We wonder how many rites you know in Africa. The continent has numerous rites we may not be able to count. Dipo is a Ghanaian traditional festival celebrated by the people of Odumase in the Eastern region of Ghana.Â
The festival is celebrated in the month of April every year. The festival is used to usher into puberty or adulthood, g
irls who are virgins and it signifies that a lady, who partakes in it, is of age to be married.Â
February was once the month the rite was performed, but that has changed since Easter has become the most preferred
time for the event. Parents submit their daughters’ names whenever the rite is announced. Â
The rite announcement is always made on behalf of Nene Kloweku, the Earth goddess. Sundays or Thursday are
mostly the days that Nene Kloweku holds in high esteem. These two days are when
the rite can be performed.
However, these girls would have to go through rituals and tests to prove their chastity before they qualify to partake in the festival.
On the first day of the rites, the girls have their heads shaved and dressed with cloth around their waist to just their knee level. This is done by a special ritual mother and it signifies their transition from childhood to adulthood. They are paraded to the entire community as the initiates (dipo-yo).
Early the next morning, the chief priest gives the initiates a ritual bath. He pours a libation to ask for blessings for the girls. He then washes their feet with the blood of a goat whi
ch their parents presented.Â
This is to drive away any spirit of barrenness. The crucial part of the rite is when the girls sit on the sacred stone. This is to prove their virginity. However, any girl found to be pregnant or not a virgin is detested by the community and does not entice a man from the tribe.
The girls are then housed for a week, where they are given training on cooking, housekeeping, childbirth, and nurture. The ritual mothers give them special lessons on seduction and how their husbands will expect to be treated. They learn the Klama dance which will be performed o
n the final day of the rites.
After the one-week schooling, they are finally released and the entire community gathers to celebrate their transition into womanhood. They are beautifully dressed in rich kente cloth accessorized with beads around their waist, neck, and arms. With singing and drumming, they perform the Klama dance.Â
At this point, any man interested in any one of them can start investigating her family. it is assumed that any lady who partakes in the rites not only brings honor to herself but to her family at large. It is done to initiate young women into knowing their responsibilities be
fore stepping into marriage.
