THE KUNDUM FESTIVAL.
Kundum is an annual festival celebrated by the chiefs and people of Ahanta and Nzema. It is usually celebrated between the months of July to November. The celebration starts from community to community. Usually starting with the Ahantas then it moves on to the Nzemas. It is estimated that a total of about 15, 000 people from Dutch Sekondi to Half Assini, a distance of about 300 kilometres, take part in this festival.
Not only does the Kundum festival unite all these people (which include the Ahanta, the Evalue, and the Jumoro) but with minor dialectical differences, they are also united by a common
Language - Nzema. The Ahanta spread from Sekondi to Agona with their traditional capital in Busua. The value, which mainly refers to the Nsein -Axim traditional area stretch beyond the Ankobra to include
Esiama and Atuabo their traditional capital. Beyin, the traditional capital of Western Nzema or the Jumoro. Among the Nzema speakers of the West, the festival is known as Abisa. However, from Atuabo to Dixcove in the Ahanta district, the festival is called Kundum. The word Kundum was rhythmically derived or inspired by the sound of the Edomgbole, the most important drum in the Kundum ensemble.
In this article, we shall focus our attention primarily on how Kundum is celebrated in the Nsein-Axim traditional area; which is usually celebrated between July and August each year.
The Nsein- Axim traditional area has a luxuriant rain forest, which contains not only timber, but also gold and diamond. The area is noted for the production of coconut, rice, cassava, plantain, and cocoyam. By the middle of August, the heavy monsoon rains leave off, giving way to a relatively dry spell, which marks the beginning of the main harvesting and fishing season. It is at this time that the Kundum Festival is celebrated.
The very special timing of the festival is significant in itself. For, the immediate occasion for the festival secure when there is plenty to eat from the sea, farms, and rivers of the area. Although there is this outward, material bounty there seems to be a spiritual, void in the society. The attempt to close this seeming 'spiritual void may therefore be seen as the primary motif of the Nsein-Axim Kundum. Through a system of organised dramatic symbols, events, ceremonies and rituals (which make up the sum total of the festival), the Nsein-Axim society attempts to dramatize the reconciliation of spirit matters in the celebration of their Kundum.
BRIEF HISTORY
The Kundum Festival is believed to have originated from Ahanta Aboade, a village on the Tarkwa-Takoradi Road. According to tradition, it is in this village that the legendary palm tree associated with the origin of the Kundum festival is supposed to exist. The primary legend has it that in the olden days this palm tree used to ripen once in a year. With time, this period became a symbolic calendar in the lives of the people. In other words, the ripening of the palm tree became the signal for the festival to begin. This explanation is so widely accepted that the Evalue and the Ahanta themselves acknowledge the historical and cultural significance of this village of Aboade.
However, in both Axim and Nsein, they believe that Kundum or Abisa was brought into, these areas by a particular family or Abusua and that this Abusua did not (and still does not) belong to the ruling chieftaincy family in these areas. Thus, it is believed that it was the Nvavile clan who introduced the secrets of the Kundum to Western Nzema and that their totem the Palm tree and the Parrot bear eloquent testimony to their control and custodianship of the festival. In Axim, it is believed that a family called the Mjori Family brought the Kundum Festival to that area. It is believed that a man by name Akoto Nyanzu, belonging to that Majori Family, brought Kundum to that area. A hunter by profession, Akoto Nyanzu went to hunt one evening and was not seen again until three months later. He returned, with Kundum. He asked his family to make drums. The drums were made and the Kundum was first celebrated for three months. It proved difficult to spend this length of time, so it was reduced to one month. Later on, the one month was further broken, down into two phases. Phase one-lasted three weeks when artists, drummers, performers, and old men versed in the art of Kundum isolated themselves to learn new songs, new dance forms, body movements, and generally plan the artistic course of the festival. The second phase of one week sees the actual celebration of the festival.
