Dagara Bagr: Introduction (Shrine and Cult)

In oral cultures, ritual is undoubtedly one of the most important mediums via which society religiously and officially celebrates the narration of myths of origin and other knowledge systems of social and cultural importance worth remembering. Among the Dagara peoples of Northern Ghana and Southern Burkina Faso, rites of narration of myths and other composed texts tend to occupy central position in all social and cultural practices, not only in terms of religiously communicating with the sacred but also as a means of transmitting cultural knowledge. As a result, a cult devoted to the development and ritual recitation of oral narratives feature as a central institution in the social and cultural life of the people. The cult, as institution, including the rituals and the narratives that are associated with it and the initiation rites via which individuals become attached to the institution, is known as bagr. These blog posts, as a first series on the study of bagr, are a presentation of a narrated version of the black bagr the first of the two types of mythical narratives that together constitute the central focus during the seasonal performance of the rites of initiation into the bagr cult. The second type, the white bagr, consists of four narrative segments and far greatly exceeds the black bagr in terms of length and textual content. Hence, it is not possible for me to publish the two narrative types together in one common volume. The version of the black bagr narration being published here together with the white bagr segments that are not yet published, as is normally required during the rites of initiation, were recited in sequence following a prescribed order. In this particular instance, the black bagr was recited first by one reciting specialist then followed by the four segments of the white bagr. Theoretically four reciting specialists were originally designated to recite a segment each of the white bagr. This did not happen during this occasion, and hardly ever happens, as people tend to make serious errors, and according to the rule, have to step aside to give a chance for the one who has pointed out the error to make the needed correction and subsequently continue with the narration.