Mema wo afenhyia pa.
(I wish you a good meeting of the years)

This is the traditional Akan greeting akin to ‘Happy new year.’ In response you would say:

Afe nkɔ mmεto yεn bio.
(May the year go around and find us again)

Now, for a formal poetic greeting from Ghana, the land of the talking drums, an excerpt from An African Treasury:

The year has come around.
I have come to greet you,
To shower blessings on you.
Live long, live long, live long.
Live to a good old age.

Talking drums

The drummer of the talking drums says,
He showers his blessings on you.
Live long, live long, live long,
Live to a good old age, chief.
The God of old says,
He showers his blessings on you.
Live to a good old age.

The Earth, Amponyinamoa says,
She showers her blessings on you.
Live to a good old age.
Live long, live long, live long,
Live to a good old age.
May years be added to your years.

An excerpt from Akan Poetry by Kwabena Nketia, in An African Treasury, edited by Langston Hughes, 1960, Crown Publishers, New York.