TAMALE RESIDENTS MARK BUGUM FESTIVAL (SPREAD, DEC 30)

Residents of Tamale last Sunday poured onto the streets at night in their hundreds to mark the traditional Bugum (Fire) Festival which signifies the beginning of the lunar year.
Revellers went on a peaceful procession through the principal streets of the metropolis. Some of them were joined by foreign tourists, while a combined team of military and police personnel detailed to ensure order could not help but join in the intricate steps of the revellers, amidst the firing of musketry and the display of fireworks.
There was no reported incident of violence or injury, as the carnival progressed peacefully into the early hours of Monday.
The revellers, majority of whom were young ladies, went in a procession along the streets, with babies strapped to the backs of some nursing mothers.
With lighted torches, 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 waists, the ecstatic men and women danced energetically deep into the night.
Some residents expressed satisfaction with the successful organisation of this year's event. Others also suggested the need to project the festival in the future to attract more tourists from within and outside the country to savour one of the oldest and most cherished traditions of the people.
Dagombas and other ethnic groups in the north 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 torches, which eventually led to the discovery of the son.
It is also celebrated for its Islamic religious significance.
In the modern commemoration of the festival however, the revellers dispose of their torches at a thicket, while knowledgeable Mallams later reveal the events that are likely to occur in the New Year to chiefs who, in turn, announce the findings to the people.
The festival was, however, not observed in Yendi and its surrounding communities following a ban by the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) for security reasons.