Photos: National Folklore Thrills Ghanaians At Children’s Fun Folklore Day
The Natinaol Folklore board, Accra Mall and Trigmatic brought Ghanaian kids and their parents some excitement on the second day of January dubbed The Folklore Fun House (Anansekrom experience) at the Accra mall food court, an event that was powered by B wired.
The Children’s Fun Folklore Day was packed with many activities including poem recitals, face panting, story telling, and various cultural dance for the kids who attended the colorful event on saturday.
Speaking to journalist Nana Reagan at the event ceremony, Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante who is the Acting Director for the National Folklore Board expressed delight on behalf of her outlet for the event. She said it was a day to celebrate the fun house and this is to showcase our traditional heritage and how children can enjoy our culture in a fun way during christmas.
“So we have the Anansekrom maize where the children are to go through a maize made of palm frond and as they go, we ask them questions about our cultural heritage. They are supposed to answer these questions and get to the next stage to meet Papa Bronya. This is a traditional version of father Christmas where Papa Bronya is wearing Kente and his Christmas hat. These are ways in which we are letting our children experience our cultural heritage. I understand that there is the need to also love your culture and it`s nothing embarrassing and it`s fun” Mrs. Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante said.
The Acting Director of the National Folklore Board continued: “So the Natinaol Folklore board has instituted a national folklore class in various schools. So in the wake of COVID-19, this stopped. However, what we did was thinking on our feet to introduce the virtual folklore classes. So now we have folklore classes online where we have the likes of Trigmatic, Dela Botri and Nakeeyat talking about their areas of presession. We also have the likes of Nii Ayi Solomon who is also a playwright and other individuals take various classes and teach children about our folklore.
We have Nakeeyat Dramani asking questions that children will ask and this is the way we still connect our folklore to children in the wake of technology. In the next five years, we would want our culture to be something that is central to our children and central to our livelihood. So it is not something that we just break out when there is an event or when there is a cultural performance but actually to be part of us. Through our activities we are embarking on this”.
Deputy Minister of Education and member of parliament for Bosomtwe who also graced the occassion expressed his gratitude to NFB for such an event and encouraged the kids to continue partaking in such activities so they can grow to become well rounded children. He revealed government is attaching so much importance to creative arts and are building the first ever creative arts school in Kumasi so children can get training from the high schools and not wait till they get to the university.
Winner of TV3 Talented Kids Season 10 fame, Nakeeyat Dramani took kids and parents through beautiful poem recitals.
National Folklore Board (NFB) is not done with its new year package for Ghanaians yet as the board brings you Folklore Night on the 9th of January.
Folklore includes music, dance, art, designs, names, signs and symbols, performances, ceremonies, architectural forms, handicrafts and narratives, and any other literary, artistic and scientific expressions belonging to the cultural heritage of Ghana which are created, preserved and developed by ethnic communities of Ghana or an unidentified Ghanaian author.
Local usage of a work of folklore outside the customary context and/or for commercial purposes includes but is not limited to, the use of an Adinkra symbol for a company’s corporate branding and the use of other expressions of folklore for promotional and other commercial purposes.
Story by: Reagan O.O.Osarfo (Nana Reagan)
