Unlike in other countries around the world, Christmas in Ghana is celebrated from December 20th until the first week of January.
Although minor celebrations are done starting on the 20th, the real celebrating does not begin until Christmas Eve.
Similar to in the US and other regions of the world, there is a Christmas service on Christmas Eve; wherein children will put on a nativity play, or some other type of theatrical show celebrating Christmas.
However, in Ghana, these celebrations will involve drumming and dancing.
Many people will travel to visit their family or close friends for the Christmas holiday in regions all over the country, but the celebrations are still as lively as if they were all in the same area.
In addition to Christmas, December also marks the beginning of the Cocoa harvesting season in Ghana; it is the world’s 2nd-highest producer of chocolate, and if you’ve ever had chocolate from Ghana you know how amazing it is!
Christmas Day
On Christmas Day, the peoples of Ghana start their Christmas day by dressing in colorful traditional clothing and attending a church service.
This is done before any exchange of gifts or merriment has begun for the day.
After the church service, they return home for the gift exchange as well as a Christmas feast.
This includes food such as stew or okra soup, porridge, meats, rice, and a yam paste that is called Fufu.
Other peoples celebrate Christmas similar to the way we celebrate the 4th of July and bring in the New Year: with fireworks and parties.
These parties usually include dancing and music; some of which can last all night!
Many different languages are spoken in Ghana (over 66), and generally, the festivities will be in a language that is most common among the peoples in the region.
Many enjoy going around the villages and singing their favorite Christmas songs.
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Main Points About Christmas in Ghana
- At Christmas time in Ghana, there are Christmas parties thrown at different parts of the country.
- Giving and receiving gifts is a custom in Ghana. After the Christmas mass, people go back home to exchange gifts and celebrate.
- The Ghanaian Christmas meal includes rice, chicken, fufu, okra soup, and other traditional delicacies.
- Ghanaians are not big on Christmas decorations like the western culture. Christmas trees are very rare in homes but are only seen in public places like banks, shopping malls, hotels, etc.
- The Christmas period is about spreading joy, love, and celebrating life. It is unusual for a funeral to hold during this season.
Conclusion
In Ghana over 66 languages are spoken and each and every one of them has their own Christmas traditions, but everyone celebrates Christmas with lots of activities from December 20th until January 6th.
On Christmas Eve there’s dancing and drumming in church services, to get the season started. Songs are usually in the language spoken in that specific region.
If you have been to Ghana on Christmas or stay in Ghana then do share your first-hand experience in the comments below.
Word Cloud for Christmas in Ghana
The following is a collection of the most used terms in this article on Christmas in Ghana. This should help in recalling related terms as used in this article at a later stage for you.
References
- https://www.gviusa.com/blog/how-christmas-is-celebrated-in-ghana/
- https://www.uvolunteer.net/blog/christmas-ghana-afishiapa/
- https://www.modernghana.com/news/821291/fun-facts-about-christmas-in-ghana.html
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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.
