders.
Pierre, Gabby, Albert, the Kenyans and I meet George at one of the
elder’s home.
(Left to Right: Gabby, George, Pierre, me)
They say a few words and want to validate
all of the gifts that Gabby had purchased for Rosemary and her family. These are separate gifts from the envelopes
of fresh cash. Typically, the traditional
gifts are a sewing machine, cloth, kitchen utensils, tobacco, spirits, and a
stool (yes, like a small bar stool) among other things. Since we are running late, Gabby has to
bring another gift to Rosemary’s family as a token of respect. The elders recommend a specific brand of
whiskey.
Upon arriving at the venue, we are seated
with the other men and listen to the priest and some of the elders say a few
things. The local language there is Ewe,
of which I (obviously) and Gabby do not speak.
Luckily, Albert does speak it and is able to translate for the Kenyans,
Pierre and me, and the elders translate for Gabby.
Then the ladies come in bearing the gifts
that Gabby had brought. (see Video) Traditionally, the family will accept each
gift individually, but the process was sped up a bit with the mother just
announcing that everything was accepted. Following the gifts, it was time for the
bride to come out. Except she needs a
little extra “motivation” – meaning that the crowd needs to throw in some cash
to help convince her.
Rosemary arrives via procession with the ladies
of the village, similar to the way the gifts came in. The rest of the “ceremony” (about another
hour) involved people giving speeches and prayers in Ewe. After which, the father accepted the
engagement proposal and both Gabby and Rosemary started to cry. Naturally, Gabby caught a fair share of
flak from us.
After the festivities completed, we went back to the hotel to check out and made our way back to Accra. Due to lots of traffic, and multiple food stops suggested by a very convincing Albert, we finally made it back home around 9pm Saturday night.
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