About The North Of Ghana Tamale Dagbon Some Gods of Dagbon BAƔYULI- FAMILY GODS There are many gods or deities in Dagbon. Every town has got its god, and even with the typical Dagbamba, every house has got its god. And there are certain gods which help people with their problems. Whether it is sickness or you want wealth etc. The indigenous Dagbamba have gods in their families. When you an indigenous home in Dagbon you will have observed an object stacked with chicken feathers and smeared with blood on the top of their house walls, outside the house or sometime is kept in a room The gods are in the form of pots, calabash, anthills or tortoise shell, the Wumbee is usually built like a wall all these things and statues serve as the gods and is called Baɣyuli. Examples of such family gods are Jԑbuni, Tilo (this gods is mostly owned by elderly women in the family), Wuni, Wumbee (god’s child) etc. And it is believed that the Supreme Being who is known as Naa wuni (God Almighty) in Dagbanli created the gods of the lands and the of the lands gave birth to wuni, Tilo and other families gods (Baɣyuli) as its children. The ones outside of the house are Wumbee and Wuni but Jԑbuni, Tilo etc are always in the room or compounds of the house. In Dagbani, baɣyuli means to stand quietly (secretly) and watch. So the typical Dagbamba take it that the gods or their ancestors are looking after the family and they make sacrifices to it any time they have a problem in the family or pay homage to it, Goats and fowls are the most preferred choice for sacrifice, sheep and Guinea fowls are not often used. It is the Daŋ Kpԑma (family head) who possess the gods in the family house and any other family member comes to it to make sacrifices. When they are about to make a sacrifice to the gods or solve a problem disturbing someone in the family the Daŋ Kpԑma will start by calling all the names of the dead in the family (ancestors) he will say “My grandfather so-and-so, this is your water I am giving you.” He will pour the water on the ground. He will start with the one who built the shrine first before he will call the name of any other person who died within the family. Then he will slaughter the animal he brought to the gods. If he doesn’t have money to buy the animal he will come, He will come and clap his empty hands and say, “My grandfather, I am giving you empty hands, and you should give me so and so If I get what I want , I will come and give you such-and-such.” You will pay the debt when your prayers is answered. These gods are usually repaired yearly to renew the bond between the family and gods or ancestors. Some people will cook our local drink called pito before they repair the god, and it is guinea corn they use to make pito or they use hens but as for Tilo it cannot be repair unless you use millet to prepare pito and repair it. TOWN GODS Every town in Dagbon has got its god. There are some towns that have many gods. These gods dwells in many objects and animals such as crocodiles, trees, rocks, rivers hills etc. these gods are taken care by the Tindamba (landowners), theses gods act in different ways and for different purposes and also they vary in might and power. There are some of them who won’t harm you if you go against them others will harm you when you against them. The gods not harming you doesn’t means it is not powerful It is all as result of the way Naa Wuni (God) has made the gods. BUƔULI SAA The rain god is located at Pong Tamale, it is one of the fearful gods in Dagbon and show no mercy to offenders. When an item of yours has been stolen or robbed, the right god you have to go to complain is the Buɣuli Saa. You will send a white fowl to the shrine at pong Tamale. The fowl will be sacrificed to the gods and the tindana will consult the god and tell it the reason you are there (before you go to the shrine you have to announce in your town or village that you are going to Buɣuli Saa after you have left the Shrine clouds with thunder will start to gather if God blesses the thief and he puts the stolen item back, then he is safe from death. If it happens he brings the items back you have go back to the tindana and tell him the person has brought the item the tindana will send his errand boy to bring the things. Then the tindana will get some special water and say some prayers and pour the water on the things, and he will ask you the owner to pick some of the things for him the tindana. If you pick only one thing from among the things, it doesn’t matter. The tindana doesn’t want the things, but he will take part. Then he will tell you to take your things to your home and the thief is safe but if he refused to send the stolen item back you will be strike by lightning. BUƔULI NAAWUNI Another god called Naa wuni which is in a form of a very huge crocodile in the river Dalun. The gods is for the people of Singa and Dalun villages. Buɣuli Naawuni is very powerful and does its work efficiently. The tindana have to kill a white fowl before it comes out from the river. In the olden days Buɣuli Naawuni used to kill many people. This gods have serve many purpose for the people of Dagbon. Some of its major works are child birth, revenge, stolen items, false accusations etc. if you have stolen an item or killed someone and the affected person of family comes to Buɣuli Naawuni to revenge the killer or the thief of the item, when the murder or the thief tries to cross the river Dalun in a canoe when the canoe reach the middle of the river it will come out in front of the canoe. The owner of the canoe will then tell all the passengers to confess their sins if the killer or the thief refuse to confess the gods will go back in the water and then jump out and pick out the killer or the thief in to the water and the remains of the killer or the thief won’t be seen again. But now a days things have change so of you steal or kill someone they bring all the suspects each carrying their white fowls to the river Dalun, the Tindana will then be throwing the fowls of the suspects into the river if the Crocodile catches your fowl that means you are the thief and you will be asked to pay what you have stolen or sent to the prison to be arrested for killing someone but if you refuse to a canoe will be arrange for you to be sent in to the river for justice to be done. BUƔULI JAAGBO This gods is for the people of Tolon and it is a snake. The shrine is a well, covered with many trees crowded together and that is where the snake god (Jaagbo) dwells. It is believed if you cut the trees near the well you will die. Whenever the Tolon chief is