Winneba Masquerade Festival : The First Party Of The Year In Ghana

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If you want to start your New Year with colour, celebration, and pure energy, there is only one place to be on 1st January, Winneba . While everybody is still sleeping after 31st Night, Winneba is already awake. Drums, brass band, costumes, masks. This is the Winneba Masquerade Festival, locally called Fancy Dress. It is the first major festival in Ghana every year. And it is the second biggest festival in Winneba after Aboakyer. There is a morning in Winneba that does not feel like any other morning in Ghana. By 7am, you can hear it. The brass band far away. The drum, shouting and the crowd. If you are in Winneba on that day, you cannot stay in your room. The sound will drag you out. I remember the first time I followed the sound. I thought something had happened. I thought maybe there was a funeral. But when I reached the road, I saw something I had never seen before. Men wearing masks. Big, colourful, scary, beautiful masks. Some looked like animals. Some looked like old white men ...

NAACP Image Awards postponed to March 27.

In the midst of the Covid-19 Crisis, the 52nd Annual NAACP Image Awards have been pushed back from its unique Feb. 20, 2021, air date. 

In an assertion on Tuesday, the NAACP uncovered that the live BET broadcast of the honors will presently air March 27 at 8 p.m. ET.


“After careful consideration and guidance from health experts and state and local government, we have decided to reschedule the 52nd NAACP Image Awards to March 27, 2021,” the longstanding civil rights organization’s statement read. “As COVID-19 continues to ravage our country, particularly the African-American community, it is our utmost priority to maintain a safe and healthy environment for our staff, production teams, nominees, and all talent involved in this year’s awards ceremony.”

“We look forward to uplifting and celebrating our rich culture and the outstanding achievements of our nominees when it is safe to do so and we appreciate everyone’s understanding during these unprecedented times,” the message concluded.

The awards, which celebrates the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts and those who promote social justice through their creative work, has been recognized as the nation’s preeminent multicultural awards show – a necessary alternative to many other mainstream award shows which traditionally celebrates works from a white gaze.

Previous attendees and winners have included Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, Beyoncé, Jamie Fox, Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Angela Bassett, , Rihanna, Jay-Z, Michael B. Jordan and Lizzo.

Nominees, in the categories of television and streaming, music, literature, film and activism, for this year is expected to be announced o Feb. 3.