Examining the factors influencing changes in traditional funeral rituals among Frafra subgroupings in Northern Ghana

Abstract

What connects people of all cultures, regardless of how or where people are born, is the reality that almost everyone eventually dies. Death is a passage from this world to the world beyond. When a family member dies, we are sobered with increased anxiety, sadness, and anguish.  Befitting burial according to custom and tradition is the only obligation owed to the dead body. The rituals surrounding burial are designed to help the dead return to the realm of their ancestors. It has changed many things in our tradition and had significant impact on our people and culture. It is now costly for people to send their deceased to their family's home because the practice has changed. This research looks at altering funeral ritual trends and making positive impact in burial rituals, how it affects Frafra people of northern Ghana, and the impact of religious-cultural practices and socio-economic activity. From the dawn of time, there have been many funeral ceremonies. The funeral service gives one final opportunity to honor the dead.  Funeral has a significance in African society Ghana inclusive. Many are unchanged even though funerary rites have been altered in the Frafra subgroup Traditional Areas due to modernization and technology in the last 50 years. The researchers utilized non-probability sampling to choose respondents into categories. Purposive and snowball sampling strategies were employed to gather respondents in this sampling. Information was mainly obtained through interviews and observation in the subject region; when this included recording and transcribing. It was discovered that funeral rites had sever negative financial and psychological turmoil for many families, including poverty, debt, prostitution, child labor, abortion, fighting, and death.