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G H A N A
PANAFEST
and EMANCIPATION DAY
According
to the PANAFEST Foundation, ìIn
Africa, festivals are occasions for merry
making and celebrations. During these
events we reunite with members of our
families who have traveled out of the
community for various reasons. We share a
common meal and engage in discussions and
deliberations that will promote unity and
development. We seek to renew our bonds of
relationships and wish for the best for
each and every member of the family, as
well as for our community. For us on the
Continent of Africa, we lost our kith and
kin some four hundred years ago through
the most traumatic circumstances in our
history, the infamous trans-Atlantic slave
trade. We lost them to the Americas,
Europe, and other parts of the world.
PANAFEST is a festival that serves to
unite all peoples of African descent (as
well as their friends) to come together to
celebrate their achievements, discuss
their problems, challenges and victories
through the vehicles of arts and culture.
Through such a festival, the African
peoples tell their own stories and chart a
path for further development. PANAFEST
attracts a diverse assembly of people,
ranging from political leaders, eminent
personalities and intellectuals ñ
to business people, investors and
tourists. Central to the celebration are
major international performing and visual
artists from across Africa and the
Diaspora.
PANAFEST
stands for Pan-African Historical Theatre
Festival and the festival is appropriately
located in the twin coastal towns of Cape
Coast and Elmina, where European castles
stood (and still stand) and provided the
conduit for the trans-shipment of millions
of Africans across the seas to Europe and
the Americas. Thus, PANAFEST is an
excellent venue for “Reuniting the
African Family”. In a larger
framework, the organizers of PANAFEST
recognize the immense contribution which
the African civilization has made to the
world as a whole; hence through the
celebration, Africa would search for and
re-establish those components of the
African civilization that would not only
restore the people'.s pride but also be
relevant to the advancement of African
peoples. PANAFEST provides the unique
opportunity for participants to
re-establish ties with Mother Africa and
learn more about one another. Ghana,
ìthe cradle for African Freedom and
Independenceî and home to earlier
Pan-Africanists, provides the ideal
setting for the celebration of African
history, arts and culture.
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