Upper West RegionPrint 
 08/04/2006 
   
 

Below is a table for the festival celebration of the people from the Upper west Region

 
 
No. Name of Festival Rite/Event Location/Place Persons Involved Physical Description Purpose of Festival, Rite/ Event in the Community Dependant variables
1 Bon-ngo Festival Jirapa  –  Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Jirapa Traditional Area A festival of chiefs and people which comes off in the last week of April every year. The festival lifts the taboo or the fan on the harvesting of the Dawadawa crop.
  • Dawadawa was the food for the slaves and Raiders.
  • Without the Festival it is a taboo to harvest Dawadawa.
2 Bagri Festival Jirapa, Lawra, and Nandom  – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Jinapa, Lawra and Nandom. A festival of cult and ritualistic performances fro April to January. The festival and ritualistic performances associated with Bagri are meant to purity the people and the state. Bagri is a cult which produces cult members.
3 Gualla Festival Lambussie – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Lambussie Traditional Area. It is a harvest festival which comes off in December every year. The festival celebrates bumper harvest. The festival is used to appease the ancestors for good yields.
4 Paare Gbiele Festival Tumu  – Upper West Region Chief and people of Sissala Traditional Area. The Festival is associated with the new moon and nine days after the holy month of Ramadan. It unites the people for development and serves as an occasion to celebrate bumper harvest. The festival was instituted by Kuoro Kanton Luriwie III, Paramount Chief of Tuma Tradition Area to thank the gods for bumper harvest.
5 Jinbanti Festival (Fire Festival) Sissala Traditional Area – Upper West Regional Muslim communities in the Sissala Traditional Area. A festival of Chiefs and people which comes off in May every year. The Festival celebrates the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
  • The Festival is thought to purify the State from satanic influences and juju.
  • Weapons of war are cleansed in the process.
6 Kanton Jina Gbiele Tumu  – Upper West Region The people of Tumu. (Tumuloo) A Festival of Chiefs and people which comes off on 29 January every year. The Festival makes the people think about the past and make companions with the present and adjust their lifestyles. This was instituted by the Chiefs and people of Tumu in remembrance of their Great Ruler Late Kanton I.
7 Dumba Festival Wa  – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of the Wala Paramountcy. A festival of chiefs and people of the Wala Paramountcy which comes off either September or October yearly.
  • The festival unites the chiefs and people in the paramountcy.
  • It renews their commitment to Islam.
  • The festival commemorates the Birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.
  • The Wa Na prolongs his life by successfully jumping over a cow.
8 Zumbenti Festival Kaleo – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Kaleo Traditional Area. A festival of Chiefs and people which comes off in May every year. The festival celebrates unity of the people. The festival is for reconciliation and for sweeping evil away for a better year.
9 Kalibi Festival Sankana – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Sankana Traditional Area. A festival of chiefs and people which comes off in April every year. The festival allows for ethnic purification from evil deeds and wrongdoings in the society. The festival venerates the ancestors who in return bestow on the community good health and prosperity.
10 Wilaa Festival Takpo –  Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Takpo Traditional Area. A festival of Chiefs and people which comes off in March every year. The festival unites the people and reaffirms their commitment to the goods of the land. The festival serves as an occasion to pacify and sacrifice to the gods of the land.
11 Kobine Festival Lawra – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Lawra Paramountcy A festival of chiefs and people which comes off in October every year.
  • It is a pre-harvest festival which unites the people for development projects.
The festival paves the way for the Guinea – Corn to be harvested.
12 Kakube Nandom – Upper West Region Chiefs and people of Nandom Traditional Area. A festival of chiefs and people which comes off in November every year.
  • The festival is associated with a lot of Harvest dances. 
  • It unites the people.
    		• Kakube is a ritual, which allows the farmer to evenly distribute the yearly harvest to last, fills the next harvest.
    		 
       
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