This week’s post covers all our holiday celebrations and other daily routines during the month of November 2021.
Diwali 2021
Even though we ended October with a big celebration on Halloween, our family had another important holiday come up fairly quickly: Diwali! Now, the actual date of Diwali changes every year, because the Hindus follow a lunar calendar, and we didn’t celebrate on the official day of Diwali, because it fell in the middle of the week. But that Friday after, I did my best to make sure the girls got a good taste of the Indian celebration, with a bit of Varun’s help, of course!
Firstly, the food! I sent Varun to the local Indian stores to pick up the sweet and savory treats he wanted to have and share with the girls. When I went by the same store a few days later, they still had lots of sweets to choose from! When you celebrate the holiday in India, usually you are given a type of homemade remedy to help your body deal with any indigestion it may face from all the delicacies that are made that day. We had some pistachio and almond sweets, samosas, and Varun made vadai, badjis, and pakora, most of which are all fried, crispy, and delicious!
Next: new clothes! A lot of people like to compare this particular holiday to a western Christmas celebration because it is one of the few occasions, I’m aware of, in the Hindu calendar where gifts are exchanged. Every year, everyone gets a new piece of clothing, whether an entire outfit, and new dress, or a nice new shirt. In India, they are always sure to wrap a small piece of turmeric into a corner of the garment for good luck. Ever since Varun and I have been married, all of his family members always insist on buying us new clothing on Diwali and we always receive it when we see them next, and the girls have now been added to that tradition as well. As for me, I wanted to be able to still give them something new during our celebrations as well, just to try and give them the full experience, though we don’t use the turmeric ourselves.
Finally, the fireworks! The first year we were here, I found a vendor selling lots of different fireworks outside of the biggest Indian market here in Accra. There was so much to choose from, and I made sure to get a good variety. The girls were not fans of the firecrackers that year, but they liked everything else. Last year, the pandemic threw a wrench in our plans, like many other families’ I’m sure, so we weren’t really able to celebrate. I wasn’t going to let that happen again this year, though. The vendor was not back this year, maybe from the pandemic, maybe from a government crackdown, fireworks are not technically legal to use here, but lots of people still do. Luckily, I was able to find a few fireworks at another store, and the girls absolutely loved it! The sparklers didn’t turn out to be very good, but they loved the small flowerpots I was able to find, and we were still able to have a nice Diwali celebration between the four of us. One of these years we will all make it to India to celebrate properly with the whole family!
Walking Tour of Jamestown
I was lucky enough to have another adventure on my own this month: a friend of mine invited me to join a small group of ladies for a walking tour of historical Jamestown. It was the center of the original British colony here in Accra, and just adjacent to its Dutch counterpart.
On the way to Jamestown, I was able to see some local landmarks, finally! First is the Black Star Square, it’s a public square which is right next to the Accra Sports stadium and is one of several monuments to Ghana’s independence struggle, including the Independence Arch. I don’t know how many of you know this, but Ghana only gained its independence in 1957, so it is still a fairly young democracy. Then, as we got closer to where our tour would begin, I got to see normal life at it’s best here, a group of young people playing soccer. It doesn’t look like a conventional field, but I was happy to see that even in the hustle and bustle of the downtown market, they’ve still made room for people, especially kids, to have fun!
Our tour began in the Jamestown Community Center, and we were led by a very knowledgeable, local guide. He was really wonderful at providing lots of interesting facts and historical commentary on all the sites that we saw along the way. He started by giving us a brief background on the area and its history during the colonial era.
The first to arrive in Ghana, other than the local population, obviously, were the Portuguese, although the language never really stuck here like it has in other former Portuguese colonies, like Angola. The British were the ones who had the biggest influence, language-wise, which is clearly evident since most people here know at least a little English to get by. Strictly speaking, there are more than 30 languages spoken all over the country of Ghana. But, among the local population there were 7 major clans, each with their own area in the center of town. Jamestown is the most cosmopolitan of these areas. This part of the city, known as Old Accra, is mostly populated by a group of people known as Ga, which is also the name of the language they speak. When we first got here back in 2019, after a few weeks I felt like I could distinguish between when people were speaking Twi, the most widely spoken dialect here in the city, and Ga. But nowadays, I can’t even begin to notice. I’m just not around that many people anymore since the pandemic hit. Our tour guide described a big celebration that occurs in Jamestown every year in August to celebrate an auspicious day to the Ga people. It was surprising for me to learn, however, that even the Ga people are not originally local, their migration to Accra started in the 13th century! With that introduction into the history of the area, we were off to see some of the sites.
