mojo
06-12-2009, 03:05 PM
The Dogon tribes of Mali have survived amidst the turmoil of slavers and war and invasion for centuries without the loss of their culture and traditions, a valiant vanguard of a lost age.
The Dogon first appeared around the 10th century AD along the banks of the Niger before eventually settling along the Cliffs of Bandiagara after being forcibly chased from various other locations by slavers and invaders.
The Dogon are an enigma wrapped in a conundrum, there are of course the stories of their relationship with star travellers from Sirius, their strange rituals, magnificent tribal art and architecture and the mystery of exactly who they are and where they came from.
One proponent theory is that they are refugee's from ancient Egypt due to many religious similarities, which is also used as an example of their astronomical knowledge.
Most of the Dogon culture resides in small villages against and in the cliffs of the Bandiagara, it is thought that this location was finally chosen not only because it was a good defensible position but also because of the proximity of plains, plateu and the Niger River.
Below are some extracts and links regarding the Dogon, sources provided cover the gamut of both the mundane and the contraversial.
Fox Divination (http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2003/05/0529_030529_dogon.html)
[offsite:2cjmem7l]One evening, as the sun began to set, a Dogon priest called a "diviner" traced an intricate drawing in the ochre sands that lie at the foot of Bandiagara Cliffs. A series of six connected squares and an elaborate set of symbols were drawn in a pattern that represent the potential futures of the family, the village, regional peace and harmony, life and death, and the wishes of God.
The diviner next placed tiny sticks in the sand panels, representing God and the family. Several "I"-shaped tracings symbolized peace and death. Small heaps of sand with minute holes represented other concerns: harmony within the village, illness, next season's harvest, even one's own mortality.
As the diviner priest drew the patterns into the sand, he chanted to invoke the sacred fox to come weave a path of prophecy for his village across his creation:
"Fox, tell me please
is there something?
Will there be shame next year?
Fox, speak clearly.
Let the people coming to the field
stand eye to eye.
Throw your traces.
Give me your nails to mark the sand.
Be clear. Whatever you see, tell me
Give me your footprints.
The Dogon priest finished his chant as the last light of the day lingered in the western sky and then disappeared. The priest returned to his village. Nightfall invited the fox to visit the sacred Dogon markings.
At dawn the following day, sunlight traced the shadows of the fox path across the sand drawing. Indeed, the fox had visited in the night during our trip and with its tracings had foretold the future of the village of Yougou Piri. With these fortuitous markings, the fox had symbolically acted out the ritual of an oracle, a Dogon tradition that keeps life in balance for yet another year.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
The Sirige Mask (http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2003/05/0529_030529_dogon_2.html)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/sigire_mask.jpg
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The dancers of the sirige mask are considered the most skilled. They use their teeth to balance the 20-foot (6-meter) high mask, which is carved from the limb of a single tree. Dancers swing the mask in sweeping motions to represent the arc of the sun.
The mask's design, a straight line, serves to connect the worlds of the sun and Earth through the conduit of the dancer and his body. Like all Dogon masks, the sirige belongs to the afterworld, the realm of where life and death meet.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
www.africaguide.com (http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/dogon.htm)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/dogoncliff.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/dogoncliff2.jpg
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The Dogon are a cliff-dwelling people who live in Southeastern Mali and Burkina Faso. Among the people groups in Africa they are unique in that they have kept and continued to develop their own culture even in the midst of Islamic invasions which have conquered and adapted many of the current people groups
Until the 1930's the Dogon were very insolated from the outside world and resisted any foreign influence. Through oral tradition it is said that they originated from the west bank of the Niger River, around 1490 A.D. they were fleeing from the Mossi people and entered the Bandiagara cliffs region. There they have lived ever since. Because of their refuge in the cliffs they were able to resist the Muslims, the French, and others who have attempted to conquer them.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
This link has a great collection of photographs detailing Dogon life.
www.crystalinks.com (http://www.crystalinks.com/dogon.html)
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The precise origin of the Dogon, like those of many other ancient cultures, is undetermined. Their civilization emerged, in much the same manner as ancient Sumer, both sharing tales of their creation by gods who came from the sky in space ships, who allegedly will return one day.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
www.uiowa.edu (http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Dogon.html)
[offsite:2cjmem7l]Early history is informed by oral traditions, which claim that the Dogon originated from the west bank of the Niger River (10th to 13th centuries). They emigrated west to northern Burkino Faso, where local histories describe them as kibsi. Around 1490, they fled a region now known as the northern Mossi kingdom of Yatenga when it was invaded by Mossi calvary. They ended up in the Bandiagara cliffs region, safe from the approaching horsemen. Carbon-14 dating techniques used on excavated remains found in the cliffs suggest that there were inhabitants in the region before the arrival in the Dogon, dating back to the 10th century. Those Dogon who did not flee were incorporated into Mossi society and were known as the Nyonyose, or descendants of the first inhabitants.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
www.rebirth.co.za/dogon/mask_history (http://www.rebirth.co.za/dogon/mask_history.htm)
www.bbc.co.uk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2754524)
This link also attempts to explain that the conclusions reached by Griaule and Dieterlen, and then later Temple were based on erroneous conclusions and misinterpretation.
