"Now that we know, what do we do?"
Divination among the Birifor of northwest Ghana
A story of five cowries

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1. Introduction

"Within any cultural domain more or less demarcated in time and space, and endowed with meaning within that domain, divination might be defined as the entire set of procedures intended to acquire knowledge which is of a supernatural nature or which is otherwise not available through everyday means such as are based upon direct sensory perception" (van Binsbergen 1995:114).

This thesis is about divination practices among the Birifor of northwest Ghana. I will seek to show how the Birifor use divination as a way of obtaining understanding of their world and consequently how they seek to acquire strategies for action, often in the face of adversity and uncertainty. I want to address divination as a system of knowledge and as a method for deciphering the symbolic cosmic system, which is personified in the spiritual pantheon of their religion. Consequently, as regards the discussion of Birifor society and culture, the main focus will be on the religious universe because the divination practice is deeply embedded in the symbolic background of the various spirits and shrines. I will discuss the main theoretical aspects of divination studies and especially those presented by R. Devisch and then I will try and combine them with my ethnographic data on Birifor divination as a quest for an emergence of meaning in a world that sometimes seems to be devoid of that. By focusing on the practical method of divination, which can be called the protocol, I will address the emergence and by looking at the etiological context, I want to address the meaning of the revelations of the diviners. In addition, it will become apparent that Birifor divination plays a significant role in articulating the cultural values of Birifor society as well as emphasising its core idioms and norms. But now I will discuss divination in general terms and by that try to cast some light on what divination is.

1 Divination

Divination as it is and as it has been practiced across the world through time takes countless forms. Almost everything that can register change, movement and patterning is applied in a way where randomised procedures and chance generating operations are utilised together with some form of "interpretative catalogue" (van Binsbergen 1995:115). Intuitive ('non-rational') modes of accessing information are combined with logical/rational/analytical procedures, which differ methodologically from the Western scientific tradition, which seeks to maintain the separation between these two modes of inquiry (Peek 1991:3). Everything from natural objects (e.g. stones, cowries, leaves, movement of animals or clouds, etc.) to cards (e.g. the Tarot), books (e.g. the Koran, I Ching) or celestial bodies (astrology), is used in the endlessly varied divinatory practices around the world, whereby humans seek answers to the infinite mysteries of their existence. This practice is known to have taken place in most cultures since pre-historic times in one form or another, and it does not seem to be on the decrease.

An example of a widespread method of divination in present day Western society is astrology, which is a very old model of inquiry, with its roots reaching at least back to ancient Mesopotamia, and which can be said to be the distant predecessor of modern science (such as mathematics and astronomy). In its modern form, it combines computer technology (with the empirical data used, the positions of the planets, calculated with the utmost scientific exactitude) with intuitive interpretations (based, however, on "bookknowledge" as well as on experience), and the modern astrologer's clients are from all walks of life, not least middle class and educated people. This shows, among other things, that humans continue to experience their world as uncertain and unpredictable despite the scientific and technical (so-called) certainties of modern industrial/informational society and that they still need (if not more than ever) counselling, whether from a psychiatrist or an astrologer or a financial adviser. Even the stock markets use astrologers when making decisions about important investments or other moves. This shows that to claim divination to be an expression of the 'primitive mind' or a vestige of times past is thoroughly redundant. Man's need to inquire, to probe beneath appearances and to obtain order and certainty (however illusory that might or might not be) in an ultimately chaotic world has not diminished with increased technological and scientific knowledge and 'certitude'. I dare claim that we do not know more about the workings of our life-patterns - call it 'fate' if you like - than did our remote ancestors. These patterns are just as mysterious and frightening for 'modern' man as ever before. One thing that modernity has bred is excessive increase in the complexities of life, not merely the material aspects, but more importantly the sphere of human relations, what we call society. Therefore, divination offers not only an interesting study in connection with preliterate or so-called 'primitive' societies and cultures, but it can also provide interesting insight into the workings of the so-called 'modern mind', if such a distinction makes sense at all. But that will not be the focus here; instead I will try to look at divination as an act rather than fact and as a ritual in its own right rather than as a means to an end. Having said that, divination, like other activities of ritual nature, is inevitably tied up with the social and cultural matrix of a given society as a regulative and socially reproductive practice, which should not need to overshadow the divinatory ritual itself as a meaningful and purposeful act in its own right (De Boeck and Devisch 1994).

1.2. The focus
As the title of this thesis indicates, the main themes that I will try to focus on are how people extract meaning from situations of misfortune and uncertainty. This entails the initial enquiry and the understanding of situations as well as meaningful responses to adversity, contingency and crisis. This can be put forth in a two-fold manner: the divinatory protocol (Devisch 1999), and the etiology of affliction (Devisch 1991; Fortes 1987; Goody 1962; Jackson 1989; Whyte 1997). The "emergence" is linked to the divinatory protocol, i.e. the performance of the divination itself and how it brings about a transformation in the awareness of the client of his/her situation. This constitutes the method and the technique of drawing hidden information to the surface. It includes questions of communication, between diviner and client, between diviner and the various spirits (who can be seen as constituting symbolic systems or idioms), and finally, the communication between diviner and client on the one hand and the occult agencies on the other. The divinatory protocol is concerned with the various processual aspects of divination: the basic method, how the communication takes place, how the diviner shifts from one agency to another in his search for meaningful clues, and how the cosmic world-view of the Birifor provides an explanatory background onto which the problems at hand can be referred to and clarified by. In addition, the divinatory protocol is concerned with the structure of the oracular process, and its different phases (this can be seen as a three-fold sequence a la van Gennep (1960) and Turner (1967, 1969)). The "meaning" relates to the etiology of misfortune and affliction, which entails questions of fate or destiny in relation to free will and room for action. The "emergence" is concerned with the "how" of the problem, while the "meaning" is concerned with the "why", as well as the "how to", or "what to do" (a common expression during Birifor divination sessions is: "now that we know, what do we do?"). It has to do with the purpose and outcome of the divination - what it is that people seek from it, i.e. the meaning of the affliction causing trouble and consequently what meaningful action to take as a response. It looks at questions concerning the workings of irrepressible forces influencing peoples' lives, forces usually labelled fate or destiny and how people intend to deal with these forces (Fortes 1959, 1987; Jackson 1989: chapter three). People frequently experience situations beyond their power to control or change, but it is in their power to react in a meaningful way, provided they are aware of what the situation is telling them. To do so, the experience of affliction must be seen as meaningful - painful as it can be - and the divination session is where that meaning is contextualised. One important factor emerging from the divination sessions is that in order to counteract misfortune, people have to be conscious of their overall situation. They have to possess awareness of self and others and pay attention to their web of relations in a general sense - personal, social and not least extra-social, or occult relations. If the household head is not aware of what is going on in his house, he is more liable to misfortunes; the same applies if one is unaware of ones own affairs and actions. Thus ignorance and lack of awareness tend to invite unfortunate events. In this field of causes and consequences, the religious system of the Birifor constitutes a conceptual framework and a symbolic system, which helps people to orient themselves by acting as an explanatory paradigm. This framework also aids people in organising and simplifying complex situations and structure the flow of life in a chaotic world. In the divination sessions, this symbolic framework is "de-coded" and comes to life and paves the way for a strategy for understanding and action. Importantly, it is underlined by past experience - tradition and custom, and thus it embraces past, present and future.

According to Tengan (2000:75), the Dagara (and the Birifor) … "view the ordering of the cosmos as a concrete process of ordering the environment in terms of locations consisting of farms, homesteads, village stead, the bush, hills, rivers etc., and of dealing concretely with atmospheric conditions as personified agencies", agencies that are seen to share their space with humans. The tangible focal points in this cosmic ordering are the various shrines that are seen as personifications of this order - with a clear correspondence between the mundane, natural world and the cosmic, occult one. In a similar manner, Devisch (1991:112 ff.) shows how people refer problematic situations to a "higher-order system of values and norms" during divination sessions and thus open up ways for a meaningful interpretation of the situation, or as he puts it: "By referring to a higher-order axiological principle or axiomatic etiological model, the oracle brings about the meaning that surpasses conventional conceptualisation and popular cause-effect reasoning. It gives way to a structural causality instead of a linear one" (124). In Birifor divination, the shrines/spirits can be seen as parts of an "axiomatic etiological model", or explanatory background. Certain types of problems in particular areas of life are referred to certain shrines and in that way mundane complications are projected upon the screen of cosmic order and thus obtaining clearer perspective. Seen in this way, the divination process is an abstraction or extrapolation of mundane problems into a cosmic scheme, or order. Problems concerning the matriclan are referred to the "spirits beneath" (tibe) and "house" (yir) problems (i.e. patrilineal problems) are referred to the ancestral shrines (san), which are personifications of a complex web of issues. By offering sacrifices and performing other rituals, such as divination, people show that they are actively engaged in influencing their lives (fates/destinies) in a creative way by dialogic exchange with the powers that be (shrines/spirits). By entering into active negotiations with the occult agencies - some of who represent the working of fate/destiny - as well as by "living the good life" (i.e. by proper conduct, according to ancestral codes), the Birifor belief that they can influence their life to some extent. This indicates pro-active as well as protective attitude to the flow of life. Misfortune continues to afflict people and explanations must be sought and questioning is constantly pursued. Explanatory models exist and they are put into practice in the divinatory protocol, from the initial enquiry to the conclusive sacrifice, and this process is endowed with meaning - latent and patent. This has wide ranging and deep implications that must be seen in the context of the environmental, social and religious predicament of Birifor society and culture, since the meaning of both the cause of affliction and the solution are to be found in that context. Framed in occult and mystical notions, the cause and the outcome are ultimately rooted in the harsh conditions of the life-world of the Birifor and have to be related to that fact.

