Bugum Festival!!!

Check out the little boy on the left.... made my night ( sorry photo isnt great b/c of all the smoke)

Last month I attended the Fire Festival, an annual event which is particularly popular in the Northern regions of Ghana. I remember hearing about it when I first arrived, but had forgotten about when it was until I went into town that morning and noticed all the shops were closed or boarded up. Apparently on that day shops close until about 2pm in fear of being robbed by criminals as an old man put it “we have to keep our shops closed because young people do all their looting”. I never really got the whole story but the city did feel deserted that morning!

So what is the Bungum Festival?

Celebrated every year (Accept when it was banned for a few years due to a death of a chief) the fire festival is observed by Muslims in the northern regions as celebrating the landing of the Prophet Noah’s ark after the flood. It’s observed by non-Muslims as the New Year of which residents give thanks.

The night started off by making our way to the chiefs palace where there were TON’s of people gathered singing, dancing , drumming and shooting off fire crackers! The Chief takes the first torch (a bundle of reeds burning) and circles it seven times around his head while praying to the ancestors for good health and many blessings. The town then begins to light their reeds and march through the town. Within minutes the town is light by thousands of reeds on fire. There are also young boys with machetes dragging them across the ground, men carrying large riffles shooting them into the air and not to forget the aerosol cans being used as torches. It was ALOT of fun.