Kpikpira, Small But Big Culture

Kpikpira is an unfamiliar name but you’ll certainly be absorbed in the culture of the people which is a microcosm of the entire Bimoba ethnic group straddling more than five African countries: Togo, Cote d’ Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Central Africa Republic, Gabon, Niger inclusive.  Located in the Upper East region of Ghana with Pusiga, Binduri, Tempane, and Garu as some of its neighbors, Kpikpira doesn’t look like an unfamiliarity into desolation. It is fighting for the klieg lighting with its annual festival called Danjuar, and the traditional rulers and people there are using their culture as the bargaining chip for the perks.

 

The sweepage of foreign culture starring at them, the chief of Kpikpira, Naba Dazuur II, and his council of elders are only making reforms to bring the best out of an indigenous culture that is time-tested and apt for their peculiarities. Thus, the place has not only held old grounds but in remaining in its enclave, the changes that are made uphold the best of the past which looks favorable on human dignity.

In the last ten days of every February, citizens, visitors and dignitaries throng a small school park at Kpikpira in Danjuar celebrations but that is the tip of the iceberg, for it is the cosmetic over the deeper reverberations. It is the climax of a series of events that provide a picture-perfect situation for the indigenes and cast them in their uniqueness.

One of the successes achieved is the discontinuance of the compulsive atavistic practice of a deceased’s brother marrying his widow. The chief spoke against witchcraft and superstition against old women, in an apparent reference to the lynch visit on a victim elsewhere. The people accord rivers, streams, and other water bodies a reverence rooted in their magical expressions toward taboos in the land. In the province of Savan in the Republic of Togo, predominantly Bimobas, a stream called Dun is told to be the habitat of a deity. No one drowns in it and the stream never dries out. The Dun repels bad spirits as well.

 

On some occasions, the Chief of Kpikpira leads a retinue to a burial site in Northern Togo which was handed to the catholic church by the Bimoba people for leading the tribe away from the crude practice of sacrificing children with congenital effects for the gods.  Nearby, the chief pays homage to an ancestor called Turinmah whose three sons represent three important Bimoba clans. He goes there with a donkey, fowls, and cola nuts. His entry to the Republic of Togo which is home to a large Bimoba community is greeted with pomp as another chief meets to usher him to the country.

After their talks, Naba Dazuur II and his team move straight to the spot that ordinarily should have been a grove but looked bare because of the natural ecosystem of the area. So the chief makes a libation on the tombs, then moves to another sacred place where the gods and ancestors are consulted. He walks there barefooted and returns in half an hour. It is believed that this routine opens up the gift of the spiritual firmament to adherents. It is crucial to return periodically to the sacred place to offer anything between verbal gratitude and the presentation of items.

Around the space are thick layers of bird feathers that give the amplest evidence that it has a long history of visitations such as these.

The sacrifice made to the deities is the killing of a blindfolded donkey which is hit on the neck from behind with a stick embedded with ”powers”. At one or two assaults, the animal goes down into a motionless state. Then the knife is applied to it for the decapitation of the carcass. The folklore behind this procedure is the belief that this particular animal is limitedly supernatural and could haunt its killers if it sees them before death. Once the right steps are followed, there is no reason for any hangover and the mortal remains are shared for meals another time.

Thirty cola nuts represent clans who pick one of the nuts when they are mentioned.

On his way back to Ghana, the group points at a stream bridged for vehicular passage. Apart from the engine sound of vehicles, no human being is expected to make a conscious sound in that vicinity. Inside Ghana territory, he points at a tree with the indigenous name ”Peen” which he describes as a ”sucker of evil spirit”.  He said, the Peen tree wards off malevolence aimed at powerful personalities. It is reported that Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah planted the same around his residencies. Peen is the mahogany that we know.

Around the chief’s palace in Kpikpira are doves, the crocodile, and horses.  He said, by their mystical nature these creatures possess interpretive signs on more than meet the eye circumstances which might be swirling around the community. Chief himself is able to conjure changes in the weather after incantations before the gods.

The Danjuar festival is now the pitch ground for advertising the catchment area of Kpikpira which have notable towns like Nakpanduri and Bunkpurugu. There are unique rock formations in the area, which area is the location of one of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s special residencies, the longest scarp in the West African sub-region, the replica of the African map made of stones and similar to petroglyphic art.

Naba Dazuur says a multiplicity of tribes make up the northern territory of Ghana, thus isolated conflicts in small parts cannot be the brush to paint the entire place. To him, an investor who sinks capital in agriculture, tourism, and hospitality, and the agro-processing industry could make huge profits. These could provide the leash on migration to the south by the youth for non-existing jobs as well as a stimulus for the local economy.