1.3. Theories
I want to begin by presenting a short overview of the main divination studies since Evans- Pritchard's work on the Azande (1937) and up till today. Divination studies during the few decades after that groundbreaking work emphasised the role and function of divination in the maintenance of the social system and its values. The focus was on the role of divination in the socio-religious system (Fortes 1987), underlining the legal, legitimating, judicial and moral aspects. This angle was expressed by a number of writers (Fortes 1987; Goody 1962; Mendonsa 1982; Meyer 1991; Park 1963; Turner 1975), with Fortes, Goody and Turner also focusing on the psychological and therapeutical properties of divination and its ability to help decision-making. Turner can be seen as connecting the traditional functionalist view to later approaches emphasising the meaning-making aspect of divination and its "internal-semantic" side (Devisch 1985). Turner addressed the power of divination to bring symbolic interpretations of hidden tensions and unconscious motives, yet he saw it primarily as a phase in the social process and as a form of social analysis and redress.

Eventually, the focus began to shift towards the communicative and cognitive side of divination, stressing the subjective, phenomenological and performative aspects of the divination itself and the diviners, and especially the diviner-client dialogic interaction (Werbner 1973, 1989; Parkin 1991; Peek et al. 1991). This approach looked at the semantics and the ambiguity of divination performances and led to focusing on the transforming power of the diviner-client dialogue and the negotiations of social realities implicated. Communication also entailed the question of the relationship of knowledge and power, as between generations and between the sexes. Fortes (1987: chapter one) and Mendonsa (1982) had addressed the dimension of power in divination practices and Shaw (1985, 1991) together with Whyte (1991, 1997) focused on the construction of social identities and strategies in gender relations. Jackson (1989: chapter four) underlined the role of the diviner as mediator between different fields of relationships (involving humans, spirits, ancestors, animals, etc.). From this position, the diviner ritualises the passage from inaction to action by objectifying the situation of the client. Here, the focus is on the subjectivity and experiential aspect of divination and its meaningful problemsolving property.

In a similar way, Devisch (1985, 1991, 1994, 1999) advocates what he calls the semantic-praxiological approach, which is concerned with the transformational and performative side of ritual praxis. Like Turner, he addressed the process of revealing social, moral and physical forces underlying afflictions but he wanted to shift the balance from the idea of divination as social engineering toward its "world-making" aspect (1994). Thus, Devisch emphasised divination as an act, rather than fact. Also, he stressed the importance of liminality in the divination practice, a state where decisions are made by re-viewing the problem in light of new objectified knowledge.

Devisch (1985:51 ff.) talks about three main categories: 'interpretative', 'mediumistic', and 'oracular interpretative' types of divination. Accordingly, the interpretative type has an external (visible) form and can be seen to resemble formal logic as a rational method. Applying this method, the diviner uses standardised vehicles, such as natural or artificial objects (cowries, coins, stones, nuts, etc.) and the fall of the objects produces configurations, which the diviner then can interpret according to more or less standardised rules. An example of this is the Ifa system of the Yoruba (Bascom 1969), the I Ching, the Pa divination system of Nigeria (Danfulani 1995) and assorted tablet divination systems (van Binsbergen 1995). This type is an integral part of the Birifor method (casting cowries).

Mediumistic divination is less clear-cut and 'logical', because it refers to 'mystical' agencies and is thus to be seen as based on subjective value judgements and therefore 'irrational' as well as having the propensity to exploit the gullibility of the client. What is essential in mediumistic divination is the change in consciousness of the diviner/medium during the session. An example of this type of divination is the method of the Atout of Sudan (Burton 1991:41-52), the Yaka of Zaire (Devisch 1991:112-132) and the Nyole of Uganda (Whyte 1991:151-172, 1997), who also use "Arabic book divination".

The third category, according to Devisch, is oracular-interpretative divination, which is often seen as irrational, esoteric and superstitious. In this type of divination, oracular mediums intervene without possessing the diviner with a specialist using standardised procedures to interpret them. The diviner then manipulates the divinatory apparatus by asking yes or no questions, whereby he attains univocal answers. Ndembu basket divination (Turner 1975) and the Zande poison oracle (Evans-Pritchard 1937) are examples of this type. The divination method of the Birifor can easily be placed in this category, since one of two main procedures applied is the moving of the held hands (the diviner's left and the client's right) as they respond to the questions put forward by the diviner, with the answers being mostly of the yes/no type. When information has been received in this manner, they are confirmed by the tossing of a various number of cowries, a procedure akin to Devisch's interpretative type and thus demonstrating the combination of different categories of divination in one method.

Thus Devisch (1985:54) positions and compares (two) different approaches, the external structural-functionalist and the internal semantic. The former approach addresses the effect of divination on the social-cultural order, not least relations of power within that order. It also focuses on the effect of communication and cognitive processes on this social-cultural order and its relationships. The latter approach looks at the dynamics of the creative performances of the divination sessions, where the participants negotiate the meaning of the situation and re-define it, while they look for new possibilities for action. According to Devisch, these two approaches (structural-functionalist and semantic, semiotic) need not necessarily be seen as mutually exclusive. By seeking to unify these different views, he defines divination as: "…psychodrama; an instrument of control and social integration; a rational handling of the mysteries of life and a dramaturgical reinforcing of the social and cultural norms and values of the group; a performative creation of a significant reality in its own right, not seen primarily as functionally linked to a problem or a need" (54). Thus, Devisch seeks to integrate these different approaches, and by doing so, he introduces his concept of the praxeological approach.

Despite seeking to unite, or synthesise, the external and the subjective, Devisch's approach is essentially subject-oriented, with emphasis on the diviner(s), the client(s) and their interaction in the divinatory process. Thus central to this approach is the "… purposeful articulation of meaning…more precisely the praxis" (Devisch 1985:77). What is important is the ability of divination to bring forth change and transition from one condition to another - of individuals and groups. Divination, seen is this way, gives new meaning and content to relationships that have been troubled by conflicts, and through the divinatory performance the relationship and its contents are regenerated and transformed by the interaction of the actors involved (De Boeck and Devisch 1994:128).

The microcosm and the macrocosm; the particular and the universal; the above and the below; the world of humans and the world of spirits - they are brought together by the divination ritual. The complex network of interrelations between different worlds - of spirits, ancestors, humans, and beings of the wild - that ultimately share the same world - is mediated by the practice of the diviner. Thus the diviner is 'caught' (cf. Birifor diviners initially being 'caught' by the bush spirits, the kontome, to become diviners) in the middle of this network - like a spider weaving multiple threads of destinies and solutions - the spider often being an incarnation of the trickster figure, who is almost an universal attribute of divination (Pelton 1980). It can be said that at the center of this web lies the main focus of divination and the diviner, whose role it is to sort out the different threads and tie them into a meaningful knot or pattern. Like the trickster, perpetually trespassing boundaries between center and periphery, disturbing settled order - like a weaver operating on a cosmic loom, he ties together disparate threads and connects different worlds, and creates unifying meaning, insight and knowledge.

1.4. Method
Getting there - into the unknown

The manner of journeying to my location of research was in many ways akin to divination practices - with unknown destination, much questioning and searching leading in the end to a definite outcome with the help of powers beyond my control. Before I arrived in Ghana, the only contact I had in by bag was the people (Dr. Jon Kirby et. al) at TICCS (Tamale Institute of Cross Cultural Studies) in Tamale, the regional capital of Northern Region of Ghana. I had contacted them by e-mail several times from Copenhagen and they had promised to help me with local contacts. Other than that, the only thing I knew was that I was going to travel somewhere to the northwest of Ghana to find a people called Lobi. I had no contacts in "Lobiland" and I was not sure exactly where I was heading - the only thing I knew was that I was just going to follow my nose. As fate would have it, I was introduced to a Birifor linguist who happened to be at the TICCS at that time, who provided me with contacts to two men in "Birifor country" - one in the roadside town of Tuna and another in the big hinterland village of Kalba, places I had never heard of. After a week's stay I took a bumpy bus ride from Tamale to the northwest and eventually met the two men, who ended up being my friends and the one in Kalba became my host and companion as well as my assistant/interpreter. When I had been provided with a place to stay and been introduced to most of the prominent persons in Kalba I could begin putting my head to the "how" and "why" of the Birifor world and set out to do some fieldwork.

The main fieldwork method was the traditional anthropological one of participantobservation - in itself a mystical notion - since it seems to be rather difficult to observe (an objective act) and participate (a subjective act) at the same time - assuming that the observer/participant/anthropologist will have to shift between observing and participating. Another method was interviewing local people about various subjects, sometimes in English, but often through an interpreter, using a notebook or a small recorder - since my knowledge of the Birifor language did not reach much beyond the regular greetings, mostly due to the short period of time among the Birifor. Finally, I have tried to fill in unavoidable gaps from diverse literary sources, written by people who stayed for longer periods in the area than I did.

There were of course a few practical and methodological problems, which were not easy to overcome. To begin with (besides the obvious one of the language barrier), at the time of my arrival, the wet season was culminating - the Black Volta had flooded much of the area, and the day before I left Tuna for Kalba, the river had completely demolished the road - and since the wet season is also the farming season, most people were on the farms from dawn to dusk, and the villages were almost empty of people. A similar situation is recorded by Barley (1983:51) and Jackson (1989:159), where the latter writes that "…with the coming of the rains, when roads in northern Sierra Leone become impassable and the demands of farm work leave villagers no time for talking to an anthropologist…". I could write northern Ghana instead of northern Sierra Leone - it was exactly the same situation. Consequently, the people I had first and foremost come to find, the diviners, were totally absent, since they are ordinary farmers like everyone else, and they had left their houses before dawn. Also, as I soon found out, they initially viewed me and my intentions with suspicion - they found it unlikely that a white man coming from Europe would find their practice interesting, they were convinced that I was bound to see it as superstition and "primitive" activity. Only after some time could I convince them that it would be unlikely that I had travelled several thousand kilometres, used much money and been ready to endure the hardship of this environment (I had quickly become quite ill), only to study something I found silly - in the beginning, they just laughed when I mentioned divination. But after accepting my explanations and pleas, they finally opened up to me, so that I could witness their divination sessions, record them and take photographs, but they were very reluctant to inform me about the rules of their art or how they learned it. But now I want to discuss some facets of the method applied.

