Beads have played important role in the Ghanaian culture and fashion about 4000yrs ago. They are items that are adored by Ghanaians which were used in traditional events, birth, marriage, death, and puberty rites. Later, it was incorporated into their fashion style. Beads in the olden days were made from natural materials like: stones, clay, plants and animal materials and were formed in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Over a number of decades now, people found beads as slightly old fashioned but fortunately, it has gained attention and popularity in the market today. In Ghana, beads have gone viral in fashion sense today. They are used as clothing accessories which adds to the design of the cloth and sometimes are designed into bags and shoes.

They were worn by women as a symbol of womanhood, femininity, seduction and body shaping but most women these days wear beads on their waist mainly for body shaping and to entice their men. Some women wear different types of beads to enhance intimacy and most men find this irresistible. Other ladies also wear beads on their waist to shape their body and check their weight whether they are adding up to their body or reducing in weight.

Beads are used as jeweleries and bracelets worn by most women and some men attached to their clothes. Some people have the idea that jewelries give a crown to every dress up and that has made them develop love for jewelries. Some ladies also prefer to wear it as anklets due to their love for it unlike the olden days when anklets were only worn by slaves.

Ghanaians love and art for beads will continue to play important role in the Ghanaian culture.

Ahenema is a local name for Ghanaian Traditional slippers which was ususally worn by chiefs and queens, elderly people and rich people in the society. Ahenema which is also known as “Kyawkyaw” has being in existence for quite number of years now and it still stands out. The reason behind the name “Kyawkyaw” was related to the sound it makes when walking in it. The name “Ahenema” came up as the sandals was named after children of the king which in Akan language means, “Ahene MmA”.

Ahenema was mostly worn by the Akans during festivals, funerals, traditional events and other occassions. This sandals is made out of leather, wood and animals’ skin. There are two types of Ahenema which are: “Asansan Tuo” and “Atine”. The “Asansan Tuo” is designed to have a curved shape while the “Atine” is designed to have a straight shape.

In today’s fashion, the Ahenema is worn by anybody to any occassion being it wedding ceremony, birthday party, church and others. It is mostly worn with African Prints to have a great look.

Ahenema has been a symbol of one of the major attributes of African culture and can be concluded on a fact that, it’s still a symbol of the Ghanaian culture so far as Ghanaians have not left their culture behind.

Ghanaian festivals are important symbol of the Ghanaian culture. Festivals are celebrated in the various Regions in the country throughout the year to depict the rich culture the country is endowed with.

Although, there have been a great development over some years now and Africans(Ghanaians) have adapted to the western lifestyle but to the people of Ghana, the tradition of their ancestors are still important to their everyday life so festivals are still celebrated despite the change the country has gone through.

Ghanaians have live to know that festivals play a major role in their culture and it is through these festivals that others get to know of the heritage of their people.

Celebration of these festivals contribute to the development of the country as it makes the people know more about their history. It also acts as reunion of families, relatives and love ones. It helps to initiate developmental projects and also, attracts foreign tourists to the country.

Gone are the days when dark skin was looked down upon and underrepresented in fashion but today, dark skin is known to be sexy and beautiful.

Most ladies who are dark skinned live to bleaching by applying chemical substances on their bodies in attempt to lighten their skin by reducing the melanin concentration of the skin.

These chemical substances leads to serious skin and health conditions which includes; skin cancer, dark grey spots, uneven skin colour, bad odour and other serious effects.

In this space, it’s really important for dark skinned ladies to know how precious their skin colour is and to avoid bleaching their skin.

In this era, it’s all about knowing your shade, the colours that fits your shade and you are good to go. All dark skinned ladies should stop settling for less but rather love and embrace the skin they have.

Dark skin represents beauty and ladies who are dark skinned are really gorgeous.

Let’s live to saying “No to skin Bleaching”

The patronage of African Prints was very low during some years back until the “wear Ghana initiative” was re-introduced in 2017 by the Government. Most Ghanaians attributed this low patronage to the high cost of the fabrics .

Most Ghanaians now enjoy wearing African Prints thereby leading to the high patronage of these fabrics which also contributes to the development of the country.

Speaking to the CEO of De Modern fabrics and African Prints, he says the patronage of African Prints are on a rise. He further says, Ghanaians now enjoy African Prints because they want the world to accept who they are.

This explains that most Ghanaians have developed a taste for African Prints and most foreigners who come into the country have adopted to it; they are mostly seen in the African Prints.

It can be concluded that, our culture has been emboldened through the “wear Ghana initiative”.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton