The answer is sewa, which means that everything is fine. Kinship Terminology. The Dogon people were not the first inhabitants of the cliffs of Bandiagara. Descended from the founding ancestor Dyon, the hogon In this ceremony, offerings of millet from the hogon's fields, in conjunction with sacrifices by the Binu priest (binukedine ) on the Lebe altar of the ancestors, impart to the seed the spiritual essence or nyama that will contribute toward the community's assurance of an abundant harvest. Dogon people. 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. Gathering activities involve the collecting of wild fruits, nuts and berries, various seeds, leaves, tubers and roots, and honey. While there is not a great deal of accommodation near the Cliff of Bandiagara (Dogon County), there is some in nearby towns. Another example is the custom of elaborate greetings whenever one Dogon meets another. 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. The key spiritual figures in the religion were the Nummo/Nommo twins. Historically, the written Burmese term "Karen" probably came fr, Doggett, Bill (actually, William Ballard), Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Jackals, and Foxes (Canidae), Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Jackals, and Foxes: Canidae, Dogs: The Rise and Fall of an All-Girl Bookie Joint, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dogon. Location. The danyim is held a couple of months later. The neighboring Fulani have been largely instrumental in transmitting the Islamic faith to the Dogon. Orientation Identification. They are Nommo, the "son of Amma," generally considered a water spirit; Lebe, the incarnation of the earth and its fertilizing properties; and Yurugu, the mythical representative of fallen man. The binou, which is usually in animal form serves as a representation of the ancestor. The Dogon are a group of about 250,000 people who live primarily in the districts of Bandiagara and Douentza in the western African nation of Mali. Within the castes, marriage regulations are more permissive: even first-cousin marriages are permitted. Palau Marti, Montserrat (1957). In addition to agriculture, the women gather wild fruits, tubers, nuts, and honey in the bush outside of village borders. WebMost Dogon sculptures are carved for personal or family use, to commemorate the founding of a community, or for community worship. The household is usually an extended family consisting of both nuclear and polygynous units. Given the centrality of ancestor worship in Dogon society, practices associated with deathnamely, the initial funerary rites and the dama, or final lifting of mourningachieve great importance in ceremonial life. Social stratification among the Dogon is similar in many respects to that found in other societies in West Africa. Their bodies are treated Boys are circumcised in age groups of three years, counting for example all boys between 9 and 12 years old. Other authors have argued that previous 20th-century European visitors to the Dogon are a far more plausible source of such information and dispute whether Griaule's account accurately describes Dogon myths at all. WebDogon or Tellem peoples (?) Orientation, Kota Pottery and spinning are the exclusive domain of women, whereas basketry and weaving are male activities. Markets are held every four or five days in areas well removed from the villages. This problem has been solved! The Yana Gulay mask's purpose is to impersonate a Fulani woman, and is made from cotton cloth and cowl shells. Women may leave their husbands early in their marriage, before the birth of their first child. Dogon society is organized by a patrilineal kinship system. Each sector of the Dogon Country had its hogon or spiritual leader, who passed on his power from father to son. Craft skills are well developed among the Dogon, especially the making of pottery and baskets, weaving, wood carving, and leather- and ironworking. Although the Dogon recognize the creator god Amma as the Supreme Being and address prayers and sacrifices to him, the core set of beliefs and practices focuses on ancestor worship. [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 virgin is replaced by one of his wives, and she also returns to her home at night. WebThe Hogon is the spiritual and political leader of the village. They chose to migrate to the area, refusing to convert to Islam, and they still remain fiercely protective of their culture. Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Orientation WebThe past century has seen significant changes in the social organization, material culture and beliefs of the Dogon, partly because Dogon country is one of Mali's major tourist attractions. Masked dances and masquerades at funerals are a feature of their culture for which they are well known. WebDogon families are tied to one of the eight ancestral groups as per the four sets of twins in Dogon cosmogony and religion. Identification. