Larabanga Mosque
Labaragaga is situated 10
miles (16 km) west of Damongo, N/R and only about 5 miles to the Mole
National Park (Dept of Game and wild life). In case you don know where
Damongo is. It is about 72 miles west of Tamale. It is a common belief
that this mosque is the oldest mosque in Ghana. Even the present generation
think it was built my God. The villagers built another mosque which is
similar to the one on the stamp where they go to pray or worship daily.
The so-called 'God built mosque' also houses a holy koran which also is
believed to descent from heaven. This holy book is read once in a year or so
during a special ceremony. Many prominent moslems from Ivory Coast where the
people of Larabanga claimed to have migrated from visit the village for such
a function. It is a common believe that some coup makers in Ghan even
visited the village for some blessings before they approached GBC. At least
I knew Carlos Giwa and another soldier was Damongo were there before
and after the attempted coup. The same mosque was on one of our bills.
I guess the old 5 cedi note.
This same village has a stone which could not be moved away during the time the Wa-Sawla-Tamale road was constructed. That is each time it was moved, it kept coming back so they had to leave it and divert the road somehow. This portion of the road is popularly known as Larabanga SS now.
Here are some of the answers to some of your questions. First, the lrabanga Mosque. Larabanga is a small town in Western Gonja in Northern Region. It is a predominantly moslem town and had become famous because of the mosque which was built in the mode of buildings in the former Western Sudanese Empires. Boti Falls is in Eastern Region while Shama is in western region. Brukum.
