At this time, new masks are carved and dedicated to the ancestors. It was first inhabited by the Tellem, Stone Age hunters, at least 10,000 years ago. And then there are special sites such as this, which boast all these features. The yingim consists of both the sacrifice of cows, or other valuable animals, and mock combat. . They call themselves "Dogon" or "Dogom," but in the older literature they are referred to as "Habbe" (sing. Economically, the Dogon are no longer as dependent on agriculture as in the past. It was held once every sixty years and allegedly celebrated the white dwarf star, Sirius B. Until the masqueraders have completed their dances, and every ritual has been performed, any misfortune can be blamed on the remaining spirits of the dead (Davis, 68). ); from Mali, Figure of a kneeling woman; circa 1500; wood; height: 35.2cm (1378 in. They speak the Dogon languages, which are considered to constitute an independent branch of the African art and culture had been a driving inspiration to European modern artists like Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, and Amedeo Modigliani, among others. The Dogon people were not the first inhabitants of the cliffs of Bandiagara. [12] The human story begins in Africa. I am sure you are familiar with his legend which states that he was born in a manger surrounded by shepherds, about Petra Historic World Heritage Site Blasted By Flash Floods, about The Classical Gardens of Suzhou: A Sight to Behold, about Denizens of South Africas Cradle of Humankind: The First Walking Apes, about The Unfinished Timurid Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, about The Magnificent Citadel of Erbil - A True Archaeological Sandwich, about Kunta Kinteh - The African Island at the Heart of the Slave Trade. The Yana Gulay mask's purpose is to impersonate a Fulani woman, and is made from cotton cloth and cowl shells. Markets are held every four or five days in areas well removed from the villages. This marks the end of their youth, and they are initiated. The mausoleum was built during the reign of Timur, the ruler of the Timurid Empire. He was eaten by another nommo, and their spirits merged; the nommo vomited out a new Lebe (part human and part spiritual), plus copious liquid which shaped the landscape.[7]. A few villages also keep bees. On average, a village contains around 44 houses organized around the 'ginna', or head man's house. As Greek mythology goes, the universe was once a big soup of nothingness. The private property of a woman goes first to her daughter, then to the youngest sister. The Dogon people with whom French anthropologists Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen worked during the 1930s and 1940s had a system of signs which ran into the thousands, including "their own systems of astronomy and calendrical measurements, methods of calculation and extensive anatomical and physiological knowledge, as well as a systematic pharmacopoeia". The Dogon believes that the sacred serpent Lebe comes during the night to purify him and communicate wisdom to him. Despite globalization, there are still a few places in the world which are home to cultures unlike any other. He wears white clothes and nobody is allowed to touch him. Monogamy is the major form of marriage, although nonsororal polygyny with a limit of two wives is permitted. [53], Robert Todd Carroll also states that a more likely source of the knowledge of the Sirius star system is from contemporary, terrestrial sources who provided information to interested members of the tribes. It is likely that the Dogon of today are descendants of several groups of diverse origin who migrated to escape Islamization. [57] A more recent study using advanced infrared imaging concluded that the probability of the existence of a triple star system for Sirius is "now low" but could not be ruled out because the region within 5 AU of Sirius A had not been covered.[58]. Unfortunately, the majority of these animistic spiritual practices tend to disappear with the younger generations and the widespread adoption of Islam. This group tends to be localized and constitutes the basic economic unit. Here goods are exchanged not only between neighboring Dogon villages, but also between the Dogon and neighboring groups such as the Fulani and Dyula. Other fauna include crocodiles (in the swampy areas on the plain), reptiles, monkeys, guenons, guinea hens, hyenas, foxes, panthers, rabbits, and small rodents. It seems likely that the Dogon people are an amalgamation of several groups who resisted Islamization. ETHNONYMS: Cohatur, Kohatur, Kotar, Koter, Kothur Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Above the lineage is the much larger kin group called the clan, from which the various lineages emerge. Houses are built extremely close together, many times sharing walls and floors. About 10 percent of the Dogon are Christians. Pern, Stephen (1982). Hogon live alone and should be celibat The horse, symbolizing power and wealth, is 'We have in the Dogon information a predictive mechanism which it is our duty to test, regardless of our preconceptions.' In the past the Dogon were considered a warlike people; they often fought with other Dogon districts as well as with their non-Dogon neighbors such as the Fulani. Beierle, John "Dogon . About 1,500 ethnic Dogon in seven villages in southern Mali speak the Bangime language, which is unrelated to the other Dogon languages and presumed by linguists to be an ancient, pre-Dogon language isolate, although a minority of linguists (most notably Roger Blench) hypothesise that it may be related to Proto-Nilo-Saharan.[38]. Orientation Following the birth of the child, the couple moves into an unoccupied dwelling in the husband's village and quarter. Within Dogon culture, an individuals status is determined by position within a family group according to rules of descent and age. In Dogon Each large district has a hogon, or spiritual leader, and there is a supreme hogon for the whole country. In his dress and behaviour the hogon symbolizes the Dogon myth of creation, to which the Dogon relate much of their social organization and culture. [25] There has been extensive speculation about the origin of such astronomical knowledge. At present I am a Read More. Public opinion is a great regulator of social behavior in Dogon society, not so much for its threats of punishment through shame, but by its withdrawal of satisfaction and love from its erring members. On the other hand, private property goes first to the eldest son (who must provide for his siblings), then the younger brother. Dogon art consists primarily of sculptures. 'Sigi' is a society-wide ritual to honor and recognize the first ancestors. This chief head is the oldest living son of the ancestor of the local branch of the family. The importance of secrecy is due to the symbolic meaning behind the pieces and the process by which they are made. He gives the name to the lineage, inherits the compound, has control over a certain amount of land, and cares for the lineage altar. