Page 6 - Exposition of Dagara Morality FNAL

INTRODUCTION * The English equivalence is “once bitten twice shy”. One experience is
sufficient for a wise person to learn a lesson from it so as to avoid repeating
In order to have a meaningful discussion about the moral values f the Dagara
proverbs which are the major concern of this book, it will be nice to talk about the previous mistakes.
sociological background of the Dagara. However, this has been exhausted by my
predecessors and so I will give an epitome of it. Geographically, the bulk of the
Dagara people are found in the Upper West Region of Ghana, with a few of them in 7.b. Ngmaadakora be yiire tie dob'e. An old and experienced male monkey
Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. As regards their identity as an ethnic group, the men never forgets how to climb a tree.
used to bore holes on both their ears and they chiseled their teeth. The women's
mouths were bored and small pieces of calabash perforated into these holes. * This proverb is used to refer to people whi are so exoerienced or who are
However, modernization has done away with these identifying marks making it epxerts in a particular field.
impossible to identify the Dagao today.
* An expert never forgets his field of specialty.
As regards to the origin of the Dagara, there are three hypotheses. The first of these
links of the Dagara to the Dagomba, the second links them to the Mossi and the third 7.c. Aa wulle bible wob! Whoever shows a child an elephant!
talks of their affinity with the people of Cape Coast (Gio). Concerning their socio-
cultural activities, the Dagara live in an extended family system. They are of natural * The mere size of an elephant plus people's repeated discussion about its
goodness, hardworking, hospitable, gregarious, and religious with a deep sense of characteristics are enough information for any child of intuition to be able to
respect for elders. Traditionally, the Dagara are subsistence farmers with the young recognize it without ever seeing it before. The elephant in this sense refers to
men working the hardest on the farms. They also have handicrafts and engage in troubles in general.
trade. As regards to the Dagara social life and maintenance of justice, they were
cephalous people. However, the basis of social organization was kinship. The * A delinquent, when in trouble will learn a bitter lesson, since he does
leadership was delegated to the eldest living member of the patrilieange. He was not pay heed to any pieces of advice from the elders.
assisted by other elders and they worked in collaboration with the diviner (bagr
bugre), the earth priest (tengan sob) and the rain maker (saa sob) for peace and order
in the society. 1. GREED
8.a. Nime wa kpier yir e wa di e sibr taara nogyug. When you stay together
Chapter One deals with the Dagara notions of morality and proverbs. The traditional and you eat without inviting each other, there is always unhappiness.
Dagao is not only a social being; he is also a moral being. Here, I try to discuss some
typical Dagara moral concerns. In the second part of this chapter, I deal with the * We should learn to be charitable towards others in the society. To have a
definition and nature of Dagara proverbs. Note that these proverbs are short pithy harmonious society, we should learn to be altruistic and not egoistic.
statements of facts drawn from experiences of everyday life containing some general
moral truths which are not always explicit. These proverbs form part and parcel of 8.b. Di n yon kpi n yon. Eat alone, die alone.
the Dagara language and are as such easy to memorise. In chapter two, I talk of some
proverbs in as far as they bring out positive values of Dagara morality. The next * We should be generous and share with others. If not, if you are in
chapter takes up proverbs illustrating negative prescriptions fir moral education. trouble, nobody will also come to your aid.
Then a conclusion, this book is written against the background for my conviction that
an in-depth study of the Dagara proverbs will go a long way to portray the culture of
the Dagara as well as their philosophy and moral thinking.
35
6 6 35