The Oguaa Year
Cape Coast's festival and remembrance days as they come around — the Fetu Afahye ban weeks and grand durbar, and Emancipation Day at the castles — with the rules to know before each.
Cape Coast keeps a distinct year, shaped by the Fosu Lagoon, the Asafo companies and the castles on the shore. These are the days the town turns around, in the order they come — with the rules you need to know before each one. Each year's full programme is announced closer to the time, mostly on local radio; this page carries what comes around and points you there.
In 26 days
Emancipation Day
Saturday, 1 August 2026 · Cape Coast & Elmina castles · Assin Manso
Ghana has marked Emancipation Day on 1 August since 1998, and Cape Coast is at its heart. There is a candlelight vigil through the Door of No Return at Cape Coast and Elmina castles and a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, with a grand durbar and wreath-laying at the returnees' graves at Assin Manso, up the road.
Part of a wider season of diaspora remembrance the town holds each year.