For the first time in five years after the Dagbon crisis which led to the death of the late Dagbon King, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and many others in the year 2002, the chiefs and people of Tamale have celebrated the Damba Festival. The Fire Festival which was also celebrated a couple of months ago in the metropolis apparently motivated the successful celebration of the Damba Festival. The Dakpema Chief’s palace hosted a large crowd of merry making people including visitors and children who have never witnessed the celebration of this time-tested festival. The chiefs accompanied by their retinues and warriors dressed in colouful hand-woven cloths, in different sizes-shapes and danced to the thunderous beats of the gong-gong drums amidst the deafening sounds of musketry. For the indigenes, the festival marks the birth and outdooring of the prophet Mohammed the founder of Islam which is also celebrated by majority of Muslim who pre-dominant in northern communities especially Dagomba. It is also used to offer sacrifices to Allah (God) in appreciation and also pray for new positive years ahead. Although a section of the people in the Dagbon Traditional Seat of Yendi successfully participated in the festival, the Dagbon Regent in Yendi did not observe this year’s festival. He however gave his assent to the people in other areas of the Kingdom to celebrate the occasion. In a statement made available to the press in Tamale, the Kampakuya-Na explained that the Northern Regional Security Committee had sanctioned the celebration of the festival by the rival gate in the Dagbon chieftaincy divide and the Abudu Royal Gate at a different venue independent of the Gbewah Palace. According to him, the only traditional authority permitted by custom to perform the festival in Yendi was the Ya-Na or in his absence, his regent. Source: ghana districts