Tamale (Northern Region) -- An academician on Tuesday appealed to Christians to participate in traditional festivals and not to regard them as pagan or fetish activities.

The Rev Prof Kwame Bediako, Executive Director of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission Research and Applied Theology at Akropong-Akwapim in the Eastern Region, said such festivals were essentially religious events that serve as a vehicle for communicating or affirming the values of a society and for strengthening the bonds that bind its members.

Rev Prof Bediako was speaking on: "Traditional festivals, culture and the gospel", at a workshop organised by the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILBT).

The one-day workshop, which was attended by 70 participants drawn from 28 language groups, including Gonja, Tampulima, Dagbani, Builsa, Sissala, Hange, Nkonya, Ahanta, Anufo, Valga and Nawure, was sponsored by Summer Institute of Linguistics, an International NGO based in the US.

Rev Prof Bediako asked Christians to let their cultural values inform and influence their belief in the Christian faith. ''Some Christian events such as Christmas and Easter have no basis in the Bible but were a response by Europeans to insert their pre-Christian festivals into the Gospel message.''

Rev Prof Bediako urged Christians to explore the religious meanings in festivals, saying, "some aspects of every traditional festival has Christ message in it." "For example", he said, "most of the traditional festivals in Ghana signify a period of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace, which are the core principles of the Christian faith."

"Festivals therefore, present Christians the opportunity to embrace a people's view and sense of identity and also explore how the gospel finds a place in the lives, hopes, fears and aspirations of the people," Rev Prof Bediako said.