DAGBON OBSERVES BUGUM FESTIVAL (SPREAD, JAN 10)

RESIDENTS of Tamale last Wednesday night poured onto the streets in their hundreds to mark the traditional Bugum (fire) Festival that signifies the beginning of the lunar year.
Contrarily to the belief that the celebrations could spark violence, it rather helped in uniting the youth from both sides of the political divide who went on procession together through the principal streets of the metropolis.
Some of the revellers were joined by foreign tourists while a section of the combined team of the military and police personnel who were detailed to ensure law and order could not help but also respond to the thunderous beatings of the gong-gong drums that accompanied the intricate steps of the revellers amidst the incessant firing of musketry and the display of fireworks.
There were no reported incidents of violence or injuries as the carnival progressed peacefully into the early hours of Thursday.
The revellers, majority of whom were young ladies, masqueraded in a procession along the streets with babies strapped on the backs of some nursing mothers. With lighted thatches, they sang and danced to both war and profane songs.
With machetes raised above their sweaty bodies and talismans and cow tails dangling on their arms and waist, the ecstatic men and women danced energetically deep into the night.
Some residents the Daily Graphic spoke to described this year’s Bugum as very significant in uniting the people, being the first to be celebrated after the hotly contested presidential run-off.
Others also suggested the need to organise future festivals well to attract more tourists from within and outside the country to savour one of the oldest and cherished traditional festivals of the people.
Dagombas and other ethnic groups in northern Ghana mostly celebrate it on the 10th day of the new lunar month. It is believed to mark the edict of a prominent Dagomba chief, who, in tracing his lost son after dusk, ordered the lighting of portable bound thatches, which eventually led to the discovery of the son. It is also celebrated for its Islamic religious significance.
In these modern times however, the revellers dispose of their thatches at a thicket, while knowledgeable Mallams later reveal the events likely to occur in the New Year to chiefs who, in turn, announce the findings to the people.