Observation and/or participation

According to Evans-Pritchard (1976:243), participant-observation should not be considered a simple matter. He writes that even though he lived like his Azande hosts and took part in most of their activities; like hunting, making pots, consulting oracles, etc., he recognised a certain degree of pretence in these attempts: "One cannot really become a Zande or a Nuer or a Bedouin Arab…In any case one always remains oneself…a member of one's own society…". He also emphasised the importance of "sufficient mastery" of the local language as an important prerequisite for any effective participation in the life of the hosts (251). Consequently, if that is not the case, everything will be more or less filtered through the eyes, ears, mouths and minds of others, which will certainly distort important aspects of many activities, especially religious and/or occult rituals, such as divination, which in many cases are put forward in a more or less cryptic manner (even for many of the local people).

The objectivity of the observer is unavoidably based on his/her pre-programmed knowledge and pre-conceived attitudes and prejudices, and his/her pre-conditioned structures of thought and perception based on where he/she comes from (Bourdieu's habitus, if you like). The subjectivity of the participant, participating in activities of an alien culture, is still embedded in the conditions of his/her objectivity, in the historical and conceptual structures of his/hers own cultural background, thus this subjectivity can never be entirely subjective, and as Evans-Pritchard put it, it will always have some degree of pretence about it.

Michael Jackson (1989:51-52) discusses this problem in relation to his thoughts on the divinatory practices of the Kuranko of Sierra Leone, where he points to the contradictory nature of the methodology of participant-observation, stating that observing and participating can only be done separately or successively, since the two produce different kinds of data; objective and subjective, respectively. Consequently, the presumed objectivity has no objective status, "it is as much a performed, socially constituted attitude as the notion of pure subjectivity" (51), and then he goes on to liken this methodology to the practice of divination, wherein the aspect of indeterminacy and ambiguity are always present, but where the anthropologist or the diviner seek to reduce this factor by finding the experiential basis of their respective search.

In my own case, I did considerable more observing than participating, at least participating in any serious and meaningful way, as said earlier, mainly because of language barriers. I participated in the more mundane activities of the people, especially of the men, and I hung out with them in the evening, drinking pito, the ever-present guinea corn beer, eating and sharing the food with them, talking about the ways of the world, attending the (five-days-interval) market in Kalba, attending funerals, and so on. I also collected detailed recipes of the main meals, as well as of brewing pito, both activities entirely in the hands of women - accompanied by photos of every step on the way of making a meal and brewing beer. But I seldom participated in their rituals, and when I did - I was, as an example, once initiated into the patrilineage of my host, the Daryirdeme lineage (an example of "fictive kinship") and its totemic sect, that of the snail - I did not understand much of what was going on or said during the performance. Trying to participate - like sacrificing fowls, breaking their legs and wings for symbolic protection, drinking special ritual pito mixed with blood from the fowls I sacrificed, and eating specially prepared meal (containing ash and cooked liver from "my" sacrificial fowls) for the newly initiated - I found myself mostly observing and trying to get the heads and tails of what was going on - yet participating in this way made me feel like I was literally incorporating some aspects of this ritual of Birifor culture.

Interviews and interpreters

During my stay among the Birifor, I conducted many interviews, formal as well as informal, on a vide variety of subjects, the majority on matters pertaining to divination and the religious aspects of Birifor culture. Some were conducted in English, especially when talking to the young, most of who are reasonable educated and fluent in English. Most of them are Catholics and some of the things they told me about were something they had heard from their parents or grandparents, i.e., they did not have a direct, or emic, relationship with the subject, yet some of these individuals had been initiated into some of the traditional cults. Being Catholics certainly influenced their view on the traditional deities and other aspects of the religion of their ancestors, especially the creator god, and his importance in the scheme of things. But when talking to the older people, many of who did not speak or understand English, I had to rely on my assistant/interpreter (who's English was excellent), and when inquiring about traditional religious or spiritual matters, I often had the feeling that there was quite a long line from my source to my notebook or recorder, i.e., I often suspected the person I was asking (e.g., the Earth priest, whom I often talked to) did not quite understand the finer aspects of my questions, presumably because my interpreter did not do that either - which was probably just as much my own fault. It is also possible that my western bias towards systematising the traditional pantheon created some misunderstandings in the way things were presented. These are educated guesses, but I often strongly had the feeling that this was the case.

Recording alien divinatory language and making sense of it all

When translating the recordings of the divination sessions it was unavoidable that some of the nuances of what was being said would become blurred - due to the fact that the diviners frequently used specialised language and metaphors, and because there were some conceptual barriers between the "theological" views of the diviners (who were all traditionalists, or "pagan") and my interpreter who is a Catholic (yet he had been initiated in most traditional cults as a young boy). Translating the sessions was a difficult and long process - translating an hour and a half session could take more than a day or two, sometimes longer (trying to keep the noisy pigs, goats and guinea fowls at bay while listening to the tapes). Since these transcriptions are the main data of my study, this obviously poses a methodological problem, which I will have to live with.

In short, the main methodological hurdles and limiting factors were the language barrier, the wet season and the limited time of my stay among the Birifor, all somewhat connected to one another. Also, one thing that affected my work (although hardly directly classifiable as a "methodological problem") was periods of severe health problems, where I was virtually unable to do anything. I can imagine that this is not an uncommon condition among field working anthropologists in similar environments. In addition, I often wondered if the fact that my assistant/interpreter was the assemblyman (an elected political office accountable to the government in Accra) in Kalba, where I stayed, and that his position possibly might have influenced the course of some of the divination sessions, especially if the client's problem was of a sensitive nature. It must be remembered that the lives of most of the people are tightly interwoven, since most of them have kinship ties and since many of the problems were "house problems", either between members of a household or between households or lineages in the area. Another problem was that I often had to wait for the diviners to receive clients, like a hunter waiting for his prey, because clients would often visit them without a warning, i.e., without having made arrangement for the consultation, making all that business highly unpredictable, and this often forced me to ignore other things.

So, to summarise, the methodological factors are a mixture of the objective/subjective dilemma of participant-observation, language barriers and limitations, uncontrollable factors like unfavourable seasonal climate, health problems, as well as limited time span of my fieldwork, the length of fieldwork time probably having considerable effect on most of these factors. The "non-pretence" element of participation is most likely proportional to increased time span of fieldwork, which also should improve linguistic competence and general practical social and cultural skills in living (and participating) in a given alien culture, thus enabling one to become a bit more subjective.

1.5. Outline of the chapters

After the Introduction (1), the focus will be on the Birifor as people and the territory that they inhabit (2). This chapter is concerned with the geographical and ethnic landscape of Birifor area in Ghana, the latter being a bit complex, as well as the general history. I present the social organisation of the Birifor: the kinship system, the political organisation, and most importantly the traditional religious ideas and practices, since the cosmological ideas of the Birifor have an all-encompassing role in the practice of divination - one aspect being impossible to address without the other. Next, the divination practice itself will be addressed (3). This chapter looks at the interplay between the Birifor and their environment and the difficulties that this relationship creates - production and reproduction problems, diseases, etc. - and the causal explanations people pursue in their quest for assurance and security. Here I will look at some etiological models presented by Devisch (1991), Goody (1962) and Whyte (1997) concerned with the 'why' and 'how' of the testing predicament of life. I will present in some details the practical and technical aspects of Birifor divination from the point of view of the Birifor in the area of research. I will present the diviner, his position and the nature of his practice. The divination process will be analysed, its form, phases and content, and this will be done with references to the divination sessions. I will venture to analyse the divination process in some detail and depth. In doing so, will try to use some of the theoretical ideas of Devisch as well as others to shed some light on the deeper aspects of the divinatory procedure. In doing so I will want to focus on the interplay, or mirroring, of mundane and occult, or cosmological factors, or on what Devisch calls 'structural causality', by which he means the extrapolation of mundane, everyday afflictions upon the 'screen' of a supernatural system - being the shrines and spirits. This is a system that acts as an ordering and clarifying frame of reference and thus it helps people to understand their situation and lay out plans for action. In the sessions, there are constant references to the various shrines and spirits and they will be addressed as 'personified agencies' (Tengan 2000) and as focal interfaces between the parallel worlds of humans and occult forces - this interface being a liminal space where the negotiations over fate and destiny can take place - liminality being the sphere of change and transformation. In trying to illuminate this I will refer extensively to the transcripts of the divination sessions. Underlying all of this seems to be the (necessity of the) awareness and realisation of the interconnectedness and unity of all aspects of life - patent and latent - and the necessity of this awareness for being better equipped to deal with that which the 'fates' throw at us. Finally, I will collect the main threads of this thesis in the concluding chapter (4), where I will try to draw a picture of the divination practices of the Birifor in a wholesome way.

2. The Birifor

2.1. The place and the people

The area of my fieldwork was in the northwest corner of Ghana, where the borders of Burkina Faso, Cote d´Ivoire and Ghana meet, with the Black Volta River defining this border. The village of Kalba, where I stayed during my fieldwork, is in the Bole district, also called Western Gonja. It is in the northwest corner of the Northern Region of Ghana, with the town of Bole as its administrative centre. This area is grassland savannah, with high grass and scattered fire resistant trees - the most characteristic being the baobab tree.

