Sql- Calling An Insert Via Functions, not working

[The Seventh Hoka...]

CODE

<?php
$ss= mysqli_connect($host,$user,$pass,$db) or die("ya did it wrong");//connect to db

function createScroll($x)
{
$xx=$x;
$ssq= "INSERT INTO scrolls(name) VALUES ('Dana')";

$ssres= mysqli_query($xx,$ssq) or die ("You messed xxxx");
}



createScroll($ss);
?>

for some reason i keep getting the error for the query. it can't connect to the DB no matter what i do. do i need to return any info to bring it back to the main program so it can update the DB?

note that i tried it without the function braces and the db still wasnt updated