HOW IT IS CELEBRATED
(i) WEEKS OF SILIENCE (phase one) :
Three weeks of the selected month is usually set aside as the preparation period. Kundum Elders, artists and people with acquired knowledge of the festival go to live in isolation. This period of isolation from the community is appropriately known as "Eyele nu" meaning "Cold weather.” Outside the community, in a place where no one other than those involved would know of their activities, they learn the relevant repertoire of songs and various dance movements, which add beauty and artistic dimension to the festival. In addition, new songs are composed, new dance movements, which add beauty and artistic dimension to the festival. In addition, new songs are composed, new dance forms initiated, old drums are repaired or replaced, and costumes for various occasions are discussed in detail. Almost simultaneously, drumming and blowing of horns as well as anything, which generally involves the use of musical instruments, is banned. Members of the community are prohibited from pounding fufu after 6:00pm during this period. It is believed that if this ban is violated before the Kundum is outdoored, the legendary "Afakye" (who is believed to symbolize disease in the society) will come prematurely to plague the society with disease.
(ii) OUTDOORING (phase two) :
The first Sunday of the fourth week (of the appointed period of one month) is the occasion for the outdooring of the Kundum. It is a dramatic occasion. It usually starts at about 8:30: pm-when there is darkness everywhere, but the brilliant moon in the sky clearly reveals a beautiful stretch of sandy shore in Lower Town, Axim. The waters of the sea had receded, giving rise to a beach line which shone in the moonlight. A large group of women, men, and children gather on the beach. Everybody is carrying a huge bundle of flame, made of coconut fibres. Meanwhile, the four drums are poised on the heads of four stalwart men. Suddenly the Edomgdole drum sounds. Three smaller, ones join. Men's voices, torches, move as one man towards the town. Their song is simple and to the point: they sing of the origin of the Axim Kundum:
I t happens today
Gyanewa
Akotoko Nyanzu bring your
Flame to celebrate Kundum...
Gradually, the procession moves in majesty along a well defined Route on the beach for about four hundred yards then the procession moves over the wall on the beach into town and is pitched at one $pot-With the drums in the centre, the whole throng dance and sing around in a circle. What is interesting is that there is no attempt to carry the procession through the town. It is localized at one spot, which from enquiry is the household of the Majori family, the clan who traditionally is believed to have originated the Kundum. The drama of song, music, and dance continues for about two hours. However, the point has been made: Kundum has been outdoored.
(iii) Monday:
Nothing very much happens in the morning. However, towards evening, every household becomes busy. Three heavy logs of firewood are arranged in the open courtyard of each household. This is obligatory. By four o'clock in the evening, every household has already made this arrangement in its courtyard. About 7:00pm or when it is sufficiently dark, the three amanhene in the Nsein - Axim traditional area and their divisional chiefs perform the ceremony of setting fire to the prepared firewood. Libation is first poured after the logs had been set on fire. Thereafter, all households surrounding the amanhene and their divisional chiefs are free to light their logs or go to the Ahenfie to gather the flames from there to their house. The logs so lighted will constitute a kind of "perpetual flame,” which will be used throughout the festival in every home. All kinds of cooking both during the day and at night, which normally are done in the privacy of the kitchen, will from henceforth, be done on the perpetual flame. In reality, all meals cooked during this time are expected to be done in the open so that any member of the public who wants food can just walk in and help himself to the food on fire. For, it is a time of plenty when charity and hospitability abound. A deep sense of hospitality, which is so much at the core of the way of life of the people, is therefore given dramatic and symbolic expression throughout the festival in this way.
About 8pm, a gun is fired. It is now time to mourn those who had died in the course of the previous year. However, the privilege to mourn is restricted to only families or households who had actually lost members during the course of the year. In effect, the "realism" of the occasion is symbolically, commemorative being a dramatic expression of each household's sense of spiritual continuity with its ancestors and the dead. The overall drama, thus embodies the symbolic gesture of renewing the society's sense of continuity with the past; affirming the relevance of the past (and therefore of history) to present and future developments.
(iii) Tuesday
Early in the morning on Tuesday, all "black 'stools" in various households and families are outdoored. There is no mourning or open weeping this time but the ancestors are remembered. In the secret enclosures erected in these households for this purpose, family elders pour libation to their ancestral stools. Prayers are said, sheep is slaughtered, and fowls sacrifice. Members of the family who, had travelled home for the festival as well as those who had stayed behind are given the chance to once again renew their sense of identity with the ancestors by providing drinks for texts of prayer to be said for them.
