Efua & Kofi

Efua's family is from a village in the Volta Region where the same family has farmed for seven generations. Kofi's family moved to Ho from Accra two generations ago but maintained their ties to the Ewe traditional calendar and ceremony. Their wedding, held at the height of the dry season in the compound of Efua's grandparents, brought together members of the extended family who in some cases had not seen each other in twenty years.

The ceremony was structured to honour both the present celebration and the absent elders: those who had died but whose presence the family felt at every significant moment. A small altar was maintained at the edge of the compound space, and libations were poured at each major transition in the ceremony: at the beginning, after the bride's entrance, after the exchange of gifts, and at the closing blessing.

Kofi had commissioned the kente worn by him and Efua from a weaver in Kpetoe, the kente-weaving centre of the Volta Region, six months before the wedding. The pattern he chose was one he had seen his father wear at every important family occasion: a way of bringing his father, who had died three years earlier, into the room without words.