In the wet season (saasong), which is from April/May to October/November, the high grass of the bush alternates with the green farms, where crops - mainly maize, guinea corn, millet, yam, groundnuts, beans, and a few others are grown. In the dry season (uon), from October/November to April/May, the grass withers and the bush is burned, leaving the landscape bare and desolate. The appearance of the land changes dramatically with this seasonal change: in the wet season, the rain pours down heavily and the Black Volta floods much of its surrounding area, whereas in the dry season - which is heralded by the Harmattan (sesebe song), a hot, dry and dusty wind from the Sahara - most of the smaller waterways dry up and the land becomes barren and dusty. This seasonal rhythm determines the social and economic activities of the population to a great extent. During the wet season, people are busy farming from dawn to dusk, whereas the dry season is a period of increased social and ritual activities. At the start of the dry season, men can be seen repairing the houses that were damaged by the rains, an activity heralding the harvest of the guinea corn, and the end of the farming season. When the guinea corn has been stored in the granaries, social intercourse steadily gains momentum throughout the region with its rituals and festivals.

2.2. History

The West African savannah has for long been occupied by loosely organised segmentary, state-less groups like the Dagara/Birifor, as well as by more centralised chiefdoms based on conquest and involvement with the trans-Sahara trade routes, not least slave trading. The less organised societies never had the military ability to counter these chiefdoms, so they had mainly two options: to become integrated as "commoners" (especially through inter-marriage), or seek to avoid the power of these chiefdom states (Evans 1983:78 ff.). Some of the acephalous groups in the area became integrated into the state systems of the Dagbon, Mamprusi, Wa, Mossi or Gonja, but some, like the Tallensi and the Dagara/Birifor have resisted and tried to maintain their independence. The Birifor have tried - and not entirely unsuccessfully - to avoid the domination of both indigenous state powers such as Wa, and especially Gonja, as well as the rule of European colonisers. According to Rattray (1932: xii), the peoples of the (then called) Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) belonged to two groups: those who claimed to be the autochthonous inhabitants and those who claimed to be descendants of invaders from outside the area, notably from the north east of the region. The invaders were more organised and better armed than the autochthonous peoples, and they were familiar with the idea of kingship and/or chieftainship, and many of them were Muslims. The newcomers imposed their political system upon the segmentary societies they were conquering, but as a rule (the Dagomba to the east being an exception), they allowed the indigenous institution of the custodian of the earth to continue as a religious-ritual office, while the invaders had the secular ruling in their hands. In most cases, the invaders came to adopt the language of the aborigines, as well as many of their customs.

This is the most common story. The migration history of the Dagare-speakers is mostly shrouded in obscurity. One theory is that their ancestors were a splinter group from either the Mossi or the Dagomba (or both), who moved into the present area and assimilated (or became assimilated by) earlier settlers and/or new arrivals. Another theory postulates that they, along with the Mossi, the Dagomba, the Kusasi, the Frafra, the Mamprusi, and others, are directly descended from a common ancestor ethnolinguistic group, the Mabia (Bodomo 1997). Thus the ancestry, or migration history of the Dagarespeakers is rather elusive, and as pointed out by Lentz (1994), this history is to a great extend based on (mythic) stories of migration, made as charters of (and claims to) land and/or office, and thus concerned with boundaries and political rights, as well as identifying relations between neighbours, and between "landowners" and "late-comers". This can clearly been seen in the relationship between the Gonja (landowners) and the Birifor (late-comers) in Western Gonja (Evans 1983). This ethnic history has thus often been made on the background of unclear and shifting boundaries, culturally and linguistically, as well as on a fluid sense of being homogeneous "tribes" (Lenz 1994:468- 9). In the same vein, Bodomo (1997) points out that the various Dagare dialects gradually shade into one another, making it almost impossible to draw clear lines between the different dialects or cultural characteristics.

However this might have been, the Voltaic peoples have been migrating across the region for a long time, mainly because of ecological and social pressure: slave-raids, inter- and intra-warfare or shortage or exhaustion of farmland (Goody 1993:51-55). The slave trade had considerable effect on the demography, as did the trade between the coast and the north of Africa. The traders were mainly Muslims and they established special trading quarters in towns along the trade routes. The contact between these centres and the surrounding hinterland was for the most part limited to commercial exchange (and still is). The population of the hinterland was predominantly "pagan", or traditionalist, with Christianity first having made inroads in the wake of the European colonisers. According to Der (1980:178), Christianity arrived in this area in 1929 with father McCoy, who opened a mission in Jirapa.

As one of these hinterland peoples, the Birifor have to some extent adopted Christianity - and to a far lesser extent Islam, though in most cases without abandoning 18 their traditional beliefs, and even today many Birifor communities seem surprisingly little touched by western influence. Traditional religion is still practiced in most of the more isolated settlements, as are the "old" ways of life, social and technological. Whether this is due to lack of material resources or poverty, or to "cultural conservatism" and resistance to change will be left open to question. People seem to be pragmatic and eclectic in their attitude towards Christianity (or Islam), and many link Christianity and the church with money and material gain, schools and education, and so on, and rightly so. One example of the religious eclecticism is the earth priest (tingaansuo) in the village of Saru, which is on the bank of the Volta. He is a Catholic as well as the custodian of the river shrine (naaman) in Saru, which is the main river shrine in the area. Nobody seemed to have any problems with that.

Thus despite long-time contact to, and interaction with "foreign" peoples, both regional and European, through trade and religion, the majority of the Birifor have stayed surprisingly "traditional" and Evans (1983) has suggested that one reason might be the strong spirit of independence and anti-authoritarianism, which seems to be a continuing factor in the make up of the Birifor.

2.3. Ethnics

This region is populated by a number of ethnic groups, having, as already said, more or less two types of socio-political organisations. First, there are the so called stateless, or acephalous tribes, whose social organisation is based primarily on descent and gerontocracy, and who do not traditionally have any definite institutions of central authority; and second, there are the state-like, hierarchically organised chiefdoms, with a system of paramount chiefs and sub-chiefs. The chiefdoms, in this region, those of Gonja and Wa, consider themselves to be the rulers and owners of their respective territories, a view not easily shared with the acephalous peoples, who co-habit the land with the former. One of the stateless peoples in the region is the Birifor, with whom we will be concerned here. The Birifor belong to a linguistic and ethnic continuity of rather loosely definable groups - Dagara, Dagaba, Wala, Wiili, Birifor and the non-Dagare-speaking Lobi - who live on either side of the Black Volta, in the north west of Ghana, Cote d ´Ivoire and Burkina Faso. These groups are very similar, ethnically and culturally, as well as linguistically (they all speak closely related dialects of Dagare, except the Lobi, who speak Lobiri, an unrelated language). These groups are similar enough to be regarded as one ethnic group consisting of a few sub-groups.

To the south and south east of the Birifor in Ghana are the Gonja, who, like the Wala to the north (around the town of Wa), have a state-like system of chiefs, and who have had, and still have a very tense relationship with the Birifor (Evans 1983). One small group, the Batige, who are considered the autochthonous population of the Kalba area, live in two small settlements close to Kalba.

According to Bodomo, Dagare has been classified as member of the Oti-Volta group of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo language family (Oti-Volta has also been called Mossi and Mole-Dagbane). The total number of Dagare speakers in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Cote d´Ivoire is estimated to be more than one million and the Birifor speakers in Ghana are between 65,000 and 70,000. The Birifor dialect has been classified by Bodomo as Western Dagare, since the people speaking it originated (recently) west of the Black Volta. There is definitely no general agreement upon Bodomo´s theory, a situation, which only perpetuates the discussion (or "academic term-creation") of what to call this people and the attempts at "homogenisation" of the ethno-linguistic complexity of the region.

2.4. Kalba

Kalba was established as a settlement at the end of World War I by a group of Birifor crossing the Black Volta from the west bank in Burkina Faso, mainly from the village of Bonuba. Kalba lies about 30 km. west of Tuna, a roadside town situated on the main road leading from the south through Kumasi and north toward Wa and beyond. Kalba is the largest Birifor settlement in the area - today the population of Kalba and its satellite settlements is estimated to be somewhere between five and six thousand (it is often unclear where one settlement ends and another begins). It has an unofficial status as the Birifor "capital" in the region, a status partly due to its size and its market, and as its original focal point of Birifor migration into Western Gonja. Kalba market is held every five days, and attracts a large number of people from a wide area belonging to many different ethnic groups, who, on other occasions usually do not mix. For an excellent study of the Kalba market, see Evans (1983: chapter seven).

Kalba is the most "modernised" Birifor village in the area, despite the fact that it has no electricity, no telephone and only two water boreholes. By "modernised", I mean for example the increasing number of tin-roofed (mud-walled, cement-plastered) houses, which are slowly replacing, or should I say joining, the traditional mud houses (which dominate most of the other settlements), a few small shops, or stalls, run by some Wala traders, where a wide variety of western (eastern too - much of what is on sale is from China) goods can be found, and so on. There used to be a police station in Kalba, but there is none now - the closest one is in Tuna. Police officers can occasionally be seen on Kalba marked days together with tax collectors and sanitary inspectors - the two latter being regulars. Kalba is the primary focus of contact between the surrounding hinterland and the outside world. In addition, Kalba has the rarity (among Birifor settlements) of a clear spatial centre, the marketplace (with the market shrine, daa tii), an arrangement almost completely absent in other Birifor settlements. This absence of a spatial centre in Birifor settlements seems to reflect the similar absence of definite socio-political centre in Birifor society.

