2024 came with several news-making events, but in the entertainment industry and the world of Afrobeats, the theme Detty December (read “detty” as “dirty”) has now come to stay.
Across many African nations, and most famously in the pop culture capitals of Lagos, Nigeria, and Accra, Ghana, December into early January is a festive season where pleasure becomes paramount, recognizing the hedonistic nature of the season.
From a notable influx of foreign celebrities and international artists to the motherland to some of the globe’s biggest “Afrobeat” stars staging their own concerts back home or headlining massive festivals.
Events such as AfroNation, AfroFuture, Rapaholic, and many more all tend to trend on social media.
As well as the festive season brought with it unforgettable dramas, beaches get packed out with buzzing groups of friends and family, and the joyful gatherings seem never-ending.
In furthering this Detty December phenomenon, 2019 was particularly notable, when Ghana celebrated a tourism initiative called the Year of Return.
This was the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the world-changing horror of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the English colony of Virginia.
Ghanaian officials encouraged African Americans and other Black diasporans to visit.
Ghana then decided to review its visa approval process by offering visas on arrival, a program that has continued in the festive seasons since and promoted a bustling calendar of cultural events coupled with its recent visa-free entry for all African countries.
It is notable to be aware that Detty December is a sweet time of year, but it’s also a complicated one since:
Getting to these places in December is very expensive compared to any other time of the year, especially as ticket prices into Africa jump into the thousands for round trips, and this has only gotten more expensive since COVID-19 dramatically hit the travel industry in 2020.
On the ground, cities like Lagos and Accra see price gouging from accommodations, hair salons, car rentals, pubs, nightclubs, and event tickets in December as commerce targets the influx of much wealthier holidaymakers than most folks living in these cities.
All these factors are to be looked at if you plan to do Detty December in the coming years.
Below are pictures of some celebrities spotted during the 2024 Detty December.