This green building down below used to house the Piccadilly Biscuits factory during British control of the area, and it still stands today! Currently the building is vacant, and was bought by a Chinese company, which just goes to show the direction most of the world is headed these days.
As with a lot of parts in Accra, the area is not very well tended, and signs like this are needed all around. In fact, many, many times when I’m driving around during the day, I see men pulling over on the side of the road ignoring this very same warning all over the city.
Our first major landmark was the biggest shrine of all the 7 clans belonging to the Asere tribe. The tribe believes that there isn’t one higher power, but three spirits representing the living, the dead, and those yet to be born. The pots in the shrine contain water. Water is a huge part of local custom and hospitality here, and it was believed hundreds of years ago that water was the most important thing to offer anyone, especially someone who had just travelled on a long journey. This shrine is placed on the border of Jamestown. The people of this tribe believe that the deities are both male (Atta) and female (Naa). To this day, when a priest or priestess is channeling the spirit of a deity, they must reflect the gender of the deity in their own clothing. So, if a priestess is channeling a male spirit, she must be bare-chested, to represent the maleness of the spirit she is channeling. And the opposite is also true, so if a priest is channeling a female spirit, he would need to cover his chest to reflect that. They can also channel spirits of the same gender as the priest or priestess, all of which would be represented by their clothing. This particular shrine is a very important one pertaining to this clan with representations of the animals and people who were important to them. As our guide described this particular shrine, he also explained to us that one of the clans among the Ga people believe to have descended from a lost tribe of Israel who migrated here to Ghana and are therefore a Jewish community here in Western Africa.
As he was describing this shrine, he also explained local customs pertaining to mourning loved ones after they have passed. Locally, there are three different colors that are worn when grieving the death of a loved one: red, black, or brown. A fourth color, white, is worn for the passing of twins, because twins are very highly regarded in the Ga culture, and if the person is older than 70 years old. It is believed that people who are 70 years old or older have a more auspicious death; we are not sad for them passing, they have lived a full life and are reunited with their ancestors.
Next, he took us down Clearland Road, and pointed out the remnants of British rule, like the old lamp post you can see in the first two pictures. As we kept going along, he took us to a typical family home in Jamestown. In all these family homes, the whole extended family lives, and the family live in these houses for generations. They are owned jointly between all the living family members, so it is nearly impossible to sell any of these properties because all the family members have to agree – and there is always at least one who does not! The Ga culture is patriarchal, so there is usually a patriarchal figure who presides over the family home. The toilet and kitchen are located outside, in the courtyard, the rest of the house is just bedrooms, each with a door leading into the courtyard. At this point in the tour, he told us that they used to offer water to the people on the tour, as the highest sign of hospitality. But, they would offer local water, and after a lot of people got sick from this practice, they decided to stop.
Once a couple gets married, they will live wherever there is space for them, the bride can move into the groom’s house, or the groom can move to the bride’s house, or they could live separately if there’s not enough room for both of them in either of the houses. In the end, the family home is a place of comfort; it’s where one goes to find family and a safe space. Since everyone has a family home somewhere in Ghana, there is, theoretically, less homelessness – remember, these homes are owned by the same family for generations, and all family members are welcome to stay. Our guide explained that there are only three reasons to move out of a family home: independence, to travel, or to have a nuclear family. He told us that the home in this picture is actually his family home, and that is his mother sitting out front. He has moved out with his wife and young daughter to have some independence, but he often brings his daughter here so that his mother can look after her. With this being the case in all, or at least most, families in Ghana, the logical conclusion, which our guide confirmed, is that most of the homeless people that live in Accra are either from different regions in Ghana, or neighboring countries, because all the locals in Accra always have a family home they can go back to. A final note the guide gave us about family homes: in Ghana they believe, and practice, that a marriage brings together not just two families, but four, meaning each of the grandparents, not just the parents of each person.
As we continued to walk around, we came across many churches. The one in this picture is a Ga Pentecostal Church. Here in Ghana, they consider a Pentecostal church to be a one-man church, because the church only answers to the priest and no other clergy.