The great majority of the population in Kalba are Birifor, but a small number of other groups live in Kalba as well, mainly some Vagla (who are the indigenous people of the Tuna area), Wala and Safaliba, and a few Fulani as well, who specialise in cattle herding. These minority groups are predominantly Muslim, while the Birifor are either traditionalists or Christian (mainly Roman Catholic), or both - plus a small number of Muslims, religious praxis being pragmatic and eclectic among these people. The minority groups live mostly on the eastern edge of Kalba, close to the road, while the Birifor reside closer to the hinterland/bush toward the Black Volta, where a number of paths lead to the hinterland villages. This division comes to light on market days, where the Birifor have their stalls (mostly with raw materials and beer) on the western side of the market and the "strangers" sell their things (processed food, cooking utensils, and wide varieties of assorted 'imported' goods) closer to the road that leads from Kalba to Tuna (the only road from Kalba).

The presence in Kalba of the Catholic Church cannot be ignored. By far the largest building in the area belongs to it. Sunday services are well attended and some of the churchgoers can also be seen on other occasions participating in a traditional sacrifice or visiting a diviner (boorbro). There are two branches of Islam present in Kalba, one being the so-called "orthodox", which is traditional Islam - its members being equally eclectic and tolerant in their religious preferences as the Catholics. The other Islamic branch is the Ahmadyyah Muslims (cf. Mbiti 1989:238), who constitute a more fundamentalist attitude, not unlike the Protestants (i.e. Pentecostal, Apostolic and Evangelical). The relationship between these factions is more or less cordial, except for occasional tension between the Catholics and the Protestants, e.g., as to their relationship and attitude to the indigenous religious practices (and beer drinking) - similar tension, although more intense, exists between the two Muslim sections.

During my stay in Kalba, life in the village was very quiet, except on market days, when the place became transformed into a lively mosaic of colours, sounds and odours. Since it was the end of the wet season, most people were busy working on their farms, so there were very few people left in Kalba during the daytime, except for a few women preparing food and brewing the ever-present guinea corn beer, pito, which is the main source of independent income for the women. Pito was being brewed and drunk from dawn to dusk, and no social gathering took place without a calabash of pito or two.

2.5. Birifor life

The Birifor are agriculturalists, the main subsistence being cultivation of various crops, the most important being maize, millet, guinea corn, groundnuts, yam, beans and sweet potatoes. The cultivation of these crops takes place both on the farms or fields (farm: puo; farm in the bush: muo puo) which are situated some distance from the villages, and in gardens (s. samman puo) that surround every compound, and in the second half of the wet season these garden crops have grown well above the roofs of the houses, so in this period, the compounds are hidden behind these crops, and for a newcomer it is easy to become lost when every landmark is submerged by the crops. The planting and harvesting of these crops takes place in the wet season, from April/May to October/November. The division of labour according to gender is quite clear-cut. The men prepare the farms (still with traditional hoes), while the women do the planting at the start of the farming season as well as transporting the crops from the farms during harvesting. Men also build and repair houses, while all housework - cooking, washing, etc. is the domain of women. Women take care of children while breastfeeding, but later on, the men take their turns in looking after them to some extent. As soon as the boys are able, they start helping their fathers on the farms, and the girls learn soon enough from their mothers the sphere of their future work. The most important livestock is cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, fowls and guinea fowls.

The main stable food is maize, which is consumed in what is called TZ (tizet), which is a dish of vegetable and/or meat soup with a thick and sticky mass made of grinded and boiled maize corn. Another common dish is fufu, which is made of boiled and mashed yam eaten with spicy soup.

The traditional Birifor house (yir) has a very characteristic style, a style that is more or less uniform throughout the whole of Birifor/Dagara/Lobi territory. It is a robust and fort-like mud house, with thick walls and a strong, flat roof (gar), supported by crossbars and robust posts. The walls are built layer upon layer, and a special ceremony is performed after the completion of each layer - the houses do literally emerge from the earth on which they rest - with special food and beer being consumed after finishing each layer, combined with small offerings to a makeshift shrine in front of the entrance, which is made from twigs of a tree associated with the earth shrine (tingaan). Usually, there are no windows, but instead there are entrances (sulo) to each room from the roof, the roof being accessible by characteristic ladders made of specially cut wooden poles. The roof is used both as a workplace, where the women dry and process crops, and for social gatherings, especially in the evenings, when people often gather on the roofs to enjoy a calabash of pito or two and talk. In the dry season, it is not uncommon for people to sleep on the roofs. These traditional mud houses are still the most common ones, and in the more isolated settlements they are the only type. But tin-roofed houses are slowly becoming more common, especially in the bigger settlements and villages, like Kalba and the roadside town of Tuna. The Birifor compounds lie scattered throughout the landscape, being somewhat 50-100 metres apart from each other.

After this general introduction of the Birifor, we will now take a closer look at the various aspects of their society and culture, such as the kinship system, political organisation, and the traditional religion.

2.6. Birifor society and culture Kinship

The Birifor kinship organisation is a system of unilineal double descent with extended families; it is virilocal with inheritance being both matri- and patrilineal, and it is in every way identical to that of their western neighbours, the Lobi (Rouville 1987), and the Dagara to the north (Goody 1962, 1967). Every Birifor belongs to one of four matriclans (s. bala), and one of its sub-sections; and to one of many patriclans (s. do), and one of its sub-clans, or lineages (s. dondor, literally meaning door or doorway/gate). The matriclans are non-localised, and are scattered throughout the whole region of the Dagare-speaking congeries (and beyond), and they have no localised subdivisions. The patriclan subsections, or patrilineages, are localised, house based corporate units, grouped in "parishes" (Goody´s term), connected to an earth shrine (tingaan). Thus as opposed to the matriclans, there is a marked correspondence between residence and patriliniality, on which the household/farming group (yir) is based.

As to inheritance, what can be classified as "immovable" wealth is inherited through the patrilineage; immovable wealth being land, houses, standing crops, shrines (and ritual offices); whereas "movable" wealth - livestock, harvested crops, cash, cloths and tools - is inherited matrilineally. The children do not inherit their father but their mother's brother. Yet, ritual office and shrines (except the kontome shrines) pass from a man to his junior brother or his sons. As Goody (1967:108) points out, it could be said that patrilineal inheritance is connected to production, and matrilineal to reproduction, although that dividing line should not be drawn too definitely.

The patriclans are named corporations, tracing their descent to a founding ancestor. The patriclans and the patrilineages (or sub-sections) share a cult of ancestors (kpime, s. kpii). These cults are focused on the ancestor shrines (s. san, santii), which are kept in the entrance hall (jangpula) of the house. In addition, the patriclans and -lineages have certain protective medicine shrines (tibe, s. tii), which are connected to special clan and lineage taboos and ritual avoidance. They are especially connected to protection from witchcraft and other hostile influences, as well as having healing properties. The Mwayirdeme patrilineage of the Kankandeme patriclan has one such shrine at the house of the Kalba earth priest (tingaansuo) and this shrine is called kaa. The (traditionally) most important ritual office in Kalba (or any settlement) is the tingaansuo. This office is transmitted through the Mwayirdeme patrilineage, being the lineage of the first settlers in Kalba.

The four matriclans are called Da, Some, Hien, and Kambire. They are grouped into two pairs of joking partners (s. lorloro): Da/Some and Hien/Kambire. The Birifor share these four matriclans with all Dagara groups, as well as their western neighbours in Burkina Faso and the Cote d´Ivoire: the Lobi, the Gan, the Dorossie and the Dian, thus creating kinship ties across ethnic and national boundaries over a large area. This joking relationship is of a social, political and ritual nature, and is pacifying rather than aggressive, diffusing rather than supporting. In ritual context, this relationship can, as an example, operate in cancelling an oath or a curse; or at funerals, to diffuse the emotional tension of those grieving (of an opposing joking clan), often by acting in a bizarre manner, like ridiculing the bereaved or insulting the corps (Goody 1962, 1967:81-82). Joking partners sometimes make personal sacrifices for each other and they are especially important as intermediaries between people and the bush spirits (kontome, s. kontom). Both patri- and matriclans are non-exogamous, while the patrilineages are exogamous. The matriclans are divided into sub-clans, which do not always adhere to a common ancestor or shrines, nor do they hold ritual office. These sub-clans tend to be more localised than the matriclans themselves. Each matriclan is divided into two exogamous groups, who operate as corporate units, within which movable wealth devolves (Evans 1983:31-32). The Birifor prefer cross-cousin marriage for keeping wealth within the lineage. The preferred form of cross-cousin marriage is between a man and his father sister's daughter. This norm is, however, not as common as before, and it is likely that it has contributed to increased disputes over inheritance and bridewealth among the Birifor. Bridewealth payment is done in more than one stage, and is usually first completed when the wife has born one or more children. Elopement is mostly a thing of the past (it used to be a common source of disputes) but polygamy is still widely practiced.

Politics

According to Rattray (1932:429), the Birifor ("Lober") did not have territorial chiefs (s. naa) before the arrival of the Europeans. The only office of political/ritual nature was that of the custodian of the earth (tingaansuo) and social and political coherence was mostly based on spiritual and mystical references to the earth shrine and the ancestor shrines. The institution of headman (naa) was established by the colonial rulers, and today most settlements have a naa, who is usually a junior brother of the tingaansuo. The naa does not have any definite power, his role consisting mainly of being a link to the outside world, and to settle local disagreements, but he has no authority to enforce any form of sanctions or punishments. Nevertheless, his words have considerable weight, and the respect he commands is mostly based on his person. The decision making of these offices was/is shared with the lineage elders (tingaan deme) of the settlement.

As can be seen, the distribution of power in Birifor society is highly dispersed. Also, having double descent further underlines this distribution, and, as Evans (1983:41) points out, because of the strong bond between a man's children and their maternal uncle, a man is never even a master in his own house. Likewise, the authority of the tingaansuo is not vested in himself, but in the traditions and customs that he is the guardian of. In addition, he has to share his policy making with the lineage elders of the settlement, thus underlining the collective nature of the office. Elders, custodians of earth shrines, headmen, or other lineage elders do not possess individual powers, instead the nature of their offices is collective. In addition, and importantly, the main source of authority is not with the living, but instead it is embedded in the dead forbears, in the role of ancestors, or to a lesser degree to some other non-human agencies: spirits, deities, shrines, and so on, which will be discussed in more details later.

