Torgbui Hatsu Festival

There has been a festival going on in my village the past two days for our chief. It is being put on by a woman from Togo who wants honor one of our chiefs Togbui Hatsu. It is only to honor him and his position. It has involved the whole town. The first day started with a ritual sacrifice of some animals. The first dug a hole in front of the chief’s palace. Then they dragged the cow in along with a chicken, turkey and Guinea fowl. The slit each animal’s throat and then poured the blood into the whole. The most disturbing was seeing the cow as it was trying breath and you could see the air being sucked in and out of its lungs. We actually had to move because blood was spraying. It was pretty crazy to see. They then butchered the animals and gave out the meat to different people in town. This took pretty much all morning long. Then after the meal was cooked they took some of the food and put it in the same hole and covered it with a basket and later with dirt. This is all for the gods of the land which were brought to the community at its founding. This was all followed by drumming and dancing pouring of libations and large amounts of Akpeteshie which is the local booze and gin being drank. It was a lot of fun. They are continuing today but I missed the sacrifices to the gods of two goats. The festival was meant to celebrate the one year anniversary of the death of the last chief. It was pretty cool and hopefully I will be able to put some video of it online.