This year’s National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC), which ended at the Upper West regional capital, Wa, was also an opportunity to dis­play the various faces of Batakari, the famed fabric produced in northern Ghana.

 

Batakari is woven from handspun threads of coarse cotton and usually fashioned into loose pullovers, or smock-like tunics usually worn by men and boys.

 

SOME were adorned with pendant amulets, sometimes even with horns and claws, which have been prepared by a spiritual leader and are believed capable of protecting and empowering their wearers.

 

The very potent ones are usually made by charm makers and it is said that each amulet includes an inscription from the Koran, though some have been opened to reveal only powder, presumably viewed as spiritually effective, thus invoking spiritual powers.

 

Some Batakari from Ghana are inscribed with writing and subdivided rec­tilinear patterns known as magic squares that are thought to also have magical powers.    

 

The Islamic script is done in a pigment that is believed to have magical powers and when used to draw magical symbols it  becomes more powerful. The pigment is also mixed in liquid form and ingested when extra power is needed.