However, as we went further along, we were taken to a part of the city that is owned by the Roman Catholic Church. The land was purchased by the church in 2000 and previously it had been used as a European graveyard for the soldiers that had served in Accra. Today it is one of two secondary schools in British old Accra, the second one is Anglican. It started out as a private school, but now it is government assisted, which means that some of the fees are covered by the government. The kids in the school were all very excited to see us all, apparently the tours usually run on the weekend, and we were out on a Tuesday, so most of the locals here don’t see many foreigners like us walking around. It was at this point in the tour that our guide explained the local Ga word for “foreigner,” which is “blofuno” and it literally translates to “someone from the horizon.” It is a nice way of putting it, because all the Ghanaians saw the foreigners arriving “from the horizon.”
Next, we went to the central part of Jamestown, where all the hustle and bustle is located. We went by an old municipal building, that he referred to as the Iron house, because it is shaped like an old-fashioned iron. We also saw plenty of scenes from everyday Jamestown. He even told us about a local venue people can come to in order to have their food ground. Since a lot of people can’t afford blenders, they have a communal one, you just bring the food you need ground, and they will grind it for you!
Our next stop was the Jamestown palace. Our guide explained that there are two ruling families in Jamestown. The previous king has passed away, so now it is the turn of the other ruling family to present candidates for king. It is not as simple as the next eligible male in the other family. There are very intricate rules involved in selecting the next king. The eligible ruling family must present three male candidates. These candidates need to be properly trained to take on the role of king and they will be chosen by elders from both families. There are several things that take you out of the running to be a candidate for king. Firstly, you can’t be left-handed – as with Indian and a lot of other Eastern cultures, traditionally, left-handedness is viewed as dirty. For example, here in Ghana it is considered extremely rude to shake or even wave at someone with your left hand. Next, an eldest brother is not allowed to be a candidate, because it is believed that since he is the eldest, he cannot be brought to order or fall in line if needs be. Finally, no twins are allowed to be candidates, twins are revered in Ga culture and are therefore believed to be too important to be candidates. Our guide told us that the last king died five or six years ago and still no candidate has been selected to replace him. He was very frustrated as he explained how much politics and lobbying has been involved in the selection process by outside, foreign forces. Here in Ghana, in any city in Ghana, permission to buy property has to be given by the local king or chief, and because of that a lot of foreign companies have been trying to lobby for certain candidates that will favor their company buying up more land. He further explained that there are two types of land here in Ghana: family land, which, like family homes, is nearly impossible to sell or purchase, and communal or tribal land. It is this second type of land that all the foreign companies are lobbying to purchase.
Next, we learned about James Fort, which was build in 1673. He was very vague on the original of the name but explained that it came from one of three sources: King James of England, the King James Bible, or another James that he couldn’t pin down. Initially this building was used as a slave castle during the many years of slave trade that went on here in Ghana. After the slave trade ended, it was used as a prison. The founder and first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, was actually imprisoned here by the British when he was fighting for Ghana’s independence. In the early 2000s it was no longer used as a prison and has been abandoned ever since. It is currently a UNESCO historic site, but it is not being overseen or looked after.
Our final stop on the tour was the new harbor that is being built here in Accra. Currently the main port closest to Accra is located in Tema, which is about an hour’s drive away, and it is where a lot of Varun’s onsite work takes place locally. But they are currently in the process of preparing and building a new port in downtown Accra. For me, I really liked seeing the juxtaposition of the local fishing boats next to a modern marine vessel, and the locals working to prepare the new port.
On our way back to the community center, I couldn’t help but notice this little shop with ice skates and what appear to be ski boots. I don’t know if they were to be repaired or for sale, but as a girl born and breed in the White Mountains, growing up ice skating in winter, I couldn’t fathom why or how these skates ended up here or when anyone in the tropics of Ghana would ever use them!
Finally, we were shown the border between the British and Dutch Old Accra regions, during colonial times. Today, it’s just a simple street between all the modern buildings that now exist. I also had one final question for the guide about some lion statues I saw just standing in front of a building. Apparently, the local royalty adopted the symbol of the British royalty, the lion, so any property owned by a royal will have the regal lions out front. And, finally, we saw yet another display of Chinese dominance as we walked by an ongoing Chinese project at the soon-to-be Accra port.
As we were leaving downtown Accra, we drove by the Anglican owned property and I had to get a picture. I really enjoyed the walking tour of Jamestown. It was a great way to get out of the house and get some exercise with some good friends and meet new ones. Plus, I really felt like I’m starting to witness and learn about the local history here in Ghana. It’s been frustrating to have been here so long knowing so little about local culture and customs, but with both the girls in school all day, I am finally getting a chance to get out on my own and learn!
