The festival is celebrated to remember the "lost son of a king"[1] during ancient Dagbon.

[2] The origin of the Bugum Festival dates back to the time when one king lost his dear son.

[3] Naa Gbewaa and his descendants started chieftaincy in Dagbon, Gmamprugu, Nanung, Wala, Mossi, Bouna, etc.

An alternate origin story of the festival states that it dates back to the time the Prophet Noah landed his Ark on Mount Arafat.

According to this tradition, when the Ark of Noah landed at the end of the floods the passengers lit torches to 1) find their way around and 2) to find the son of prophet Noah who failed to enter the Ark when it set out with the believers.

Second, the Mamprusi who are related to the Dagomba through their common ancestor Naa Gbewa believe in the traditional story.

When the people are celebrating Bugum Chugu, they dance ziem even to this very day.

The early kings quickly adopted the playing of ziem during the installation and death of Yaan Naa and chiefs to make them acceptable to the aboriginal Dagbamba.

On the morning after the celebration, prayers are again said at various chief palaces and prophecies are said about the upcoming year.

Prophecies include possibility of bumper harvest, drought, fires, births, diseases and deaths.

Normally, except essential services such as fetching of water, grinding of flour, sale of meat and taking care of the sick, no work is allowed to be done on any Dagomba festival day.

The men start the day moving round each other's homes to say good morning and Happy New Year.

After a brief exchange of the new year greetings, people sit at home and engage in normal conversation.

As the afternoon approaches most house owners kill fowl, guinea-fowl, goats or sheep to feast on.

The most common soup for supper on the night of the festival is made from the leaves of a tree called puhuga (Tamaridus Indica).

After eating the evening meal, morsels and pieces of meat are cut and placed on the short walls in the house.

The chief is led a little distance from where the crowd is gathered to cast away his lit-up torch.

He moves back into the palace as the multitude of people yell and chant in a war-like manner amidst the deafening sound of the tom-tom and drums.

There is usually a spot at the outskirts of the town where the multitude of people move to for the celebration of the Bugum Festival.

The people hold not only their torches but also swords, cutlasses, knives, bows, arrows and cudgels.