Earlyface

The Dogon is an ethnic group in the central plateau
region of Mali, South of the Niger bend near the city
of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The Dogon are
best known for their mask dances, wooden sculpture
and architectural work. The area is one of Mali’s
major tourist attractions. Historically, their villages
were established in the Bandiagara area due to their
collective refusal to be converted to Islam about a
thousand years ago. Dogon people felt insecured and
relocated their villages along the walls of the
escarpment because of the religious pressure on
them and search for water.
Their origin has been recorded in several traditions.
One relates to their coming from Mande, located to
the southwest of the Bandiagara escarpment near
Bamako. According to this record, the first Dogon
settlement was established in the extreme southwest
of the escarpment at Kani-Na. Over time the Dogon
people moved north along the escarpment, arriving
in the Sanga region. Other traced their origin to the
west beyond the river Niger, or tells of them coming
from the east. It is likely that the modern Dogon is a
combination of several groups of diverse origin who
migrated to escape Islamic pressure on them.
Dogon art is primarily sculpture which revolves
around religious values, ideals, and freedoms. Most
of their 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, and standing figures . Their 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. This is
due to the symbolic meaning behind the pieces and
the process by which they are made.
Traditionally, the harmony among the Dogon people
is seen in many of their rituals. In one of their most
important rituals, the women praise the men, the
men thank the women, the young express
appreciation for the old, and the old recognize the
contributions of the young. The harmony is also seen
in the way they greet each other.
The Hogon, who is the spiritual leader of the village,
is elected between the oldest men of the entire
families in the village to be initiation. During his
initiation, he wears white clothes and avoid been
touched by anyone. He is also not allowed to shave
or wash. A young virgin that has not yet had her
period takes care of him. She cleans the house and
prepares his meals but goes back home when it is
night. After his initiation, he wears a red bonnet and
an armband with a sacred pearl that symbolizes his
function. The virgin is replaced by his wife, but she
also returns home at night. It is believed that the
sacred snake ‘Lébé’ comes at night for his cleansing
and impact wisdom into him.

In Dogon, the boys are circumcised in age groups of
three years, for example counting from all boys
between 9 and 12 years old. It marks the end of their
youth, and they become initiated. After which they
stay for a few days in a hut separated from the rest of
the village people, until the wound gets healed. The
circumcision is a reason for celebration and the
initiated boys go around receiving presents. They
make music on a special instrument that is made of a
rod of wood and calabashes. The village has a cave
for circumcision with red and white paintings of
animals and plants. The circumcised men walk naked
so that their achievement in age can be admired by
the people of the village. Their girls are also
circumcised just like the boys by cutting the clitoris.
They are circumcised around the age of 7 to 8 or
sometimes younger than the mentioned ages. This
practice is necessary for both genders as they are
been regarded to be complete man and woman.
Before circumcision they are seen as ‘neuter’
Most Dogon practice an animist religion, including
the ancestral spirit Nommo, with its festivals and
mythology. Though some of the Dogon practices
Islam, while some have been converted by
missionaries to Christianity. They are very rich in
culture. Traditional funeral rituals which are now
done as a source of entertainment for tourists
generate great revenue for the Dogon people. The
revenue varies depending on the masks and rituals
they want to see. The traditional funeral ritual
consists of a masquerade that leads the souls of the
dead people to their final place of rest through a
series of ritual dances and rites. The ritual includes
the use of many masks. Although the designs of the
mask and the way of performing the rituals differ
with the different Dogon villages, the tradition is the
same.
During the yincomoli ceremony, a gourd is smashed
over the dead person’s wooden bowl, hoe, and burial
blanket, which launches the entrance of the masks
used in the ceremony while the entrance to the home
of the dead person in the family compound is
decorated with ritual materials. Masks used during
the yincomoli ceremony are numerous. One of which
is the Yana Gulay mask used to impersonate a Fulani
woman. It is made from cotton cloth and cowell
shells.
The yingim and the danyim rituals are events held
annually to honor the elders that have died since the
last rituals. Cows and other valuable animals, and
large mock battles are sacrifices performed in other
to chase the spirit, known as the nyama, from the
dead body and village and towards the path to the life
beyond.
The different cults in Dogon are stated below:
The Amma cult: They worship the creator god Amma.
The celebration is done once a year and consists of
offering boiled millet on the altar of Amma, colouring
it white.
Sigui: It is the most important ceremony of the
Dogon. It takes place every 60 years and can take
several years before it ends. The last one started in
1967 and ended in 1973, the next one will start in
2027. The ceremony symbolizes the death of the first
ancestor till the moment the use of the spoken word
was acquired by humanity. The procession starts and
ends in the village of Youga Dogorou and goes from
one village to the other during several months or
years. The secret society has a language that is been
understood by men only who are called the ‘Olubaru’.
The Lébé cult: It is the worship of the first human
being who was transform into snake according to the
Dogon myth. The ancestor is known as ‘Lébé Serou’.
The celebration takes place once a year and lasts for
three days.
In Dogon there are about five distinct groups of
dialects. Although the frequently referred to as a
single language. Dyamsay and Tombo are the most
ancient dialects. Dyamsay is mostly used for
traditional prayers and ritual chants. It is believed by
linguist that the Dogon languages originated very
early from the Niger-Congo, though the evidence is
not strong.
The Dogon cultivates pearl millet, sorghum and rice,
as well as onions, tobacco, peanuts, and some other
vegetables. Marcel Griaule stimulated the
construction of a dam near Sangha and incited the
Dogon to cultivate onions. The economy of the
Sangha region doubled since then and its onions are
sold in the market of Bamako and as far as Ivory
Coast. They also raise sheep, goats and chickens.
Grain is stored in granaries.