Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. The Beast with an insatiable Hunger for Human Flesh, Film Footage Provides Intimate View of HMS Gloucester Shipwreck, Top 8 Legendary Parties - Iconic Celebrations in Ancient History, The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth Behind the Black Legend (Part II), The Spanish Inquisition: The Truth behind the Dark Legend (Part I), Bloodthirsty Buddhists: The Sohei Warrior Monks of Feudal Japan, Caesars Savage Human Skewers Unearthed In German Fort. "[46], More recently, doubts have been raised about the validity of Griaule and Dieterlen's work. Orientation African religions: Ritual and religious specialists. Orientation To the southeast of the cliff, the sandy Sno-Gondo Plains are found, and northwest of the cliff are the Bandiagara Highlands. Their bodies are treated A younger brother is first in line to inherit all collective property, followed by the eldest son. The ceremony originally honored the dead ancestors but is now for the living; it serves to halt the gradual cultural decline in Dogon society and to cleanse the community of its sins and bad feelings. Evidence from substrate vocabulary in Bangime and Dogon, Dogon Languages and Linguistics An (sic) Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography, The Dogon People of Bandiagara, Mali, The Dance of Masks of the Dogon People, The Dogon People of Bandiagara, Mali: the Dogon Fish Festival, African worlds: studies in the cosmological ideas and social values of African peoples, Dogon images from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dogon_people&oldid=1139711208, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2017, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2017, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from December 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Bedaux, R. & J.D. van der Waals (eds.) The appealing factor lies in many raw, visual, fetishized pursuits and compelling cultural narratives. Every Dogon village or clan has its own totem. This led Mr. Temple to establish the theory that, according to Nommos, extraterrestrial inhabitants of Sirius travelled towards the earth at some point in the distant past, and one crossed to teach the old civilizations (the Egyptians and the Dogons) their Corrections? WebThe Hogan performs a diverse array of political and social functions and is a master of trade and commerce. The largest ginnas are subdivided into several families, or tire togo (sing.). Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. WebThe Hogon must live alone in his house. Then the Dogon who has entered the contact repeats the ritual, asking the resident how his or her whole family is. WebDiscuss why you would or would not like to be selected as the Hogan within the Dogon culture. Succession to office is patrilineal (by younger brother). But Islamic law classified the Dogon and many other ethnicities of the region (Mossi, Gurma, Bobo, Busa and the Yoruba) as being within the non-canon dar al-harb and consequently fair game for slave raids organized by merchants. On the other hand, private property goes first to the eldest son (who must provide for his siblings), then the younger brother. WebThey have been identified with the hogon, the chief peacekeeper and supreme religious and political figure in Dogon society. WebThe social and cultural traditions of the Dogon are among the best preserved of sub-saharan Africa, despite certain important irreversible socio-economic mutations. Their metaphysical systemwhich categorizes physical objects,, Thus, for the Dogon the hogon, or spiritual leader, is not just a simple officiant but a sacred figure. Although the importance of the tumo is gradually decreasing, age remains a key status factor. Was this German silver mine really defended by two Roman forts and a line of "spike defenses? In 1912 a school was established for them in Sanga, followed by a Christian mission in the 1930s, and later a medical dispensary. Identification. Paulme, Denise (1940). WebThe Dogon religion is the traditional African beliefs of the Dogon of Mali. Dogon insecurity in the face of these historical pressures caused them to locate their villages in defensible positions along the walls of the escarpment. ETHNONYMS: Kareang, Kariang, Kayin, Pwo, Sgaw, Yang ", "Processes and Limitations of Dogon Agricultural Knowledge", Was there a now-vanished branch of Nilo-Saharan on the Dogon Plateau? Masked Dancers of West Africa: The Dogon. The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. 16-19th century. The cliff is not far from the city of Bandiagara in western Mali. During the danyim, masqueraders perform dances every morning and evening for any period up to six days, depending on that village's practice. 