The office of the assemblyman in Kalba was established in 1988. He is accountable to the national government in Accra, via assemblies in Bole, the district administrative centre in western Gonja (Bole District), and Tamale, the administrative capital of Northern Region of Ghana. The community elects the assemblyman, and his 26 political weight, at least in theory, seems to be similar to that of the headman. This region seems to be quite deprived of any serious involvement from the state of Ghana, economically as well as politically. The influence of the national government is not very visible, nor is the participation of the Birifor in national politics, and generally it can be said that the presence of the state is minimal in this part of the country.

Cosmology

The traditional religion of the Birifor people is highly pragmatic and action-oriented, in that it finds expression in performing various rituals on a daily basis, be it an offering of sacrifice or consulting a diviner. It is connected to the problems of everyday life; illness and death, relational conflicts and disputes, crop failures, and other misfortunate events - it is pragmatic in the sense of seeking concrete, practical results. It is based on and directed to the immediate, practical problems of the group and the relationship of the individual with it. This relationship is not limited to the living members of the group, since its dead members, the ancestors, are ever-present and interacting with the living, as are other non-human entities, such as varieties of nature spirits. A boundary between these two worlds, the living and the dead, humans and spirits, is neither obvious nor important; they are constantly interwoven, and cannot be separated nor perceived as two, but as one.

Without being specially hierarchical or organised, and practised according to the need in hand, the Birifor spiritual universe can be seen as made up of the complementary concepts of heaven and earth in the form of the rain shrine (saa, saangmin) and the earth shrine (tingaan) as general principles, together with the ancestors (kpiime) and other shrines and spirits. Also, there is the creator god, or supreme being (naangmin), who is not obviously active in the affairs of men, but is thought to rest behind everything. And although there is no clear hierarchy, one shrine (or deity: ngmin, shrine: tii) is more encompassing for the community than others, and that is the earth shrine, tingaan. Also, the ancestors (kpiime) play an all-important role, especially in lineage/family matters. And it must be added, that for the diviners (boorbro), the bush spirits (kontome), play a major role, as will be shown in more details later.

As an agricultural people, living in a society based primarily on descent and residence, the importance of land and lineage for the Birifor is paramount. The connection to the earth - as a sustainer of life and as a place of belonging - is reflected in the adherence to the tingaan, which has both strong religious and political significance. The reverence to the ancestors is practised by sacrificing (sacrifice: boor) to the ancestor shrines (s. santii). Collective (seasonal) time of the settlement, as well as the well-being, prosperity and peaceful co-existence, is focused on the tingaan. The tingaan is also important as regards land rights and land distribution, which underlines the importance of the earth priest (tingaansuo). The guidance of past experience and the importance of kinrelations as passage of time and continuity of the lineage (and a charter of its history) are concentrated in the santii.

As already mentioned, the Birifor have a concept of a supreme being, which they call naangmin. In Birifor/Dagara mythology, he is the creator of the world and everything therein, but having created the world, he left it to man to take care of his creation. He is ethically neutral and he does not deal directly with the mundane world of men, and there are no shrines in his name, nor are sacrifices offered to him, yet in many ritual and sacrificial contexts, he is addressed along with other deities. As an example, diviners sometimes address naangmin at the beginning of a divination session along with other spirits. Naangmin is generally perceived as a passive entity, an otiose god, but yet he is thought to be present in the ongoing creation of the world, which is seen as a neverending process. According to myth (WB 6053-6076), he remains hidden and invisible, keeping out of the affairs of men, so that he can go on with his work, uninterrupted (see also Kuukure 1985:48). It is possible that the importance of naangmin became more apparent by the influence of Christianity (and colonialism) in the region. It has been suggested that the indigenous clergy tried to recreate the traditional religious past, as to bring together Catholicism and indigenous notions of a supreme god and according to Hawkins (1996), the idea of a single, absolute deity, existing before the arrival of missionaries, might as much be a historical invention as the existence of chiefs before colonial rule. He even suggests that without the invention of chiefs, the supreme god would probably not have been imaginable (ibid: 233).

This issue has never been put to rest and it is not clear whether a single "High God" was inherent in the indigenous religions or whether the idea had been imported by Christian missionaries or even earlier by Muslims. In case of West Africa, it has to be taken into account that Islam has been present and practiced in the region, especially the northern part, for more than a millennium. Therefore it is logical to presume that the monotheistic ideas of Islam might have influenced the people of the region long before Europeans sat their feet there. And of course, it is also a possibility that these ideas had been present before that. But the fact remains that the Birifor do not have shrines to naangmin, nor do they sacrifice directly to him, but they do address him along with other deities and he has an important role in the Bagre myth (Goody 1972). Having said that, I will now present the various deities, shrines and spirits populating the Birifor spiritual universe in more detail, since they form an all-important background for the divination practices of the Birifor.

The earth shrine (tingaan)
The tingaan (ting: earth; gaan: skin) is the most significant focus of traditional religious and socio-political activity, and the cult of this shrine, with its ritual importance, sacrifices and prohibitions, was and still is the most important unifying factor in any Birifor settlement. The tingaan connotes the spirit of the land, the earth, its attributes are feminine and it is primarily a protective shrine. It is said to help getting good harvest and plenty of food. In case of widespread crises (epidemic, warfare, etc.) in the ritual area of the tingaan, people gather at this shrine to offer sacrifices and ask for protection. Sacrifices are frequently made to the tingaan, or on a path leading to it - depending on the gravity of the case at hand, which is something a diviner has to find out. It has some serious prohibitions attached to it, and if these are broken (especially the shedding of blood of another resident of that ritual area), it is at the cost of heavy sacrifices and a fine of money, and it is an invitation to some terrible misfortune for the perpetrator and/or his/her kin. Women, who are pre-menopause, cannot sacrifice at the tingaan, and menstruating women are prohibited from the shrine. Lost property, such as stray livestock and lost children, belong to this shrine and in former times, slaves that had escaped came under the protection and ownership of this shrine.

Every year, at end of harvest, every household in a settlement brings guinea corn, fowls and guinea corn beer (pito = daa) to the tingaan for a thanksgiving sacrifice (tingaan daa), which is conducted by the earth shrine custodian (tingaansuo). At these sacrifices, representatives of every descent group in the settlement must participate, since this is the primary ritual of communal cohesion in the community. The tingaansuo has the responsibility to maintain good relations between the earth and the people and to see to that the welfare of the community is in tact. He has the ritual authority to interfere in local feuds and - together with the naa, the lineage elders (tingaan deme), and in recent times the assemblyman - to act as mediator in disputes (often, the local Gonja chief is also part of this equation). The tingaansuo also has the authority to allocate unused land for cultivation. A tingaansuo in any settlement is always a senior man of the patriclan of the first settlers. The Kalba tingaan is a rocky grove in the shade of a prominent tree close to the market place. There is another tingaan at the small Batige settlement on a hill overlooking Kalba, and the Gonja chief (Kalbawura), who is a Muslim, takes care of that shrine, which is located close to his palace (The Kalbawura used to reside in Kalba itself, but has moved to this settlement due to difficult relations with the Birifor in Kalba). This shrine is thus a focus for communal solidarity and collective sacrifices, as well as of religious/political sanctions against anti-social behaviour. The tingaan is usually located in an uncultivated rocky grove (which practically is the shrine), in the shade of a prominent tree near the centre (which is often hard to localise!) of the settlement. Usually, when people build new houses, a stone from the tingaan is buried in its base, often (especially in older times) along with faeces (bin) of children and domestic animals, which is meant to vend off evil spirits. The tingaan is always addressed in any sacrifice, since all shrines rest upon the earth.

The rain shrine (saa or saangmin, saa: rain, ngmin: god, deity)
This important shrine is connected to the earth shrine, especially as concerns the fertility of the land, the people and the animals, and is seen as complementary to the earth. It connotes the sphere of the sky and the firmament; the rain, thunder and lightning and as such it is connected to the sky god (naangmin) and has masculine attributes, and as such is seen as the complimentary opposite of the tingaan. In the Kalba area, the main saa is in the village of Uru (about three km. from Kalba), and it is under the custodianship of the Narkwoyirdeme patrilineage (the present rain priest is Daar). Many compounds have domestic rain shrines, either in front of the houses or on the roof.

Thus, the saa is both a protective (secures fertility) and punishing deity, properties it shares with the river shrine (naaman). Before the beginning of planting, the household head (yirsuo) makes sacrifices to the saa, asking for protection and fruitfulness for the land and the people. Likewise, thanksgiving sacrifices are made to the shrine at the end of the harvest, as in case of the tingaan. In case of draughts or too much rain, sacrifices are made to this shrine and rainmakers conduct special rituals at the Uru shrine when that is the case.

Ancestors (ancestor: s. kpii, pl. kpiime; father: san)
According to Fortes (1987:66 ff.), the concept of ancestors entails the extension of kinship and descent relations onto a supernatural sphere. He defined an ancestor as "…a named dead forbear, who has living descendants of a designated genealogical class representing his continued structural relevance" (68). The worship of the ancestors was seen by Fortes as a representation or extension of the authority component in the judicial relations of successive generations. Thus, it is the jural status as parent, vested with authority and responsibility, which is transformed into ancestorhood. The ancestors symbolise the continuity of the social structure and the proper allocation of the authority and rights they held and transmitted. The ancestors are seen as a projection of the authority system of society into the "supernatural" sphere, where they act as the guardians of the social and moral order, which in stateless, decentralised societies is mostly defined by the descent system. In this system, the ancestors are a vital focus of religious activity, they represent the most important moral and legal aspects of the group, and they are the guides of its norms and traditions.