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Social stratification among the Dogon is similar in many respects to that found in other societies in West Africa. [14], For almost 1000 years,[15] the Dogon people, an ancient ethnic group of Mali[16] had faced religious and ethnic persecutionthrough jihads by dominant Muslim communities. His saliva is the source of the life-giving humidity, and his foot must not touch the earth directly or the ground will dry up. [24] (Originally, for the Dogon, man was endowed with a dual soul. [28] Today, a significant minority of the Dogon practice Islam. Trade. Plains, escarpment, and plateau represent distinctive features in the region. He wears white clothes and nobody is allowed to touch him. After initiation, he wears a red cap, and a pearl bracelet. Between 2010-2012 I worked in the Limerick City Archives. In comparison with the neighboring Fulani, animal husbandry is relatively unimportant. [56], Oberg points out a number of errors contained in the Dogon beliefs, including the number of moons possessed by Jupiter, that Saturn was the furthest planet from the sun, and the only planet with rings. The smiths have important ritual powers and are characteristically poor. Ogotemmeli taught Griaule the religious stories in the same way that Ogotemmeli had learned them from his father and grandfather; oral instruction which he had learned over the course of more than twenty years. [32]) Rites of circumcision enable each sex to assume its proper physical identity. 32, No. Women are forbidden from joining and prohibited from learning sigi so. WebDogon Female Ancestor Sculpture. The Hogon is the spiritual and political leader of the village. Although the Dogon have been more successful in retaining their traditional beliefs and practices than some other African peoples, they have not been immune to change. The Iliad can provide new insights on the role of motherhood among the ancient Greek gods, and by extension, amongst ancient mortal Greek women themselves. Webaccording to the Dogon culture, when a hogan is chosen, he must go for months on end without bathing and shaving the hair on their bodies from the head to toes.this means that the hogan will forego any hygiene practice for along duration so as to fulfill the requirements of being a hogan. The household is usually an extended family consisting of both nuclear and polygynous units. [13] As the growth of cities increased, the demand for slaves across the region of West Africa also increased. WebIn this short article, the authors present a brief and clear-cut account of the relationship between the Dogon cosmogony and their social organization in terms of a discussion of A man may now sell a field allotted to him in the distribution of ginna property, but the sale is always revocable, and the ginna may recover the property upon the death of the seller through the reimbursement of the purchase price to the buyer. Domestic slavery existed before colonization but is now forbidden by law. [37] Women have no right to learn Sigui So. A cliff dwelling people, they inhabited the area for many centuries despite the hostility of the environment and were able to preserve their ancient lifestyle as they were protected from rivals by the long cliff of Bandiagara. The answer is sewa, which means that everything is fine. In traditional Dogon society, land was transmitted within the family group (ginna, or lineage), and was considered inalienable property. The Dogon numbered 500,000 on the eve of Malis independence on With the settlement origins dating back at least 8,000 years, it is one of the worlds oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Not many people know of the Gambia. Thought to have originated as a method to unite and keep peace among Dogon villages, the 'sigi' involves all members of the Dogon people. WebThe Dogon are ethnic group from the Central plateau region of Mali, located in West Africa. Les dogon. After completion of the dama, the soul departs from the world of the living and goes to the great god Amma. Nobody should touch the hogon. Encyclopedia.com. The fundamental unit of Dogon social organization is the patrilineage, or ginna. The ritual language, "Sigi so" or "language of the Sigui", which was taught to male dignitaries of the Society of the Masks ("awa"), was considered a poor language. ); Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture, probably an ancestor figure; 17th18th century; wood; height: 59cm (23 in. Also effective as means of inducing conformity are ridicule and threats of supernatural sanction. Elaborate ceremonial stools of this kind were owned by the hogon, the supreme religious and political leader in each Circumcision is believed to eliminate the superfluous one. According to this oral tradition, the first Dogon settlement was established in the extreme southwest of the escarpment at Kani-Na. [19] What makes the record so important from a historical perspective is that the Dogon people were still living in their oral culture at the time their religion was recorded. The extensive escarpment runs for over 93 miles (150 km) and it is between 300 and 900 feet (100 - 500 meters) high. The colour white was a symbol of males. The Dogon languages show few remnants of a unique noun class system, an example of which is that human nouns take a distinct plural suffix. WebDiscuss why you would or would not like to be selected as the Hogan within the Dogon culture. For the ethnic group of the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north of Ghana, see. This theme was fundamental to the Dogon religion. Boys are circumcised in age groups of three years, counting for example all boys between 9 and 12 years old. Religious Beliefs. Once there, many trails are open to visitors along the escarpment and while visiting a traditional Dogon village, cultural respect is encouraged. [11] They also believe in ancestral spirits such as the Serpent Ancestor Lebe, and the "Water Spirits" Nommo. According to Shawn R. Davis, this particular ritual incorporates the elements of the yingim and the danyim. A secret language known as sigi so is used by members of the men's society (awa ) in connection with religious rites. ETHNONYMS: Kareang, Kariang, Kayin, Pwo, Sgaw, Yang The principal ceremonies center around agriculture and death. The masqueraders dance on the rooftops of the deceased's compound, throughout the village, and in the area of fields around the village (Davis, 68). The Dogon also believe in various malevolent and benevolent spirits who populate the bush, trees, and uninhabited places. A men's society, frequently referred to as the "awa," or masked-dance society, is characterized by a strict code of etiquette, obligations, interdicts, and a secret language (sigi so). 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