Hogbetsotso festival
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The Hogbetsotso festival (pronounced Hogbechocho)[1] is celebrated by the chiefs and people of Anlo in the Volta Region of Ghana.[2] Some major Anlo towns include Anloga (capital), Keta, Kedzi, Vodza, Whuti, Srogboe, Woe,Tegbi, Dzita, Abor, Anlo Afiadenyigba, Anyako, Konu, Alakple, Atsito, Atiavi, Deʋegodo, Atorkor, Tsiame and many other villages. The festival is celebrated annually on the first Saturday in the month of November at Anloga, the customary and ritual capital of the Anlo state.[2][3] The name of the festival is derived from the Ewe language and translates as the festival of exodus.[4] or "coming from Hogbe (Notsie)".[5] The celebration of the festival was instituted about four decades ago.[5]
The Anlo is a group of people from a tribe on the eastern coast of Ghana. Prior to their settling in their present location, they lived in Notsie, a town in present-day Togo.[6][7] It is believed that they had migrated from southern Sudan through Oyo, an area in Nigeria, Ketou in Benin and Adja Tado in Togo to settle in Notsie.[6] Oral tradition has it that they lived under a wicked king, Togbe Agorkoli (Agor Akorli).[8] In order to escape his tyrannical rule they had to create a hole in the earthen wall that surrounded their town. They achieved this by instructing the women to pour all their wastewater at one particular place in the wall.[4] Over time the spot became soft, thereby allowing the town people to break through the wall and escape through the resulting mud. Tradition also holds that, to confuse their pursuers, buying time to make good their escape, they walked backwards with their faces towards the town so that their footprints appeared to going into the town.[4]