The ancestral shrine (san, or san tii) which is the second most important shrine after the earth shrine (tingaan) is the main focus of ancestral worship among the Birifor. It is placed in the entrance hall (jangpula) of the house, which in earlier times was also the cattle byre. This shrine is the most important shrine in the house, and its custodianship is usually in the hands of the (male) household head (yirsuo) of the compound. It is him who addresses and communicates with the ancestor(s), which he usually does before any important decision is made on behalf of the family or lineage. Sacrifices to the ancestors are usually first made after some misfortune has occurred, like serious illness, crop failure, or death. The most common cause is seen to be unfulfilled obligations to the ancestors, and their consequent anger and withdrawal of protection, and the ancestors´ retribution is often quite out of proportions to the offence at hand. A diviner is consulted to reveal the cause of the misfortune and to prescribe the appropriate sacrifice. Ancestral sacrifices are also offered to ensure the success of some up and coming enterprise. The system of ancestral sacrificial giving/receiving operates within the propertyholding group, and the superior position of the property-holder extends death, it even strengthens at death, since after death, the ancestors are still members of the corporate group as well as remaining authority figures, maintaining norms of social conduct, and causing trouble if neglected or disobeyed. Among the Birifor, the authority of the mother's ancestors also is strong, which is embedded in her brother (mother's brother: arba). He is the holder of property, and as an ancestor, he has to be sacrificed to by his sister´s son (arbile). Thus, the ancestral sacrificial context reflects the manner of inheritance, and the relationship of holder and receiver of inherited property (Goody 1962). The maternal ancestral authority is in part embedded in the control over money and livestock, which are inherited martilineally among the Birifor.

To sum up, the ancestors play a pivotal role in this society. They act as foci of moral and jural obligations, underlining the authority structure of a society based primarily on descent and residence. The ancestors are symbolic of the passing of time and signify the sources of life and power, as expressed in the procreation and continuity of the lineage. The concept of the ancestors can be seen as a system of moral and social philosophy, based on the idea of the ideal life and proper conduct. They set the standards and examples, but they also punish those who disregard the accepted norms of the group. This norm is a life based on the continual process of human and social relationships, and of reciprocal obligations and rights, as well as on the idea of the unity of life and death, and the continuity from the living into the dead.

Fate and destiny

The notion of fate, or destiny is a characteristic feature of religious concepts of most cultures and among many West African peoples the belief that prenatal choices can influence a person´s destiny is common. According to Fortes (1959), the life of a person (cf. the Tallensi) is conceived as choices between right and wrong based on prenatal decisions. The Yoruba believe that each person makes a prenatal choice about his/her destiny and will have to live with that choice, for good or bad, but having the possibility of shaping this destiny in some ways, by living the "good life". According to Jackson (1989:36-49), the Kuranko addressed the given structure of the social world - not as ready made and unavoidable rules - but as a set of possibilities to be acted on in a selfconscious and purposeful way. Thus the interplay between formal predetermination (fate) and informed influence (learning) accounts for destiny. Also, the idea of divine justice, as some suprahuman agency, operating in the context of the morality of men, is seen as closely linked to the idea of fate/destiny (Fortes 1959:19). Another aspect, tightly bound up with this is the concept of luck, good or bad. A common idea is that luck is seated in the head (Birifor: good luck: wuo in ju nuo: "he is sweet head" = he is lucky/has good luck; bad luck: wuo in ju deer: "he is bad head" = he has bad/evil luck). The head is the home of thought, self-consciousness, the will, the ability to choose, and perception - indicating that by being conscious and perceptive, a person is better equipped to influence his/her destiny (or luck) in a creative and self-conscious way. This is also present in the worldview of, among others, the Kuranko, the Yoruba, the Edo, and the Tallensi (Jackson 1989:38 ff.), to name a few. This seating of luck in the head can also be seen in a metaphorical sense as "hanging over" the person like a shadow (Fortes 1987:148-149), like something entering from the outside, from above. Destiny is seen as an integral part of a person's identity, and the person has chosen it before being born into the present condition. So, at birth, the destiny/fate of a person is already there, and it has to be worked on and with, it has to be built and developed.

The Birifor belief in predestined fate, or destiny (manbinfo: pre-arranged, or mana: something measured), is strong. The idea of a free will does not seem to be immediately apparent, yet people perform all kinds of rituals to try to "tamper with" fate, appease the gods and spirits, and to offer sacrifices to make things good for themselves. They mostly believe that the spirits, especially those of the ancestors, direct their life. They also believe that the life lived now is conditioned by former life(s) and that the present fate is brought into this life from a pre-natal existence. Accordingly, some people are destined to become rich or poor, sick or healthy, and so on. The supreme being (naangmin) is not to blame for the misfortunes of man; instead it is the wrongdoings of humans themselves and the various spirits, and most importantly breaches in the relationship between man and spirits/gods, and between humans themselves, which is to blame. Although naangmin does not play a direct role in shaping the fate of men, he is in some way the embodiment of the notion of fate/destiny as the final explanation or ultimate reason for the state of the world.

I was told that when a person is being born, he/she is an ancestor being born again. When young children die, it is believed that their destiny was not ready for this life, so they have to try again, and through the same parents. Children who in this way are born "second time around" get a special facial scar (jine). Thus the worldview of the Birifor is apparently quite fatalistic - they believe in the eternal life of the soul, which reincarnates again and again as a forefather coming back, or rather as an aspect of the forefather. It seems that some individuals are connected through common destiny, which they have to endure and live through together. One person's destiny is interwoven with the destiny of the people he/she shares life with. They respond to what fate has allocated as moral trials by seeking to conduct themselves properly, individually and as a group. Thus the position and identity of the person in the context of fate/destiny/morality is seen as tied up with his/her social/historical/spiritual environment.

So, although fate/destiny is seen as irresistible, it is possible to influence it, if not control it, to a certain extent, striking the balance between fate and free will. Man is not seen as an entirely helpless victim of his condition; he has the possibility to take creative actions in facing the trials of life as fate has presented them to him. This he can do by proper conduct towards his fellow humans and by offering the appropriate sacrifices to the various mystical entities, especially the ancestors. Since the notions of fate/destiny/luck are strongly embedded in the moral life of a person and his/her group, it is inevitably closely linked to the ancestors and the moral authority they exert. So, improper behaviour brings the risk of retribution from the ancestors, which manifests itself as bad luck or evil destiny. To obtain knowledge of the complex workings of these matters, diviners are consulted again and again to reveal the nature of the problems at hand and to get instructions on what action to take to counter the influence of bad destiny. Thus divination is a central institution in this complex web of forces regulating the lives of people and guiding them to successful actions in dealing with the problems life presents, not least by enabling them to negotiate the situation they find themselves in and find a way out of it.

Soul, spirit and death

Another prominent aspect of the personality of an individual is the concept of the soul, or spirit (sie), and its relationship with the body (ingan). While the body disintegrates at death, the sie (sometimes also called nyangkpiin, meaning ghost) goes on to live an eternal life, progressing through a few phases, from ghost to spirit to ancestor. The soul is thought to have a quasi-material substance (flesh) like the body, and it is this substance, which is said to be devoured by attacking witches. This materiality of the soul is thought to prevail even after the soul becomes a spirit. Connected to the sie is the breath (vuor), likewise contained in the body, but the sie and the vuor are not the same. The sie can leave the body of the person during his/hers lifetime (in dreams, illness, etc.), whereas the vuor first leaves the body at the moment of death.

The religious view of the Birifor is in important ways directed towards ideas about death and the afterlife. Their eschatological view entails that the conduct in life has consequences for the afterlife and that they will receive judgement when having reached the other side. Accordingly Birifor/Dagara funerals are therefore quite elaborate ceremonies. A central part of the funeral proceedings is the discovery of the cause of death. This is done by consulting three different diviners, whose verdicts must be identical. If not, some of the former rituals must be performed again. This is done three days after death for a man, four days for a woman. In former times, a ritual called "carrying the corps" was performed to get clues about the cause of death. The deceased was wrapped in its sleeping mat and carried on a bier around the funeral stand by joking partners (lorloro) and if the corps fell off the bier, the person it fell in front of was thought to be linked to its death. This ritual is not performed any more, but today the clothes of the deceased person are sometimes carried around in this way. In addition, the deceased is sometimes asked to reveal the guilty part while visiting someone in a dream while sleeping. When the deceased is buried, he/she is provided with guinea corn and cowries (to pay for the fare across the river, but the cowries actually end up as payment for grave diggers).

The beliefs and practices of the Birifor and other Dagara groups surrounding mortuary rituals and ideas about death and the afterlife clearly reflect strong moral and ethical concerns. According to Goody (1962:376) these ideas appear to reflect the earthly system of social control and social and moral norms and codes of conduct. In the context of authority structures, this mirror image can be seen as three categories of relationships. First, the authority of the living over the living (authority of the father), then the authority of the dead over the living (authority of the ancestors), and thirdly the authority of the spiritual beings, or non-human agents, over the dead. The idea of reward and punishment in the land of the dead can be seen as a projection of the system of social control among the living. These are complementary mirror images, reflecting the authority structure (which is primarily embedded in the system of descent) of this society (Fortes 1959; Goody 1962,). For detailed and comprehensive study of the funeral rituals of the Dagaraspeaking peoples, I want to refer to Goody (1962).

Clan spirits (tibe)

These are spirits of the clans, especially the matriclans (they are frequently called "spirits beneath" - tibe is also the general term for spirits). They connote the unity and continuity of the clan, but not in any specific way like in the case of the ancestors. They are in a way connected to death and the afterlife (as is the river shrine, naaman) and they promote morality and decent conduct - they "make people know the difference between right and wrong". The Birifor see the tibe as a corrective voice from the past and are thus seen as guardian spirits of the clans. Marital and other reproductive issues, such as bridewealth and uterine inheritance come under these shrines. In March, the Birifor sacrifice guinea corn and fowls to these shrines and diviners address the tibe frequently during divinations.

