The Fancy Dress Festival which is the biggest Masquerading Festival in Ghana, locally known as kaakamotobi saw various masquerading groups displaying their colorful dresses and thrilling dancing moves amidst brass band music. There are 5 groups that is Noble’s No.1, Egyaa No. 2, Tumus No. 3, Red Cross No. 4 and Royals No. 5.
Some indigenes of Winneba revealed that the festival is always held around the Christmas season to the first day of the New Year to commemorate the relationship between the colonial masters who settled in Winneba and also promote the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous Winneba people to boost tourism in the Country.
The festival which is coordinated by the Winneba Masquerade Federation sparkled the entire Winneba Township with guests and tourists from Ghana and across the world.
This fervent competition fuels the creativity that holds the festival together as the entire town is split along these troupe lines, with each one attempting to outwit the other with the most bizarre and riveting costumes, stunts, songs and dances. The masquerades borrow heavily from colonial culture by dressing up as some institutions of colonial power from police, cowboys, pastors to garden parties, and other figures that were prominent in that era. There is a deliberate attempt to completely embody this eurocentric appearance, such that every layer of exposed skin is cover with white fabric with straighten hair wigs for both men and women. However, costumes are not limited by colonial history and many reference several personalities from pop culture such as Mortal Kombat characters, Black Jesus, Donald Trump, members of a royal wedding party and cowboys wielding Supreme cash guns in one place at the same time, a Ghanaian woman and musician, whose meteoric rise has caused a rethinking of roles women play in the local music scene. At the start of the year in Winneba, a town in the central region of Ghana, these characters and more draped the coastal town in iridescent color for the Winneba Fancy Dress Festival.
The costumes are engineered to provoke visceral reactions, be it fear, anxiety, or laughter through the exaggerate features. Traditionally, the festival was reserved for men, which meant that a number of them engaged in cross dressing, which is seen as taboo in most Ghanaian community, in order to accurately depict women characters. Today, women are allowed to participate in the festival, yet most of the male participants still put on wigs, earrings, frocks and gowns to become women.
The festival stands out from most masquerade festival on the continent not just because of the long and intriguing history that binds it, but primary due to its constantly evolving visual culture. Participants do not limit their imagination to the tradition that birthed their beloved festival, but look to themselves and their socio-political conditions that permeate society for inspiration for their costumes. As such each year, there will be something new that not only captivates the audience but also doubles as a subtle metaphor for whatever sentiments that dominated the narrative from the past year. The redesigning of predominant images by the masquerades weaponizes their performances to become a tool for imaginative thinking. In a way, the festival is a living museum—it reminds us of the past as well as catalyzing conversation on the conditions of the present.
