ANEHO, TOGO. HISTORY & UPCOMING EVENTS: TAKING OF THE SACRED STONE, FIHA, FESTIVAL OF BLACK DEITIES

ANÉHO CITY, THE CAPITAL OF THE PREFECTURE OF LAKES

Aného is a city in Togo, capital of the Prefecture of Lakes in the Maritime Region.

Spiritual centre of the Guin-Mina people, it is located in the south-east of Togo 50 kilometers from Lome. The city of Aného borders Benin.

Historical centre of the trade of the Blacks, it was the capital of Togo twice, from 1886 to 1897 then between 1914 and 1919.

History
The ancient city, built in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, is founded by Guin immigrants. The natives of Aného are the Guin and the Mina. These different communities came from Ghana in the 17th century to settle in the region of the lakes in 1663 and whose capital is Aného,

The Guin people are run by the Foli Bebe Kingdom based in Glidji. The current ruler is Sedegbe Foli Bebe XV. The Mina people are ruled by the Ata-Quaum Kingdom based in Nlessi. The current ruler is Nana Ohiniko Quam Dessu XIV. The Guin of Aného are ruled since 2002 by Togbé Ahuawoto Zankli Savado Lawson VIII. The city is on the UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List since 12 December 2000.

WHAT TO FIND THERE
Aného is a naturally tourist town and one of its potentialities is tourism.

The site is very attractive with a sandy beach along the Atlantic Ocean and a lagoon that runs through the city and flows into the sea through a mouth. This natural predisposition is complemented by an important hotel capacity through the hotels and inns.

Apart from the vestiges left by the triangular traffic and the colonization which are mainly real estate, the city of Aného excels also by the richness and the quality of its culinary art and by three great cultural events:

EVENTS
The taking of the "Sacred Stone" which announces the new An Guin, the most important event. Fête traditionnelle qui marque le début de l’année de l’ethnie GUIN, Epe-Ekpé est sans doute l’une des cérémonies les plus plus importantes de toute l’Afrique de l’ouest.

Epe-Ekpé is the occasion for taking the sacred stone (Kpessosso) which remains the core around which all events revolve. Epé-Ekpé, a great traditional festival which generally takes place in September, is a way of asserting the collective identity of this people, based on cosmological principles, on the symbolism of the masculine and the feminine. Solidarity is at the heart of teaching at Ekpé. Indeed this Thursday, September 22, 2022, the Guin people of Togo from Benin and from elsewhere celebrated the 359th edition of the taking of the sacred stone on Gbatchoumé Square in Glidji, the historic capital of Guindua or Guinyi or Guinyigban.

The Festival of Black Deities organized by ACOFIN on 07 September 2023.

Organized by the Association for the Safeguarding of African Cultural Heritage (ACOFIN), this festival aims to safeguard and promote black culture, the exhibition of dances and the mysteries of the convents of traditional religions. Magic rituals, ancestral dances and typical songs, this singular festival lifts the veil on the practices of the voodoo cult.

It is the major artistic event in Togo, with nearly 50,000 people expected to attend. It is usually held in December, every year, for four days.
Marked by Voodoo scenes, ancestral dances and songs of slavery, the festival of black deities is the most important cultural event in Togo.

The Aného festival organized by the AQUEREBURU AND PARTNERS foundation.
23 – 26 November 2023
The objective of the said festival is to make the history of Aneho an integral part of African history. The bet being to make the City of Aného, ​​formerly called and known as "Petit-Popo" which is the capital of the Prefecture of the Lakes located in the Maritime Region, a meeting place for all , whether they are historians, researchers, journalists, students, lovers of literature – even of culture.

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