Culture

Before dawn on 19 January, the hills around Ethiopia’s churches glow with candlelight. Tens of thousands of people stand shoulder…

Two days after the Muslim feast of Eid al-Kabir, the ancient city of Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, south-western Nigeria, stages…

Every August, the city of Osogbo in south-west Nigeria turns toward its river. For twelve days, the Ataoja, the king…

At the sound of a single gunshot, thousands of men hurl themselves into a milky brown river at once. For…

In the Volta riverside town of Akwamufie, the new year does not begin with fireworks. It begins with silence, mourning,…

On the first Saturday of September, the old Fante royal city of Cape Coast stages one of Ghana’s grandest spectacles.…

On the ninth night of the traditional month of Buɣim Goli, towns across northern Ghana go dark after supper, and…

Picture a wide-open ground at the height of the dry season. Horsemen in flowing robes gallop past in formation, muskets…

Before dawn on the first Saturday of May, the coastal town of Winneba in Ghana’s Central Region empties onto the…

Every year, the Ga people of Ghana’s Greater Accra Region stage one of West Africa’s most distinctive cultural seasons. It…