Immediately afterwards Kundum groups of children, youngsters and elderly women parade from household to household. These groups have no drums and they do not use any of the Kundum drums. For they are mainly singers and dancers who move from house to house singing praises and genealogies of well-known families. Accompanying their songs were cymbals, dumbbells, rattles, gourds and whistles. The use of these musical instruments definitely gave dramatic intensity to the songs and dances being performed. It is during this period that satiric songs are sung to ridicule people who may have done something wrong or committed some form of blunder in the previous year without being punished or any legal action taken against them. The costumes they wear are attractive: the performers ware beads on their hands, necks, and chests. Each also wore a white singlet from the top. The whiteness of the singlets was emphasised by the white powder, which was liberally daubed on their faces, necks, and chests. Immediately below the waist were short, red, or crimsoned tunics, which were heavily studded with 80 dumbbells. The red recalls the memory of the ancestors and white the joy of the living. Put in symbolic terms the two colours together seem to emphasise the people's belief in the continuity between the world of the ancestors and the human world of the living. The occasion therefore has a total religious significance in that it expressed the fact that the ancestors are a vital part of the world of the living community.
(iv) Wednesday:
Like on Monday, nothing significant happens on Wednesday morning. About two o'clock in the afternoon however, a major event takes place. The venue is the Axim Castle. By 2pm, the Omanhene of Nsein and all his Divisional chiefs are ready at the boundary of Lower Town to proceed to the Castle. The Kundum drums are in front followed by the Divisional Chiefs, the Omanhene and members of the public. The procession is magnificent in colour and majestic in movement. On reaching the entrance of the Castle, the Omanhene is lowered from his palanquin and, together with his retinue (for members of the public are forbidden), he enters the Castle, and the main event here is the pouring of libation on a grave in the Castle. They pray to the ancestors and plead for unity and prosperity among his people. The visit to Axim Castle is symbolically political. Long before, the arrival of the Whiteman, all the lands of Axim belonged to Nsein and it was the Elders of the stool of Nsein who gave the land to the Whiteman to build the Castle on. It is therefore necessary and appropriate on this occasion for the Omanhene of Nsein to go to the Castle, in his splendour and majesty to recount history, straighten the records, and in that symbolic procession, affirm his sovereignty. In addition, the occasion is also a unique opportunity for all the Seventeen Divisional Chiefs of Nsein to renew their political allegiance and to assure the Omanhene that there is still unity among all the stools of the state.
(v) Thursday and Friday:
Thursday and Friday are mainly days of rest- No event of any importance happens except that in the evenings, all the Kundum groups in the area come together at one spot where they drum, sing, and dance traditional Kundum dances. These occasions are important to the youngsters both male and female. In practical terms, it provides an opportunity for the young to socialize and it is not unheard of for prospective marriages to begin from here.
(vi) Saturday
Saturday, the last day of the festival is significant. Usually, there is a durbar of chiefs in the morning but this really depends on which government official is willing to come. From 2 pm onwards, there is continuous drumming, singing and dancing at the Town Square. All the Kundum drums are fully exercised. Between 9 pm and midnight, the whole mass of people still in their festive mood begins to move towards the outskirts of town, this time carrying no torches. Instead, each one carries a piece of stone, stick, or wood, just anything he can readily throw away. On reaching the outskirts of the town, a signal is given; the singing stops, drumming ceases too. Then, all of a sudden, there is a stampede, everyone anxious to run back. Sticks, stones, and sand will flow into the outer darkness. No one looks back. Amid shrieks and shouts all run back swiftly to their respective homes. The Kundum has been "hooted out.” Afakye, the symbol of disease and bad luck in the society has been expelled, and he goes away with the evils of the society cleansing and purifying it for the coming year. This symbolic gesture therefore ends the Kundum celebration. There is no more Kundum drumming, dancing, or singing until the following year.
Conclusion
Unlike the Aboakyir festival of Winneba and the Homowo of the Ga people, Kundum is not a festival, which primarily emphasises the people's migrational history or reveals their agricultural success in a newly settled area. Kundum is primarily a cultural event, although there are observable socio-political levels as well. It provides occasion for artists and performing groups within the community to display their talents in diverse ways. It also provides the opportunity for the community to dramatize its way of life and reveal the social and religious values within it. In the end, the festival reveals that the people of the area cherish hospitality as a way of life, and value their relationship with their ancestors and just as a sense of history is important to the survival of a people so also is a sense of unity and political stability important in the Nzema culture of the Nsein-Axim traditional area.
Until we met bye.
AUTHOR Neil Owusu Odame