School
This month, just like last month, the girls have been able to get in a few minutes at the playground before they go into class every day. All three of us love this time, because we all get to play, and this playground is, hands down, the best playground in the city! I feel so lucky that the girls get to see it and play on it every day.
And one of my favorite things about the school is how much they communicate with me directly. So, almost every week, if not more often, they send me pictures of the girls doing their daily activities in the classroom. I love being able to witness their learning process, if not firsthand, and I just can’t believe how fast they’re growing up and how much they’re learning!
Swimming
This month with swimming we had quite a bit of drama for poor Sara Gail. At the beginning of the month, the coach told her that she was finally ready to swim with the rest of her teammates. So, for weeks she was practicing with the team itself and she was doing amazingly well! Abigail was getting bored on the sidelines, but I tried my best to keep her entertained, or she’d just make a new friend!
Then, the final week of November we were only going to be swimming for two days, because Thanksgiving was that week and I wanted to take the full day to celebrate as a family. On the Tuesday when we came for practice, no one was there – not a coach, none of the other swimmers, no one. I sent the coach several messages asking if there was practice and where everyone was, letting both the girls play around in the water in the meantime. Then, over an hour later, I finally decided enough was enough and I was taking the girls home. As we came out of the locker room, there were both the coaches with one or two of the other swimmers, using up the last 15 minutes of the practice. I gave the coach a piece of my mind, how angry I was to have wasted our time. The next practice was on Friday. On that day there was a new coach with the kids, a man I had never seen before myself. I got Sara Gail ready, and she got in the water and started practice, as usual. Thirty minutes later, during what is supposed to be an hour-long practice, at least, she comes out of the water telling me that she’s done with practice. I went to discuss it with the coach, because it didn’t seem fair that she only got to swim for such a short time. The coach explained to me that the other man there was his boss and the Head Coach of the team. He had observed Sara Gail swimming and determined that she was not fit to be on the team until she learned the backstroke and the butterfly stroke. Now, her original coach seemed genuinely disappointed himself because he said Sara Gail showed a lot of potential. But this other Head Coach is notorious for being moody and mean to the children. So, we left it that her original coach would work with her on the other two strokes and get her on the team. The only time I could take her, though, was during the team practice because of when the girls get out of school. The weekend passed and I heard nothing from anyone. So, when Tuesday came along, I told the coach that I would be coming at the normal time because I hadn’t heard anything otherwise from him. His response to me was “I thought I told you my boss said Sara Gail couldn’t swim with the team until she can swim properly.” Swim properly!?!?!? I was livid! I sent him a very angry message back and called him several times, but the coward never answered me. As heartbroken as I am for poor Sara Gail, who was so excited to finally be on the team, we will need to look for an alternative for the time being. Needless to say, I will never speak to or even recommended that coach or team ever again.
Abigail, on the other hand, has been having a great time doing swimming at school! I love my little water babies!
Sewing
This month for my sewing projects I was finally able to put my Batik fabric to use and made my African Holiday Tablecloth. I sewed on a few embellishments using cloth from one of the fancy fabric stores here in Accra and added a border and a bottom. It was a bit of a time crunch because I wanted to finish it before the official start of the holiday season began, but I’m very happy with the final result!
Thanksgiving
Finally, the day I was most looking forward to this month arrived! In the lead up to the day I had to do some cooking and baking preparation so I could just enjoy myself with Varun and the girls. So, of course, I had to make our traditional cranberry and pumpkin bread, with the addition of banana bread for Sara Gail. This year I found fresh cranberries for sale, so I snatched them up and froze them to make the delectable cranberry bread!
Next, I decided to make a simple chocolate pie as dessert. Although, it turned out to not be all that simple after all. First, I needed to make the crust from scratch, so I just blended some Oreo cookies, mixed them with melted butter, and froze it. Then I had to make the filling for the pie, using local chocolate and homemade whipped cream, because you can’t find that here either.
Finally, I made our family’s sausage and rice stuffing the day before so we wouldn’t have to worry about it on the day of Thanksgiving. I used a different type of pork sausage this year, and as usual, I made my own version of Uncle Ben’s wild herb rice.
