The notion of the moon in the calender and religion of the Bulsa (Ghana)

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Periodical article

Title:	The notion of the moon in the calender and religion of the Bulsa (Ghana)
Author:	Kröger, Franz
Year:	1984
Periodical:	Systèmes de pensée en Afrique noire
Issue:	7
Pages:	149-151
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	Builsa time
Abstract:	The moon does not play a major role in the religious and ritual life of the Bulsa of northern Ghana, nor in their notion of time and their calendar. However, this does not mean that the Bulsa disregard the phases of the moon altogether. All Bulsa recognize the period from the 'birth' to the 'death' of a moon. Whenever the birth of a child coincides with the birth of the new moon, people presume there is a close connection between moon and child, the negative effects of which must be countered by certain ritual precautions. It may also be possible to establish another, much vaguer association between the moon and certain persons by means of a linguistic-semantic analysis of the homophones chiik, moon, and chiik, human soul. Ref.