The Hogbetsotso Festival is a annual celebration every November by the Anlos also called the

ewes. The word Hogbe is an Ewe word meaning the day of departure which represents their
story of migration from their past domicile. History documents it that the Anlos settled first at
Ketu in Yoruba land which is near the Benin-Nigeria border before migrating to live in Notsiein
central Togo. At Notsie, they came under the rule of an alleged wicked King called Agor-Korli
who treated the Ewe so cruelly that they decided to escape. Therefore, the people in consultation
with an old lady who was a soothsayer told them that the king was planning to kill them so they
should find a way of escaping from the town. The enslaved ones therefore devised a wise way to
escape from the town which was led by a brave warrior known as the Red Hunter.

The town they lived was fenced with a mud wall meant for making it difficult for escape. This
wall, for spiritual reason, was sprinkled with human blood to make it difficult for anyone who
will attempt breaking it. The individual whose blood is to be used must be seen as a pious
person. All the same, the adage that says, where ever there is a will there is a way came to
reality, the main strategy to escape was that, their women were asked to dispense water on one
side of the wall anytime they had to dispose of dirty water from leftover dish washing. This
resulted in the wall becoming soft making it easy to break the wall and for easy escape. After
escaping, they walked backwards with the rationale of confusing their pursuers from noticing
and even oral legendry has it that “The Red Hunter” turned himself into a rat and walked over all
their footprints to make them look older. From Notsie they eventually reached their current
home. Thus, these two places, Ketu and Notsie, are referred to as Hogbe. When they got to their
present home, they created the festival to commemorate the successful bravery escape and as
well as their leaders.

Celebrating hogbetsotso festival

The main objective of the celebration of this festival is to mark their journey from their former
home in Togo, to their present settlement in Ghana. The festival is a great time for the people, as
this marks a great time in their history and is a time for settling disputes among sub-chiefs and
some prominent individuals and more importantly is to know each other. Others take advantage
of the occasion to get their future partners.

A whole range of activities take place during the celebration of the festival from the first day to
the day of the grand durbar. The inception of the festival dates back to the 1962 but now
celebrated on the first Saturday of November every year at Anloga and ends on the next
Saturday. In order not to concentrate activities of the festive in one area, a consensus reached
among the indigenes is that a week before the main festival, there should be a mini festival
outside Anlog or better still, the celebration of the festival should be held on rotational basis in
each of the town. This is meant to be an exact replica of the main event with all the activities
except that these are held at this selected town and village. Anyako, Dzodze and Klikor were
therefore chosen as some of the sites for the mini festival celebration.

The first day activity is the mockup day. This is a day that is set to demonstrate the way the
departure or escape of the enslaved ones was organized. In order to fool the king and his elders,
the departing group walked backwards so that their footsteps would give the impression that they
were rather moving towards and not away from Notsie. The performing of this incident today is
done through the medium of the Misego (Husago) dance which is believed to be the one used to
organize the departure. The dance is performed mainly by women, especially the young ones
with many features portraying backward steps with songs to match the occasion, a moment
worth watching and part-taking.

A bad incident which is believed to have happened during the journeying period is said to have
occurred after their departure from Notsie and a stopover at a place now known as Tsevie. There,
the people grew some cowpeas which would sustain them for the next stage of their journey.
Low and behold ,they woke up the next morning only to find that the farms they will rely on had
been destroy by wild pigs. The storyline is that, before the cowpeas could fully mature, the
insecurity of the place led to agitation among sections of the people for early departure. This
decision was opposed by others who insisted that the cowpeas should be allowed to “tsevie” a
little more. In Ewe, Tsevie means “grow a little more”. Consequently the divergence led to the
departure of the main group with the others remaining there to give the name Tsevie to the place.

The third day of the celebration is the “dodede” and “nugbidodo” day. These are events meant
for cleaning the surrounding areas. The dodede, rite which literally means “removal of
disease” ,this involves the elimination of disease and the expulsion of evil spirits which are held
to be the causes of such disease. Dodede precedes the celebrations of the festival, serving as a
fitting preparation for be in touch with the Supreme God (Mawu), the smaller god (trowo), and
their ancestor (togbinoliawo), and this is purely a private ritual affair.Nugbidodo means
reconciliation. In the land of Anlo, they always strive for harmony among each other. The
conviction is that the ancestors do not like misunderstanding and quarrels to remain unresolved
because this bridges ill health and hinder progress. Therefore, nugbidodo is performed among
family members as well as lineages, clans and among chiefs to solve all problems. In addition,
there is a strong belief that the Hogbetsotso festival will not succeed till this ritual is duly
performed.

“Hanududu” which is one of the activities, is one you should not be left out as a visitor. All
landlords provide ingredients for their wives and hold an open house. The notion is that those
who quarrel do not eat together and vice versa. Therefore, this is organized to compel each other
to eat together leading to reconciliation among the parties involved and a manifestation of
harmony among kinsfolk, lineage members, clans folk and the population at large.

The Miss Hogbetsotso is a must witness ceremony as a today additive to the range of activities to
sustain the interest, entertainment and relaxation pleasure of visitors. This is where beautiful
ladies of the Anlo land dress beautifully for a beauty pageant. The actual reason why this is
organized as part of the festival is to use it as an opportunity to educate parents and invited guest
on issues on Child Labour, Female Genital Mutilation, Causes of road accidents and possible
solutions among other social and development issues. Each of these elegant ladies presents a
paper on the key thematic issues outlined above. It is also a ceremony for showcasing the
touristic potentials of the region. After the contest, trips are organized to attraction sites such as
mount Afadjato, Tafi Atomi Monkey sanctuary, Wli falls and others eco-tourism sites in the
region. Make an effort to this ceremony and your experience will be worthwhile.
The climax of the festival is the durbar of chiefs and people held at Anloga. No festival is
complete without music and dance and the Hogbetsotso is no exception. In this durbar, people
from all parts of Ghana especially Volta Region turns up in their numbers to show appellations to
their king who always stays from public view. While the ever popular Agbadza is always
performed to welcome the king and his entourage in, other dances such as Misego (Husago),
Kpegisu, Atsia, Keta and dances specifically associated with certain clans like Laklevu (the
Leopard Dance) of the Bamee clan are displayed colorfully. The Borborbor traditional dance of
the people of Anlo is not left out during the ceremony. During the grand durbar of the chiefs, the
dance is vigorously performed. This is an intense dance that involves rapid tapping of the
dancer’s side accompanied by intricate foot work.The festival is ended by key note address from
dignitaries and the final libation is poured. The government representatives and non-
governmental (N.G.O’s) use that as a good ground to present to the community the
developmental projects planned and calls for their participation. To crown it all, the president is
taking round the various communities in a convoy for cutting of sword as a sign of
commissioning the various projects