'TRADITIONAL DAY' HONORED ON FATHERS DAY AT THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST; MAMPONTENG

The Church of Pentecost declared the 16th of June, a day for Fathers as Traditional Day.

The Traditional Day is aimed at remembering the cultures of the various tribes in the country and customizing oneself with the costumes of their tribes. This is to promote made in Ghana products and services and also acknowledge the inheritance the fathers once left their predecessors.

The Mamponteng Church of Pentecost, English Assembly celebrated the day in a unique fashion displaying the African wears in designs to commemorate such a gifted day for the fathers of the land. Leading the Studies today on how Ghanaians can hold unto the legacy ones given by the fore-fathers and not be obsessed by the foreign ways of life was presiding elder; Samuel Odonkor Nokolawe.

He highlighted the church through Proverbs 20:22 “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children” explaining the significance of the Ghanaian art, music, and literature and the need to hold unto it. History was informed on how citizens have abandoned manufacturing industries, norms, principles and values and occupied oneself with the western trend with several becoming “white elephants” for the Ghanaian to let go. Food was also mentioned in his presentation. “Ghana is a mass producer of leather which we use to manufacture shoes in the country yet, a shoemaker will prefer to attach the made in China logo on his product before consumers attend to it. Meanwhile, when it comes to shoe production, we have the better and original leather from here” he bitterly said.

He educated the flock on how the local food which was instrumental for our health has been let go for the western nutrition which is the cause of many sicknesses without cure. Foods like ‘nnuhuu’, ‘adibi’, ‘aprapransa’, ‘nkyakera’, ‘eto’ and the rest have been substituted for pizza, shawarma, fried rice and stuffs.

The floor was given for the congregation to generate ideas on the reason for the neglects. The hot floor established lots of opinions from members especially on why the Ghanaian language has been relieved for English to take over. Much of the blames were apportioned to the country leaders for failing to recognize the Twi language at the highest posts especially during Parliamentary sitting or the President’s address. Others also disagreed with the opinion confronting the church leader with the question of what the Ghanaian language is, seeing there are more than 40 tongues in the country. The local food was encouraged by the congregation to be observed more than the foreign since its preparation is a definition of a virtuous woman. Branding and packaging was encouraged by a section of the people advising manufacturers to absorb the power behind and make prices of a standard quality for patronage. Globalization of culture was attended to by way of serving each other with a common interest through educating children to learn and speak the local language as well as the foreign for external purposes.

The Local Assembly seized the rest of the time to celebrate the fathers through dancing and singing. The various celebrated songs of Pentecost were vocalled to guide Elder Samuel Odonkor and his presbyters on the platform with a dance. The ‘Obaa panin’ of the house who also is a Deaconess and the Queenmother of the Akwamu Clan of the Mamponteng Traditional Area; Nana Acheampomaa Biraso celebrated the day beautifully in honor of the men.

Soiree News enquired from the presiding elder; Samuel Odonkor on the significance of the traditional Day. “This was inherited from our fathers of which we inherited from them. So our culture and dressing differentiate us from the westerners of which makes us Ghanaians. Though the world has moved into a global age of which sometimes we have a blend of their (western) culture but my view is that we should not throw away entirely. Our way of dressing, eating, even our local dialect, we should blend the two so that it will help the generation else our culture will wipe out” he said.

Nana Braso also recognized ideas and encouraged such days to be honored frequently to enable the young ones learn and adopt to the culture of the ancestors. “The Church should keep on establishing days to honor our tradition. The youth should be asked to dressed traditionally just like I have today. The women during the days of old kept their hair cut. They dressed it neatly to depict the African woman just like the queen mothers do. This is a message to the young on where we originated from. The Church should keep encouraging that often” she educated.

Assistant Youth leader of the Intellectuals highlighted on the area of understanding the traditions of the land and what it holds to attach the Biblical perspective to it. “It is Christianity that can bridge the divisions in the tribes of Ghana today. We have to be unified in our diversity so that when these are brought on board, it will help us to understand each other” he added.

“Failure to educate our children on the inheritance of our fathers will lead them wayward. They will find it difficult to steer the church in the future for the reason that the Church of Pentecost was established on the firm foundations of our fathers” the Local Women’s Ministry leader; Mrs Shilla Ansong enlightened.

The fathers were advised to be keen in their children’s welfare. A Happy Father’s Day wish was sent out to the Men.