Then Turkey Day arrived! Even though Thanksgiving isn't recognized as a holiday over here, I decided to keep the girls home from school. Varun had the day off, and it has always been a really meaningful holiday for me, so I wanted to be sure that the four of us could celebrate together. Since we are several hours ahead of the parade in New York, we have had to shift our Thanksgiving traditions around a little bit. So, this year after our breakfast of delicious breads we did some fun coloring and crafts with the girls while listening to Christmas music.
After that, we watched our family’s traditional movie: Scrooge, a 1970 musical based on A Christmas Carol. Sara Gail is now at an age where she is starting to remember scenes and songs from the movie, and even Abigail is getting excited about watching it too. I absolutely love that I am able to share this tradition with the girls, it is truly one of my favorites.
Once the movie was finished Varun and I had to prepare our Thanksgiving spread of appetizers for lunch, so we let the girls watch the first Christmas movie of the season: Elf!
After lunch Varun went upstairs to take a seasonal Thanksgiving nap, and while the girls were playing the parade finally started, so I sat by myself on the couch and enjoyed the festivities!
At last, we all sat down for our Thanksgiving feast. Since we were hosting a Thanksgiving potluck with turkey a few days later, we decided to only do a chicken for Thanksgiving night. We had the traditional green bean casserole as well, with a slight spin on the fried onions. All in all, it was a wonderful holiday spent together as a family!
Since we have so many South African friends here in Ghana, we decided to host our very own South African Thanksgiving. Basically, we had a potluck with all of our friends bringing traditional South African side dishes while we provided the turkey. Finding a turkey here in Accra can be a challenge, and I definitely think we could have easily gotten a smaller turkey, but so many of our guests had never had turkey before so we were happy to offer it for this traditional American holiday.
The chicken on Thanksgiving night had turned out so well that Varun wanted to replicate the brining process with the turkey. The only problem was that we had gotten such a big turkey, we didn’t have a pot big enough to fit the whole thing! So, throughout the morning Varun was flipping the turkey, and getting brine all over the kids’ table, while he tried to prepare the bird for later that night.
We were having everyone over on a Saturday, because none of our friends thought it made any sense to have a holiday in the middle of the week. So, at the beginning of the afternoon we were playing the parade so they could all see what we do on Thanksgiving day. But this wasn’t just any Saturday of the year, this was The Game Day, Michigan vs. Ohio State. At first, I was worried about playing the game while everyone was over, Varun and I get very intense during Michigan football games, especially this biggest of all rivalries. But, thankfully for all Michigan fans around the world, Michigan WON!! Varun was over the moon, and in turn a very good host!
All our friends loved the spread, and the first-time turkey eaters thought it was delicious!
The only problem was that Varun and I, and Varun’s American colleague, noticed that the turkey had a funny taste to it. We all agreed that it hadn’t gone bad or anything like that, and then we put our finger on it: the turkey had a fishy taste to it! When I talked to another American friend of mine a few days later, she told me that she and her husband had a similar experience a few years back with a local turkey. I came to the conclusion that they must feed the turkey fish meal when they raise it, which gives the final meal an odd, fishy taste. Needless to say, we will be looking to buy a smaller, imported turkey next year.
Regardless of this detail, we all had a great time together, the kids had fun playing together all day, and I couldn’t have been happier to be surrounded by such wonderful friends on the first holiday of the season!
Time at Home
Well, this month, between all the holidays, school, activities, and other drama of our daily lives, we still were able to find time to spend together just as a family. Despite the very often occuring fights and squabbles between the girls, they are becoming more and more interactive and playful with each other. They come up with such creative and fun games to play and it’s wonderful to just sit back and watch. Even though this time can be tough between the tantrums and talking back, it is still a beautiful period to watch them grow, laugh, play, and bond as sisters, and no one could ask for better daughters!
With Thanksgiving officially over, it was now time to start decorating for Christmas! So, Abigail thoroughly enjoyed watching me put the tree together, and sneaking in kisses when she could. Sara Gail, in the meantime, was enjoying The Santa Clause and giggling at all its silliness!
(P.S. I still don’t like having a fake tree!)
As a last note on this doozy of a post, this month Sara Gail needed another trim, and we’re still looking around for a place that can do a nice even cut on her hair. The place we tried this time doesn’t usually cut children’s hair, but Sara Gail behaved really well, and I think they’d be willing to take her in again. I know it’s necessary for her to get a short trim every few months, but it still breaks my heart to see a scissor cutting through her gorgeous auburn locks!
Well, that’s it for the Raghunathan Family adventures of November 2021! I hope you come back next week to read about our second holiday season in Accra!
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