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. [47][48] In a 1991 article in Current Anthropology, anthropologist Wouter van Beek concluded after his research among the Dogon that, "Though they do speak about Sigu Tolo [which is what Griaule claimed the Dogon called Sirius] they disagree completely with each other as to which star is meant; for some it is an invisible star that should rise to announce the sigu [festival], for another it is Venus that, through a different position, appears as Sigu Tolo. They make music on a special instrument that is made of a rod of wood and calabashes that makes the sound of a rattle. Since the late 20th century, the Dogon have developed peaceful trading relationships with other societies and have thereby increased variety in their diets. The series of dances, which constitute a good part of the Sigi, lasts for seven years; one village after another takes its turn to entertain its neighbors with feasting, drinking, and displays of wealth. Ritual dance of Dogon County (Gleeson, G / CC BY 2.0 ). Each village is composed of one main lineage (occasionally, multiple lineages make up a single village) traced through the male line. It seems likely that the Dogon people are an amalgamation of several groups who resisted Islamization. Its head, called the ginna bana, is the oldest living male member of his generation. However, the date of retrieval is often important. In the event of a divorce, the woman takes only the youngest child with her, and the rest remain as a part of the husband's household. 32, No. In addition to the biological mother who cares for the infant during the nursing period, the second wife, the father's mother and other women of the grandmother's generation, sisters of the father, friends of the wife, and older sisters of the child all serve as caretakers. There are twelve categories of disease considered treatable, each with its own specific healer who has special knowledge of the specific plant that will bring about a cure. "[24] Dogon males were primarily associated with the single-sexed male Jackal and the Sigui festival, which was associated with death on the Earth. [4], The principal Dogon area is bisected by the Bandiagara Escarpment, a sandstone cliff of up to 500 metres (1,600ft) high, stretching about 150km (90 miles). 150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time? Their eyes were red, their tongues forked, and their arms flexible and unjointed.[21]. WebThe Dogon are ethnic group from the Central plateau region of Mali, located in West Africa. Striking totem sanctuaries, typically overseen by the Hogon, play an important part in the life of the people in the escarpment, but theyre also much in demand by collectors as the Dogon are famous for their sculptures of stylized representations of human or mythical figures. Themes found throughout Dogon sculpture consist of figures with raised arms, superimposed bearded figures, horsemen, stools with caryatids, women with children, figures covering their faces, women grinding pearl millet, women bearing vessels on their heads, donkeys bearing cups, musicians, dogs, quadruped-shaped troughs or benches, figures bending from the waist, mirror-images, aproned figures, and standing figures (Laude, 4652). An enlarged family can count up to a hundred persons and is called guinna. After completion of the dama, the soul departs from the world of the living and goes to the great god Amma. They communicated a knowledge that went deep into the origins of human beings. Villages usually contain a single localized lineage whose dwellings are grouped around the "great house" (ginna ) of the head. [20] The religion embraced many aspects of nature which are found in other traditional African religions. Masques dogons. Retours au 'pays du reel'", Genevive Calame-Griaule: "On the Dogon Restudied". Dogon CultureProfane and Arcane . 575577, Index of African mythology and creation narratives, List of African deities and mythical figures, Traditional African religion and other religions, "Population dynamics and Paleoclimate over the past 3000 years in the Dogon Country, Mali", "Did the Dogon of Mali know about Sirius B? https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dogon, Beierle, John "Dogon Formally, wives join their husband's household only after the birth of their first child. This practice has been passed down for generations and is always followed, even during winter. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Dogon moved into the region of the Bandiagara escarpment in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, probably as a result of the breakup of the Mali Empire at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The orbit cycle takes 50 years. [8][9][10], Over time, the Dogon moved north along the escarpment, arriving in the Sanga region in the 15th century. Morton, Robert (ed.) Linguistic Affiliation. About 10 percent of the Dogon are Christians. Every Dogon village or clan has its own totem. [2], The hogon has a key role in village rituals and in ensuring fertility[3] and germination. Marriages are endogamous in that the people are limited to marry only persons within their clan and within their caste.[29]. The escarpment is rich in archaeological discoveries both from the Dogon and the earlier Tellem society. The Dogon numbered 500,000 on the eve of Malis independence on Dogon funeral rituals come in two parts. Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked! Although Temple fails to prove its antiquity, the evidence for the recent acquisition of the information is still entirely circumstantial. 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