Assessing the Socio-Economic Impact of the Damba Festival on the Lives of the People of Yendi in Ghana

Abstract

This study focused mainly on the socio-economic impact of the Damba festival on the people of Yendi, in Ghana. It also looked at how the festival is celebrated among the people of Yendi and finally, examined the extent of its contribution to national development. Damba, as a festival by Dagomba, means ‘Big Dance' in Mandingo word and in Dagbani, it is ‘Danbahi' meaning ‘shake yourself free'. At first, the festival was not celebrated by Dagomba until during the reign of Naa Zanjina in the sixteenth century when it was decided that it should be used to replace their old harvest festival with the aim of linking it up to the birth and naming of Prophet Mohammed (SAW) for its commemoration. The methods used in the study were interview and focus group discussion with the help of instruments like questionnaire and interview guide. From the study, it was found out that the elders dominated the various activities carried out in the course of the celebration. This practice does not make the youth to learn the cultural heritage of the traditional area. Therefore, I recommend that the people particularly the youth should be well integrated in all the activities of the celebration to be more conversant with its celebration. Secondly, it was realized that the celebration occurred through the main streets of the area and finally staged at the king's palace which is not extensive enough to accommodate everybody and, this poses security threat to the feeble ones especially children since stampede could be caused. Therefore, it is recommended that a wide area, if even it is outside the king's palace, could be secured for the celebration of the festival since that can help provide enough security. Also, the study showed that the celebration sometimes results in misunderstanding between couples which can bring about divorce since the couples accused each other of being morally weak and using the festival to satisfy their selfish desires. As a result, it is recommended that law should be passed banning married women from attending the festival since this can minimize the accusations. Finally, it was observed that the festival can play a major role in the cities and local communities; it develops local pride and identity for the local people. It could also play an important role in the national and host community in destination planning which could enhance and link tourism and commerce in the area.