The African festival staged by playwright Latif Abubakar featured a re-enactment of the popular children’s educational and entertainment television programme By the Fireside, blending storytelling, music, and dance.

One of the key activities at the festival was the Den of History, an outdoor session that combined storytelling, film screenings, and African folktales presented around a fireside setting.

The re-enactment was led by the Lododo Art Foundation, an organisation focused on inspiring creativity and reviving conversations around art among students and the general public. The performance took the audience back to the era when By the Fireside was hosted by Grace Omaboe, popularly known as Maame Dokono.

The storytelling centred on the adventures of Kweku Ananse, the clever and crafty spider known for outsmarting humans and other animals in folklore.

At the Den of History, the format involved the audience sitting in a circle while the storyteller occupied the centre, narrating a Kweku Ananse tale. The story focused on how Ananse managed to deceive death by stealing an item belonging to it, triggering a chase into a village.

In the story, Ananse ran past his hut while being pursued, calling out to his wife, Okonorea, and his sons to come out and flee with him.

The chase intensified until death lost track of Ananse and his family in the forest. Unable to find them, death chose to remain in the village permanently, an explanation given for why people continue to die.

The narrative was intended to convey the message that death is inevitable, encouraging people to live meaningful lives and serve others while they can.

The storytelling session concluded with singing and dancing, aligning with the festival’s broader aim of promoting Accra as a global Pan-African cultural destination every December.