Page 2 - Exposition of Dagara Morality FNAL

1. BAD BEHAVIOUR
14.a. Be be dier guba ture wulle ma yir e. They do not use the left hand to
point at a maternal uncle's house

* Among the traditional Dagara, it is a sign of disrespect, bordering on
contempt to use one's left hand to indicate, give something to, or wave at
someone. So, to show one's mother's place of birth or origin using one's left
hand means that one treats one's mother's family hose (includes both physical
building where one's maternal grandparents live and one's mother' clan) with
contempt.

* Be proud of your mother's place of origin no matter how crumpled and
“EXPOSITION OF THE DAGARA lowly it might be. Never be ashamed of it. Love it. Also, whatever your position

or achievements in life, never look down on or forget those without whose
MORALITY AS BROUGHT support you could never have some so far. The Danish equivalence of this
proverb is “honour the tree that gives you shelter”. A Ghanaian proverb of its
OUT IN THEIR PROVERBS” equivalence is “it is good to be nice to people you meet on your way up because
you meet the same people on your way down”.

14.b. Da-ngmaa saa ga kuomi yome tur, o kong bang liebe eba e. Even if the
log should stay in the water for thousand years, it can never become a crocodile
* This proverb is a warning to people who go to live in foreign land tat they
will never become citizen of those lands even if they naturalise. Even if they stay
abroad for so long a time, the will still be regarded as “strangers”. So, they must
learn to live and honour their homelands even if they are lowly.

1. DISOBEDIENCE
15.a. Bibi berwone nu nyogr kaazir laa. A disobedient toddler can
unintentionally grasp the rim of the pot containing hot oil and he will learn a big
lesson from it.

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