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The Mystery
In 1931, two French anthropologists called Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen contacted the Dogon and began a thirty-year relationship with them. This resulted in a detailed study undertaken between 1946 and 1950, a study which included an examination of Dogon religious beliefs4.
It was claimed that, during this study, the two anthropologists had access to the Dogon people's innermost religious secrets, much of this being naturally of an obscure and complex nature. Some of those secrets were rather startlingly less obscure than the two had been expecting. It appeared that the Dogon - a people without much in the way of telescopes - knew a great deal about Sirius and, more surprisingly still, claimed it had a companion star.
This information remained relatively obscure until 1976, which saw the publication of The Sirius Mystery by Robert Temple. Temple had seized upon a number of Dogon religious beliefs and realised that here, in the tribe's history and traditions, might lie evidence of contact with ancient extraterrestrials.
Firstly, Temple argued, it was impossible for the Dogon to have any knowledge of the companion star; it's too small to be seen with the naked eye. The Dogon also identified Sirius B as being very heavy, which is true - but again is something they couldn't know without observing the star or understanding its action on Sirius A. Additionally, this Dogon knowledge predated the Western discovery of Sirius B by centuries, possibly millennia. The clincher for Temple was a Dogon myth which told of their contact with the Nommo.
According to the Dogon, an 'ark' descended from the sky amid a great wind. This brought the Nommo to Earth. The Nommo, who supposedly came to Earth to set up a civilisation, were a group of amphibious beings. The Nommo were apparently from Sirius, or at least a planet orbiting Sirius, and passed on much information to the Dogon.
Robert Temple was also eager to connect the Dogon to the peoples of the Mediterranean, particularly Egypt, who he contended also had special reverence for Sirius.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
Though their ancestry is still inconclusive, the possibility of them having migrated from Egypt or even possibly from Sumer is one that intrigues me, there are undeniable similarities between some of those cultures astronomical and religious beliefs.
What ever the truth of their beliefs and ancestry their's is still a wonderfully mysterious story.
Some more references.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon_people)
wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Griaule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Griaule)
www.scribd.com (http://www.scribd.com/doc/5007776/Dogon)
siris-collections.si.edu (http://siris-collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?q=Dogon+%28African+people%29&start=0)
mojo.
The Dogon first appeared around the 10th century AD along the banks of the Niger before eventually settling along the Cliffs of Bandiagara after being forcibly chased from various other locations by slavers and invaders.
The Dogon are an enigma wrapped in a conundrum, there are of course the stories of their relationship with star travellers from Sirius, their strange rituals, magnificent tribal art and architecture and the mystery of exactly who they are and where they came from.
One proponent theory is that they are refugee's from ancient Egypt due to many religious similarities, which is also used as an example of their astronomical knowledge.
Most of the Dogon culture resides in small villages against and in the cliffs of the Bandiagara, it is thought that this location was finally chosen not only because it was a good defensible position but also because of the proximity of plains, plateu and the Niger River.
Below are some extracts and links regarding the Dogon, sources provided cover the gamut of both the mundane and the contraversial.
Fox Divination (http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2003/05/0529_030529_dogon.html)
[offsite:2cjmem7l]One evening, as the sun began to set, a Dogon priest called a "diviner" traced an intricate drawing in the ochre sands that lie at the foot of Bandiagara Cliffs. A series of six connected squares and an elaborate set of symbols were drawn in a pattern that represent the potential futures of the family, the village, regional peace and harmony, life and death, and the wishes of God.
The diviner next placed tiny sticks in the sand panels, representing God and the family. Several "I"-shaped tracings symbolized peace and death. Small heaps of sand with minute holes represented other concerns: harmony within the village, illness, next season's harvest, even one's own mortality.
As the diviner priest drew the patterns into the sand, he chanted to invoke the sacred fox to come weave a path of prophecy for his village across his creation:
"Fox, tell me please
is there something?
Will there be shame next year?
Fox, speak clearly.
Let the people coming to the field
stand eye to eye.
Throw your traces.
Give me your nails to mark the sand.
Be clear. Whatever you see, tell me
Give me your footprints.
The Dogon priest finished his chant as the last light of the day lingered in the western sky and then disappeared. The priest returned to his village. Nightfall invited the fox to visit the sacred Dogon markings.
At dawn the following day, sunlight traced the shadows of the fox path across the sand drawing. Indeed, the fox had visited in the night during our trip and with its tracings had foretold the future of the village of Yougou Piri. With these fortuitous markings, the fox had symbolically acted out the ritual of an oracle, a Dogon tradition that keeps life in balance for yet another year.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
The Sirige Mask (http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2003/05/0529_030529_dogon_2.html)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/sigire_mask.jpg
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The dancers of the sirige mask are considered the most skilled. They use their teeth to balance the 20-foot (6-meter) high mask, which is carved from the limb of a single tree. Dancers swing the mask in sweeping motions to represent the arc of the sun.
