Vagla land priests gathered in the indigenous community of Dagbigu in the Savannah Region, last Friday, to perform the sacred Chalpaë bloodpicking ritual, a ceremony aimed at restoring harmony between the living and ancestral spirits. This followed recent community conflicts.
The ritual, conducted by Vagla Hɛuhina (land priests) of the Vagla Traditional Authority, was a significant cultural event for communities along the Black Volta in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba and Bole districts. Dagbigu, the birthplace of Gbiniyiri, Janivuri, and other settlements in the region, served as the site of the cleansing.
According to Vagla tradition, the Chalpaë ceremony neutralises bloodshed through spiritual energies that prevent reprisals and redirect attacks. When communities experience famine, conflicts, barrenness, sickness or plague, it is believed that ancestral balance has been disrupted.