The Yam Festival is a popular holiday in Ghana and Nigeria, usually held in the beginning of August at the end of the rainy season. It is named after yams, the most common food in many African countries. It is also known as "Ikeji" in Nigeria. In Nigeria, dancers wear masks that reflect the seasons or other aspects of nature.
Yams are the first crops of the season to be harvested. People offer yams to gods and ancestors before distributing them to the villagers to give thanks to the spirits above them.
Famous quotes containing the word festival:
“The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)