The guardian spirit (siiraa)

Another important non-human entity is the guardian spirit (siiraa), which can be seen in one form as an integral part of the identity of an individual and in another as a guardian of the wider descent group, the clan. For an individual it is discovered at the time of "outdooring" (Kuukure 1985:81), which occurs three (for a boy) or four (for a girl) months after birth, or following serious illness, and sometimes during boor initiations. To discover the identity of a siiraa, a diviner must be consulted. The siiraa is often a grandfather or another deceased forbear of his generation. The relationship between the child and the siiraa is very close, and when a sacrifice has been made to it, the child can be called by the deceased person´s (i.e. the siiraa´s) name. Clan guardian spirits are not ancestors, yet they are closely connected to them in a similar way as totemic animals are. Medicine shrines (s. tii, pl. tibe, which is also general for shrines).

These are clan/lineage shrines, especially of the patriclans and their subdivisions. They possess healing and protective powers and medicines, and special lineage taboos and prohibitions are linked to them. Only those members of the lineage who have been initiated to these shrines, and learned their taboos, can expect to be protected by them. The tibe are usually made of wooden poles and sticks, stones, clay pots and calabashes, containing various medicines. The term tii as medicine here both means herbal medicine and medicine in form of some special spiritual power. The Kankandeme patriclan in Kalba area has such a shrine, called kaa, which is placed beside the entrance of the house of the tingaansuo. The most important property of the tii is to ward off witchcraft and other evil forces, strange diseases, and so on.

The river shrine (naaman; naa: chief, man: river)

This shrine possesses punitive properties like the saa. The naaman is especially identified with the Black Volta river (which is seen as a deity), as well as having strong connotations with the bush spirits (kontome). Often, when people cross the Black Volta, they confess their wrongdoings to the river because the naaman has a way of finding out and punishing wrongdoers by drowning. People often sacrifice at this shrine before crossing the Volta, as prevention against drowning or against being attacked by creatures of the river. These creatures, such as hippos, crocodiles and water snakes sometimes attack canoes carrying people across. These creatures belong to the spirit of the river (naaman tii), in the same way as wild animals belong to the kontome. The creatures of the river are called 'children of the river' (naa bibiir). Death by drowning (a bad death: kuon deer) is often considered a punishment for serious trespassing, especially theft. The land of the dead (kpiinsi ting) is considered to be on the other side of the river, yet only in a metaphorical sense, thus the naaman is associated with death. The main naaman shrine in the Kalba region is in the village of Saru (approx. six km. from Kalba), on the bank of the river, but as with the saa, many compounds have domestic naaman shrines, usually in front of the houses. These shrines are made of hollow mounds of mud, containing water from the river. The Saru naaman is situated in a small clearing overlooking the river and it consists of a small bush.

The naaman and the saa are considered "little brothers" of the tingaan in Birifor/Dagara mythology (BB 4410); together these shrines are connected to the powers of life and death, and they are considered being both protective and punishing, and being able to kill perpetrators.

The hill shrine (tong)

Like the tingaan, this is a protective deity, connected to business, farming and protection of life from evil forces like witchcraft, and so on. The tingaan is the "originator" of the settlement, a collective protective spirit. The first thing people do when founding a settlement is establishing a tingaan, and whereas that shrine is connected with the protection and well-being of the whole community, the tong shrine has more to do with personal affairs, and is consulted in private matters. There are five major tong shrines in Kalba area, but many compounds have domestic tong shrines, either in front of the house or inside. These shrines are often the focus for making "juju", i.e. sorcery and/or magic, either for personal gain or to get at someone else with harmful intend. Like the naaman the tong has important connotations with the kontome, since these beings inhabit the wild bush, the hills and the rivers and riverbanks. Which brings us to these capricious and tricky teachers of humanity.

The bush spirits, or the spirits of the wild (s. kontom, pl. kontome)

The shrines for the river (naaman) and the hill (tong) are both closely connected to the kontome, who are curious, uncanny and capricious creatures, and who have their own shrines made to them (kontome tii), and they can be seen as patrons of the diviners. They appear to men in dreams and visions, and when travelling in the bush, hunting or farming, often helping with the hunt. They can also appear to people when ill. They are said to be fairy-like and small, with long hair and beard (often red), and the male kontom has such an enormous penis that he has to sling it over his shoulders (cf. the Ashanti trickster Ananse and other trickster figures). They have a high-pitched nasal voice, which can only be heard by those whom they appear to, but they can also transform themselves into wild animals and even humans. When appearing in animal form, they often reveal secrets (especially about healing power of wild plants) to the person they appear to and that animal often becomes a totem for the patrilineage of the person.

A typical story is of a man who goes into the bush, for hunting or farming, and returns with something that he has been compelled to pick up. This something is a token of the kontome, who want to "live with" that person. Once, a young man was returning from the bush with his skin bag. When home, he opened the bag and out came a chameleon. The father of this young man had died in Accra and his son was supposed to inherit his father´s shrines, among them his kontome shrine (which was attributed to a chameleon, one very characteristic kontome animal, being elusive and changeable). But the son ignored the shrines and traveled to the south, eventually to return again. One day when returning from the bush, he found another chameleon in his bag, and two chameleons were sitting on each of his shoulders. This he took as a clear indication to revive his father´s kontome shrine and make regular sacrifices to it. He knew that implicit in this message from the kontome was imminent danger if he chose to ignore it further. The kontome can be seen as a bridge between the known world of men and the hidden world of gods and spirits, between society and wild nature, the known and the unknown. They have to be taken very seriously, since they are a vital source of cultural and magical knowledge connected to the hidden and healing powers of nature (the bush) and as they know the ways of other spiritual agencies they are especially important for diviners, who seek to reveal the hidden and unknown. The kontome are the only non-human beings who multiply themselves, hence their shrines are composed of wooden effigies representing a male (or males), a female (or females) and children. They are the only non-human agents who can be seen by men, or described in any way. They are said to be the children of the creator sky god (naangmin), and their main purpose is to reveal hidden knowledge to men, as well as to teach them all that can be termed culture: hunting, farming, cooking, house-building, playing the xylophone, divining, and so on. They also possess knowledge of the secret healing powers of wild plants, and thus are connected to healing. The kontome are also connected to hunting and wild animals, which are their livestock, and they sometimes help hunters in the bush.

The Birifor divination sessions that I witnessed always took place in the room where the shrine to the kontome was placed, and the diviner and the client sat on the floor facing the shrine. This room is usually the innermost room of the house, usually the room of the senior wife, even if the shrine belonged to the husband (however, it is not uncommon for a woman to have a kontome shrine). Placing the shrine to the wilds in this innermost room suggests that this is an effort to 'domesticate the wild'. Alternatively, these shrines are placed on top of special kontome huts, usually in front of the house. These shrines are composed of small statues, bones and skulls of wild animals. Also, the kontome shrines often contain a characteristic walking stick, made of iron, which can also be used as a weapon when travelling in the bush. Another characteristic item at kontome shrines are small bells of metal (s. gbelinma, pl. gbelin) used for summoning the spirits. The occult knowledge transferred by the kontome does not come for free. They crave sacrifices and shrines, and they demand that the people they appear to and choose make shrines in their name and offer them regular sacrifices. This is especially important for diviners, who are frequently "caught" (nyo) by the kontome to become diviners. This "profession" is not much sought after, since it confers no special social status (other than the reputation of being a good diviner), diviners cannot charge fee for their service, instead the practice can take valuable time from farming and other important work, especially in the wet season. The saying goes that if a man repeatedly ignores the call of the kontome to become a diviner he becomes ill (baal) or mad (gele), or can even be killed by the spirits.

The kontome as tricksters

In the context of the relationship between humans and non-humans the major intermediary role befalls the diviner, who in many West African societies is thought to have special links to the trickster figure (Shaw 1991:140). In Yoruba (Nigeria) myth, the god Eshu is an archetypal trickster figure (Bascom 1969). He is the mediator between men and the sky god Olodumare, and is therefore highly regarded by diviners. Eshu is seen as a close associate of Ifa, the Yoruba god of divination, and some Yoruba accounts refer to Eshu as the one who taught divination to Ifa. Eshu is a messenger between men and gods, and he sees to it that sacrifices and other forms of reverence to the deities are being properly executed. If not, he is capable of a considerable degree of maliciousness as he is notorious for his role as an effective troublemaker. In acting out his roles, Eshu frequently transforms himself into a variety of forms.

In Dogon (Mali) myth, the pale fox (Ogo-Yurugu) wanders restlessly along the margins of parallel worlds, outlawed by his creator, Amma (Pelton 1980). By principal transgression (incest), he gained special knowledge and insight, which enabled him to see into the unknown, hence he has special importance for Dogon diviners, who interpret the tracks of foxes over patterns the diviners have drawn in the sand at the limits of the village and the bush. Like the fox criss-crossing over the margins of village and bush, the trickster is an ambiguous and transgressing figure, being simultaneously in this world and the "other". He disregards accepted social and cosmic rules and he frequently challenges his creator, such as claiming to be the creator of men, like the kontome do in the Bagre myth (cf. BB 3736 ff.). Thus like many other West African peoples the Dagara/Birifor have their trickster figure, in the bush spirits, kontome, and as elsewhere this figure is intimately linked to the practice of divination. Like Eshu of the Yoruba and the pale fox of the Dogon the kontom (sing.) is, as a trickster, a messenger between the supreme being, gods/spirits and men, with the diviner operating as a central figure in this interaction. In this section I have offered an overview of Birifor society and culture, history and so on. I have