How Rituals Strengthen Bonds: Lessons from the Dagara

Do you find yourself rushing through transitions, missing opportunities to connect with the more profound meaning that could hold valuable insights, either for your business, your home, or your personal life?

The wisdom of the Dagara people of West Africa offers a powerful reminder:

Ritual is not extra; it is essential.

Among the Dagara, rituals are not isolated acts but collective experiences that weave individuals into the fabric of the community. Whether celebrating birth, mourning death, or navigating life’s many initiations, ritual serves as a container for truth, belonging, and healing. It is through ritual that people are seen, held, and transformed.

Dagara Elder and “Keeper of the Rituals” Sobonfu Somé

At Living Your Gifts, we’ve drawn from Dagara teachings—especially those shared by the late Sobonfu Somé—to center ritual as a tool for reconnection. In my book, Walking With Sobonfu: A Guide to Claiming Your Authenticity and Deepening Your Sense of Community, I share many rituals and tell stories from my profound friendship with Sobonfu, who taught me the importance of ritual in modern life.

Many of us are searching for meaning, as I was then, grappling with burnout or feeling isolated despite being constantly connected. Ritual offers a different path: it slows us down, re-roots us in relationship, and honors what words cannot always convey.

Ritual helps us:

• Acknowledge transitions with reverence, not avoidance.

• Bear witness to each other’s growth, pain, and truth.

• Restore community bonds through shared vulnerability and sacred intention.

The Dagara remind us that healing is not a solo journey. Through ritual, we remember that we belong to each other. And in that belonging, we begin to heal.

Want to experience this for yourself?

Stay tuned for our September offering: