Kwafie Festival is an annual festival celebrated by the chiefs and people of Wenchi in the Bono region and Techiman and in the Bono East Region, which were all formally Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. It is usually celebrated in the month of July. The people of Dorma, Berekum and Nsotrae also celebrate it in November/ December.
This campfire serves as a symbolic remembrance of the mythology that the Dormaas introduced fire to Ghana. Additionally, a durbar is held, at which the sub-chiefs and subjects of the Paramount Chief are honored. It is a time when all the offspring of the original Dormaas, who split from the Akwamus and immigrated here, return home for a big celebration. This festival promotes a sense of community among the people, much like Apoo. A spectacle of the royal courts featuring drumming, dancing, and a display of the Chiefs’ adornments is one of the event’s highlights.
Visitors are encouraged to exchange food and drinks while at the festival. People dress in their traditional attire, and there is a chiefs’ durbar. Drumming and dance are also present.[6] In the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, Dormaa Ahenkro, Berekum, and Nsuatre celebrate the Kwafie Festival to mark the introduction of fire to the region, which is said to have been done by ancestors who immigrated there in the distant past. The event can take place in either November, December, or January and lasts for roughly three days. The festival in Dormaa Ahenkro kicks off with a torchlit twilight parade from the palace to the residence where the holy stools are housed. Liquid offerings are made to the ancestors, after which the procession makes its way back to the palace. Everyone congregates at the palace the following morning, where the chief preside over the “laying of logs,” or Nkukuato, in which lower-level officials carry logs inside the palace to present to the chief. The ritual supper is cooked over a fire that is started by the highest ranking official using three logs. The ancestral stools are transported to a nearby body of water for ceremonial cleaning later in the day during an even bigger procession. There are also more religious rituals conducted. The festival concludes with jubilant dancing, music, and feasts on the grounds of the palace.
Between November and December, the residents of Dormaa Ahenkro, Berekum, and Nsuatre in the Brong Ahafo Region celebrate the Kwafie Festival. This festival is held in honor of the ancestors and serves as a means of purification. The burning of a sizable bonfire in the courtyard stands out among the many activities as the most fascinating.
There will be street-side vendors selling specially prepared dishes made only for the Festival in addition to the blocks of curb vendors and speciality butcher, cheese, gift, and cookware shops that line the market.