about to die, Jaagbo will come out from the well and come into the town. And truly, when Buɣuli Jaagbo is seen in town signify three things. It is either the chiefs is about to die or a prominent person in the town or is time for them to make sacrifices to it. Jaagbo causes rain to fall when the people of Tolon want rains for their crops and also if you want a child you can go to Jaagbo to seek for a child and when you give birth you will name the baby after the gods and this child is not supposed to be beaten, shouted at or harmed, the child is to be treated with respect and he only changes the name when he grows up. BUƔULI ZEYIBU This gods is for the people of Tampion and it is a monitor lizard (Wua). So it is forbidden for the people to kill or eat a monitor lizard. The tindana of this gods is called Guma-naa. There is a village called Gumani near Tampion, and actually, Tampion and Gumani are the same town, but there is a kind of division between them. The god is one lizard, but when the year begins and they go to pay homage to it they meet at least six or seven of these lizards lying on a rocky plain, and the very big one in the middle of all of them is mother of all. Chickens and goats are used for the sacrifice. When these lizard are many in town it ether the Guma-naa or Tampion Lana is about to die and the movement will indicate which one will die. This is best known for helping princes to get chieftaincies when there is a vacant chieftaincy candidates go to this gods to seek favours and help them be appointed to that position. And also if you want a child you can go to seek it from there and the child name will be Zeyibu. There is another gods in Tampion which is are bees. The home of these bees in at a tree in the market of Tampion and the duty of these bees is to protect the town from invaders etc also it also prevent the town council to collect taxes from the traders in the market. Yendi which is the traditional capital of the kingdom has many gods, Gurugua and Pabo are the most popular ones. Pabo is a hyena. Is at a place that is like a river that doesn’t run, and it is something like a well. The hyena, have never been seen; its sound is only heard. If the Yaa-Naa is going to die, it is the hyena who will first tell the people with its crying. In the night the hyena will go to the roadsides and cry. It will stand on the road from Yendi to Tamale and cry toward Tamale, then move to another junction and cry toward Gushiegu, move to another junction and cry toward Bimbila, and then move to another and cry toward Yelizoli. When it cries, everybody will hear it and know that it is telling people of the death of the Yaa-Naa. And the Yaa-Naa doesn’t drink water from that place. BAƔLI There is a town called Baɣli which is beyond Karaga. When Dagbon started, the Yaa-Naas were sitting there. It is believed that that any Yaa-Naa who dies will goes there. Before a Yaa-Naa dies, you will hear drummers beating throughout the town in the night, and the beating will be the death drumming drummers beat at funeral houses, and Bimbiԑɣu. You will hear the drumming but you will not see the drummers. Those who are beating are those who are already dead. There is a river there, and there is a house by the river. There is a room in the middle of the house, and that is where the dead people enter. The room is the spiritual abode for the Yaa Naa when they die. When a Yaa-Naa dies, he doesn’t die at once, A Yaa-Naa can die spiritually but still live physically closed to a month. He stays in the spiritual abode for some time before he dies physical but the people of Baɣli will know that the Yaa Naa has died in the spirit world. When He dies spiritually and comes to the room. They beat drums from the room into the river then come out and enter the room, and then they are quiet again. And no child of a Yaa-Naa will go there; he won’t even pass by. If he is not dead and he goes there he will die. And if it is a chief who didn’t ascend to the chieftaincy in the right way, he cannot go there. And it is believed again that if a dead chiefs blame a chief who is trying to come to be responsible for his death, they will refuse his entering the room, and he will remain in the river. The Yaa-Naas have got another strong god at Galiwe. That god is called Kpala. It is for the Galiwe chief and the Yaa-Naa. When a Yaa-Naa ascend to his chieftaincy and he doesn’t go to sacrifice to Kpala, his chieftaincy is not valid. It was Naa Gariba’s mother who went there and gave birth to Naa Gariba. She was called Laamihi. They took her to sacrifice to Kpala and she came and gave birth to him and many others. Is now compulsory for them to sacrifice to it. This Kpala is like a small tree. At that place, if it is not yet time to make the sacrifice to the god, they cannot burn the bush for farming. Anyone who burns the bush will die. In Tamale here, the gods are many, in the olden days this town was a town of the gods, Tamale tindana, we call him Buɣalana, and there is a god called Gurugbaya, and he sacrifices to it with Muslim alms. They say the god’s friend is a Islam, and so the tindana goes to it with milk, maha, a white cock, and a white sheep. That god is major purpose is for abundant rain or any problems in the town; it is near to the Chief Commissioner’s residence. And in Tamale here, another god which are trees, and it is called Kpalaŋga. Kpalaŋga is a place where kpalga trees are. It is behind the victory cinema, the tindana of this gods is the Dapkԑma. When they are going to make the sacrifice, Dakpԑma put on a leopard skin. The reason why Dakpԑma put on a leopard skin is that during the old days, the god was a leopard and was leave among the trees. When they wanted to make the sacrifice, the leopard would come out from the trees. At first the one who actually kills the chickens and the goats is the one who will succeed the Dakpԑma when the Dakpԑma dies. The sacrifice is done yearly. Also If rain stops, they make sacrifice, and the rain will start again. If there is any trouble in the town, or there are many thieves or many diseases disturbing the people in the town, the Dakpԑma will go to the god with chickens and goats to make the sacrifice, and the god will solve the problems of the town, the buɣalana sacrifice to Gurugbaya, and the Dakpԑma sacrifice to Kpalaŋga. At Sang, the god is called Tambo, and there are people who are named Tambo because their mothers were taken to this god before they gave birth to them
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 22:33:00 +0000
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