The mask's design, a straight line, serves to connect the worlds of the sun and Earth through the conduit of the dancer and his body. Like all Dogon masks, the sirige belongs to the afterworld, the realm of where life and death meet.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
www.africaguide.com (http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/dogon.htm)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/dogoncliff.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/dogoncliff2.jpg
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The Dogon are a cliff-dwelling people who live in Southeastern Mali and Burkina Faso. Among the people groups in Africa they are unique in that they have kept and continued to develop their own culture even in the midst of Islamic invasions which have conquered and adapted many of the current people groups
Until the 1930's the Dogon were very insolated from the outside world and resisted any foreign influence. Through oral tradition it is said that they originated from the west bank of the Niger River, around 1490 A.D. they were fleeing from the Mossi people and entered the Bandiagara cliffs region. There they have lived ever since. Because of their refuge in the cliffs they were able to resist the Muslims, the French, and others who have attempted to conquer them.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
This link has a great collection of photographs detailing Dogon life.
www.crystalinks.com (http://www.crystalinks.com/dogon.html)
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The precise origin of the Dogon, like those of many other ancient cultures, is undetermined. Their civilization emerged, in much the same manner as ancient Sumer, both sharing tales of their creation by gods who came from the sky in space ships, who allegedly will return one day.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
www.uiowa.edu (http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Dogon.html)
[offsite:2cjmem7l]Early history is informed by oral traditions, which claim that the Dogon originated from the west bank of the Niger River (10th to 13th centuries). They emigrated west to northern Burkino Faso, where local histories describe them as kibsi. Around 1490, they fled a region now known as the northern Mossi kingdom of Yatenga when it was invaded by Mossi calvary. They ended up in the Bandiagara cliffs region, safe from the approaching horsemen. Carbon-14 dating techniques used on excavated remains found in the cliffs suggest that there were inhabitants in the region before the arrival in the Dogon, dating back to the 10th century. Those Dogon who did not flee were incorporated into Mossi society and were known as the Nyonyose, or descendants of the first inhabitants.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
www.rebirth.co.za/dogon/mask_history (http://www.rebirth.co.za/dogon/mask_history.htm)
www.bbc.co.uk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2754524)
This link also attempts to explain that the conclusions reached by Griaule and Dieterlen, and then later Temple were based on erroneous conclusions and misinterpretation.
[offsite:2cjmem7l]The Mystery
In 1931, two French anthropologists called Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen contacted the Dogon and began a thirty-year relationship with them. This resulted in a detailed study undertaken between 1946 and 1950, a study which included an examination of Dogon religious beliefs4.
It was claimed that, during this study, the two anthropologists had access to the Dogon people's innermost religious secrets, much of this being naturally of an obscure and complex nature. Some of those secrets were rather startlingly less obscure than the two had been expecting. It appeared that the Dogon - a people without much in the way of telescopes - knew a great deal about Sirius and, more surprisingly still, claimed it had a companion star.
This information remained relatively obscure until 1976, which saw the publication of The Sirius Mystery by Robert Temple. Temple had seized upon a number of Dogon religious beliefs and realised that here, in the tribe's history and traditions, might lie evidence of contact with ancient extraterrestrials.
Firstly, Temple argued, it was impossible for the Dogon to have any knowledge of the companion star; it's too small to be seen with the naked eye. The Dogon also identified Sirius B as being very heavy, which is true - but again is something they couldn't know without observing the star or understanding its action on Sirius A. Additionally, this Dogon knowledge predated the Western discovery of Sirius B by centuries, possibly millennia. The clincher for Temple was a Dogon myth which told of their contact with the Nommo.
According to the Dogon, an 'ark' descended from the sky amid a great wind. This brought the Nommo to Earth. The Nommo, who supposedly came to Earth to set up a civilisation, were a group of amphibious beings. The Nommo were apparently from Sirius, or at least a planet orbiting Sirius, and passed on much information to the Dogon.
Robert Temple was also eager to connect the Dogon to the peoples of the Mediterranean, particularly Egypt, who he contended also had special reverence for Sirius.[/offsite:2cjmem7l]
Though their ancestry is still inconclusive, the possibility of them having migrated from Egypt or even possibly from Sumer is one that intrigues me, there are undeniable similarities between some of those cultures astronomical and religious beliefs.
What ever the truth of their beliefs and ancestry their's is still a wonderfully mysterious story.
Some more references.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogon_people)
wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Griaule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Griaule)
www.scribd.com (http://www.scribd.com/doc/5007776/Dogon)
siris-collections.si.edu (http://siris-collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?q=Dogon+%28African+people%29&start=0)
mojo.