Lasting several days, the dama involves spectacular dances that mimic persons, animals, human attributes, and spirits. Another popular dancer is the walu, a mythical antelope represented by a rectangular mask with an elongated, arrow-shaped nose and deep-set eye holes, framed by a rectangular face and topped by horns (Dieterlen 1989) ( Hogon (associated with the Lebe cult) : The Lebe cult is associated with the agricultural cycle. Discuss why you would or would not like to be selected as the Hogan within the Dogon culture. There are three principal cults among the Dogon; the Awa, Lebe and Binu. Contact with outsiders has also created social and economic changes where young Dogon men have opted out of subsistence agriculture in favor of wage jobs. The timing of a dama varies across villages, with many holding a single celebration in April for all deaths that have happened in the last year. For example, small, single-chamber buildings called binu serve as public shrines for maintaining peace with the spiritual world (Gray 2007). Dogon women and children are not invited to these performances, but may view them from a distance (Figure 12). Another threat to Dogon heritage has been the gradual abandonment of cliff-side villages. Dogon religion is defined primarily through the worship of the ancestors and the spirits that they encountered as they slowly migrated from their obscure ancestral homelands to the Bandiagara cliffs. In years with less rainfall, young Dogon men may travel to nearby towns in search of seasonal work. before moving on to queries about family members (Is your wife well? Navigating the narrow pathways of a Dogon village is a fascinating experience. Sometimes decorated with fibers, cowry shells, or beads, the masks are highly valued by foreign collectors. Most dancers wear regalia designed to enhance movements, such as colored hibiscus fibers attached to the wrists and ankles.
There are 78 different types of ritual masks among the Dogon and their iconographic messages go beyond the aesthetic, into the realm of religion and philosophy. These sandstone cliffs run from southwest to northeast, roughly parallel to the Niger River, and attain heights up … The tribe claims that Po is composed of a mysterious, super-dense metal called sagala, which they declare is heavier than all the iron on Earth. Extending upward from the box is a flat wooden blade up to five meters in length. They also claim that it is "the heaviest star," and white. Events organized during the first part of the dama are limited to members of the awa. Since stone can be difficult to find, mud, cow manure, and millet straw are used as building materials with new layers applied at regular intervals to protect building walls from wind and rain. Figure 16: An odyogoro mask with under-chin âgroiters.âFigure 17: The white man mask.
Topped by a mud roof or cap of millet straw, symmetrically shaped granaries are often taller than other structures; interior access is provided by a square wooden door carved with images representing the ownerâs family history. Villages are believed to be shared by the inneomo (living) and innepuru (dead), who coexist in a symbiotic union. Because of their association with death, women (who are associated with fertility) may not touch or come in contact with a dancerâs mask (Figure 12). In addition to animals and spirits, masks also represent outsiders, often depicting them as aliens who exhibit strange or humorous behavior. Clan ... HOGAN settles majority of disputes Decision: binding and authoritative. Sacrifices of blood and millet porridge (millet being the primary crop of the Dogon) are made at the Binu shrines at planting time and whenever the intercession of the immortal ancestor is desired. The Dogon also describe a third star in the Sirius system, called Emme Ya. Griaule’s two most important works are Masques Dogons (1938) and Dien d’Eau (1948). The first was a need for protection.
The cliffs provide a spectacular physical setting for Dogon villages built on the sides of the escarpment. With its huge blade painted with opposing triangles and vertical lines, the sirige mask represents a tree or ginna ( There are references in the oral traditions, drawings and tablets of the Dogons, to human-looking beings who have feet but who are portrayed as having a large fish skin running down their bodies. Because of the need to carve and paint masks, assemble regalia, and rehearse routines, a dama may require a month or more of preparation time. The latter work was published in English in 1965 under the title Conversations with Ogotemmeli: An Introduction to Dogon Religious Ideas.The religious beliefs of the Dogon are complex and knowledge of them varies within Dogon society. Dogon society is socially stratified with farmers occupying high status properties near the center of the village. He gave all his life principles to human beings." The Dogon believe that following a personâs passing their spirit lingers to watch over the living.