GUEST COMMENTARY: BY AHANTA APEMENYIMHENEBA KWOFIE III
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III posted this on his Facebook page on Sunday, June 19, and I decided to share it with readers of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE as a Guest Commentary)
AHANTA, Ghana, June 19, 2022 — Here is Mrs. Ann Marie Davies, the First Lady of The Bahamas, at the coronation of Christopher Ömo-Shango Davis at Busua yesterday. She led a very high-powered government delegation from The Bahamas to Ahanta yesterday to attend the coronation of Christopher Davies as Gyan Kwaw II.
This all came about when Christopher Davies, who is a historian, traced the origins of the Junkanoo festival in the Caribbean to Ahanta. The festival came about when Gyen Kwaw, an Ahanta chief in Princes Town, mobilized forces dressed in masquerades to wage wars with Europeans in his bid to end the slave trade.
Most of his soldiers who were captured during the Process Town war of 1720 were sent to the Caribbean and these captives in their bid not to forget their roots ended up celebrating the battle formation of Gyan Kwaw and his forces.
After several years the name John Conny as he himself referred to himself and same inscribed on his staff of authority corrupted to become Junkanoo and associated with the festival of masquerades in the Caribbean.
Junkanoo in the Caribbean is the same festival of masquerades in Sekondi-Takoradi commonly referred to as Ankos or Funcy Dressing.
I must say that one of my articles I wrote in 2018 about how Junkanoo originated from Ahanta and found its way to the Caribbean also served as a link when Christopher Davies was tracing the origins of the festival.
Yesterday, Mrs. Ann Marie Davies herself was initiated into Ahanta together with members of her delegation.
