International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue I, January 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Materials Used in Performing Scarifices among The Dagara of the North Western of Ghana

Dominic Alimbey Dery (PhD)¹, Rev. Father Linus Zan Mwinlaaro², Alexander Bedekuru Nmaninyin (Rev. Father)³, Miriam Rahinatu Iddrisu (PhD)^4
1Department of Languages and Liberal Studies, Tamale Technical University, Ghana
²Faculty of Integrated Development Studies, Department of Social, Political and Historical Studies, University for Development Studies, Ghana
³MC Coy College of Education, Ghana
⁴United Nations Population Fund, Ghana

Abstract:- This phenomenological study investigated the materials required for sacrifices of the Dagara people of the Upper West region of Ghana. Different occasions require different sacrifices. Different scholars suggest different materials used in performing sacrifice. This, invariably, depends, to a large extent, on their understanding of what sacrifice is. The descriptive analytical sample survey was the research design used to purposively study Nandom, Lawra and Jirapa areas of the region. Data gathered was systematically analysed with key findings being that the Dagara people had different types of sacrifices for different occasions. The research findings were as follows, that the Dagara carries his/her object of sacrifice from home, that most sacrifices require domestic animals but in a few cases domestic items such as flour, pito and ash could be used. The most popular animal used in the sacrifice is the fowl. Lastly, different sacrifices require different animals.

Key words: Materials, performing, sacrifices.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Dagara live in the extreme section of the north-western part of Ghana in the Upper West Region. They form the largest ethnic group in that part of Ghana. There are also a number of Dagara in the Republic of Burkina Faso. Kuukure (1995), describes the location of the settlement of the Dagara in these words:
“The Dagarti people…live on both sides of the Black VoltaRiver, which at that point forms a boundary between the Republic of Ghana and Ivory Coast and Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]. These people live largely in the North West corner of Ghana, Spreading across the border of Upper Volta, right up to the 12 parallel north. They are concentrated particularly around the area where longitude 3 west and Latitude 11 north cross. But they thin out along the Volta, particularly astride longitude 3 west, southward to latitude 10 north. Besides Naangmen the Dagara also acknowledge the existence of other spiritual beings. These are created by Naangmen to serve as his messengers and to be intermediaries between Naangmen and human beings.