16th-20th Century. Dogon door with stylized figures (Wegmann, M/ CC BY 3.0 ). The human story begins in Africa. Dogon damas include the use of many masks, which they wore by securing them in their teeth, and statuettes. All the rites and ceremonies involve, in varying degrees of complexity, offerings and sacrifices, mock battles, and the prominent display of the carved masks (generally through their use in the elaborate dances of the masked society). The Dogon religion was centered on this loss of twinness or androgyny. Masks used during the yincomoli ceremony include the Yana Gulay, Satimbe, Sirige, and Kanaga. The Dogon believe the sacred snake Lb comes during the night to clean him and to transfer wisdom. Dogon sculptures are not made to be seen publicly, and are commonly hidden from the public eye within the houses of families, sanctuaries, or kept with the Hogon (Laude, 20). The Dogon migrated after the empire's collapse to the cliffs of the Bandiagara plateau. [28] Today, a significant minority of the Dogon practice Islam. These events are held annually to honor the elders who have died since the last Dama. Influence from Tellem art is evident in Dogon art because of its rectilinear designs (Laude, 24). [citation needed] After a couple has had children together, divorce is a rare and serious matter, and it requires the participation of the whole village. The blacksmith performs the circumcision. Death is conceived as the separation from the body of the two parts that make up the personalitythe nyama, or vital life force, and the kikinu say, or soul. According to Shawn R. Davis, this particular ritual incorporates the elements of the yingim and the danyim. The blacksmith, set apart by his caste, has no rights in the village and lives entirely on the proceeds of the sale of his goods to other villagers. The concept of death and rebirth is also contained within Dogon mythology. [Editor's Note: In this article the established spellings of Kota words have been retained, al, ETHNONYMS: none Large mock battles are performed in order to help chase the spirit, known as the nyama, from the deceased's body and village, and towards the path to the afterlife (Davis, 68). The fundamental unit of Dogon social organization is the patrilineage, or ginna. Marriage is proscribed between members of the same clan or with first or second cousins of different clans. They have been linked to the Mande subfamily but also to Gur. (2008). The other factor influencing their choice of settlement location was access to water. Within Dogon culture, an individuals status is determined by position within a family group according to rules of descent and age. The Dogon also believe in various malevolent and benevolent spirits who populate the bush, trees, and uninhabited places. Then, two things happened: either Chaos or Gaia created the universe as we know it, or Ouranos and Tethys gave birth to the first beings. The designation "Naga" is applied to the numerous Indo-Mongoloid tribes living in the hill country at the, Chin During this time, new masks are carved and dedicated to their ancestors. This enigmatic figure is an ancestor figure from the Dogon people of Mali. The first wife, or ya biru, holds a higher position in the family relative to any wives from later marriages. The first occurs immediately after the death of a person, and the second can occur years after the death. [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. WebThe Hogon is the spiritual and political leader of the village. The escarpment is rich in archaeological discoveries both from the Dogon and the earlier Tellem society. Similarly each village may have their own way of performing the dama rituals. Dogon village along the Bandiagara escarpment. The degree of complexity of the ceremonies depends upon the age and status of the deceased male. The answer is sewa, which means that everything is fine. Ogotemmli classified the Nummo as hermaphrodites. The curvilinear design and the accompanying child suggest a female. [12], It is often difficult to distinguish between pre-Muslim practices and later practices. Dogon CultureProfane and Arcane . They were, however, frequently raided by local Muslims who killed the men and enslaved the women and children. I have written a book and several peer reviewed journal articles. Heaven on Earth? The importance of secrecy is due to the symbolic meaning behind the pieces and the process by which they are made. A hogon is a religious figure as well as a temporal authority; the hogon may be hereditary or may be chosen from among the village elderscustom varies from place to place. Each isolated village or district (canton) in the region has a headman or chief (hogon) who has both religious and judicial responsibilities. Formally, wives join their husband's household only after the birth of their first child. Each large district has a hogon, or spiritual leader, and there is a supreme hogon for the whole country. Individuals with high status may own a small number of cattle.[30]. "[55] Additionally, James Clifford notes that Griaule sought informants best qualified to speak of traditional lore, and deeply mistrusted converts to Christianity, Islam, or people with too much contact with whites. 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