Religion
The religious composition of Ghana in the first post independence population census of 1960 was 41 percent Christian, 38 percent traditionalist, 12 percent Muslim, and about 9 percent had no religious affiliation. Those who observe traditional religious customs also include both Christians and Muslims.
Religious tolerance in Ghana is very high. The celebration of Christmas and Easter are recognized as national holidays. Vacations are often planned around these occasions, permitting both Christians and others living away from home to visit friends and family. Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting, observed by Muslims across the country.
Important traditional occasions are celebrated by all the respective ethnic groups. These festivals include the Adae, which occur fortnightly, and the annual Odwira festivals of the Akan. On these sacred occasions, the Akan ancestors are venerated.
There are also the annual Homowo activities of the Ga-Adangbe, during which people return to their home towns to gather together, greet new members of the family, and to remember the dead.
Religious rituals associated with these festivities are strictly observed by traditional elders of the respective ethnic groups. Funerals are also important occasions and are attended by extended families and community members alike.
No part of Ghana, however, is ethnically homogeneous. Urban centers are the most ethnically mixed because of migration to towns and cities by those in search of employment.
Rural areas, with the exception of cocoa-producing areas that have attracted migrant labor, tend to reflect more traditional population distributions. One overriding feature of the country’s ethnic population is that groups to the south who are closer to the Atlantic coast have long been influenced by a monetary economy, Western education, and Christianity, whereas Gur-speakers to the north, who have been less exposed to those influence, have came under Islamic influence. These influences are not pervasive in the respective regions, however-nor are they wholly restricted tot hem.
