Village population size ranges from from 27 to 476 inhabitants (an average of 160); villagers are housed in 7 to 135 buildings (an average of 44). Land Tenure. Identification. Another indication of this is the subjectobjectverb basic word order, which Dogon shares with such early NigerCongo branches as Ijoid and Mande. Today, at least 35% of the Dogon practice Islam. AtAncient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. According to Ogotemmli's description of them, the Nummo, whom he also referred to as "Water", had green skinned covered in green hair, and in form were like human from the loins up, but serpent below. [22] They were primarily symbolized by the sun, which was a female symbol in the religion. Political Organization. Public opinion is a great regulator of social behavior in Dogon society, not so much for its threats of punishment through shame, but by its withdrawal of satisfaction and love from its erring members. Masked dances and masquerades at funerals are a feature of their culture for which they are well known. Influence from Tellem art is evident in Dogon art because of its rectilinear designs (Laude, 24). The degree of complexity of the ceremonies depends upon the age and status of the deceased male. [Editor's Note: In this article the established spellings of Kota words have been retained, al, ETHNONYMS: none & Hollyman, Stephenie (photographs) & Walter E.A. All initiated Dogon men participate in Awa, with the exception of some caste members. He wears white clothes and nobody is allowed to touch him. The Dogon also believe in various malevolent and benevolent spirits who populate the bush, trees, and uninhabited places. Circumcision is believed to eliminate the superfluous one. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dogon, Beierle, John "Dogon Clusters of from 5 to 6 of these villages center around water holes or wells, and each cluster is referred to as a "canton" or "district." In conjunction with the council of elders, he makes decisions concerning public affairs. The designation "Naga" is applied to the numerous Indo-Mongoloid tribes living in the hill country at the, Chin Hogon live alone and should be celibat This leads linguists to conclude that Dogon is likely to have diverged from NigerCongo very early.[when?] Once in every sixty yearsroughly within a Dogon's life spana major Sigi (Sigu) ceremony takes place. Dogon art revolves around religious values, ideals, and freedoms (Laude, 19). Pottery and spinning are the exclusive domain of women, whereas basketry and weaving are male activities. Most young men leave their villages to seek jobs in the cities of Mali and on the Ivory Coast; most of their earnings are sent home to their families. The historical pattern included the murder of indigenous males by raiders and enslavement of women and children. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there existcountless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts thathave yet to be discovered and explained. Women are forbidden from joining and prohibited from learning sigi so. Although Temple fails to prove its antiquity, the evidence for the recent acquisition of the information is still entirely circumstantial. [20] The religion embraced many aspects of nature which are found in other traditional African religions. Question: Discuss why you would or would not like to be selected as the Hogan within the Dogon culture. The orbit cycle takes 50 years. This practice has been passed down for generations and is always followed, even during winter. The first wife, or ya biru, holds a higher position in the family relative to any wives from later marriages. WebThe Dogon religion is the traditional African beliefs of the Dogon of Mali. The other factor influencing their choice of settlement location was access to water. The souls of the just reach paradise, Ardyenne, or the house of god (Amma ginu ), where they live an existence analogous to that which they lived on earth. Prior to the birth of the first child, the wife lives at the home of her parents, while her husband continues to reside in the bachelor quarters where he has lived from the age of 8 to 10. Orientation Although inheritance today is strictly patrilineal, formerly there was a tradition of matrilineal inheritance (by sister's son). According to this oral tradition, the first Dogon settlement was established in the extreme southwest of the escarpment at Kani-Na. Within Dogon culture, an individuals status is determined by position within a family group according to rules of descent and age. The problem of "twin births" versus "single births", or androgyny versus single-sexed beings, was said to contribute to a disorder at the beginning of time. ); from Mali, Figure of a kneeling woman; circa 1500; wood; height: 35.2cm (1378 in. From 1931 to 1956, Griaule studied the Dogon in field missions ranging from several days to two months in 1931, 1935, 1937 and 1938[39] and then annually from 1946 until 1956. The Hogon is the spiritual and political leader of the village. Was this German silver mine really defended by two Roman forts and a line of "spike defenses? Each caste is endogamous, and members do not take part in any of the common religious cults. Each village is composed of one main lineage (occasionally, multiple lineages make up a single village) traced through the male line. Each Dogon village may differ in the designs of the masks used in the dama ritual. About 10 percent of the Dogon are Christians. One of its most distinctive features is the hierarchical series of occupational "castes" or status groups consisting of iron- and leatherworkers, griots (lineage genealogists), musicians, poets, and sorcerers. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. The blind Dogon elder Ogotemmeli taught the main symbols of the Dogon religion to French anthropologist Marcel Griaule in October 1946. ETHNONYMS: Kareang, Kariang, Kayin, Pwo, Sgaw, Yang First marriages are generally arranged by parents; within certain limitations, those marrying for the second or third time are more free to choose their partners. Because the word sewa is so commonly repeated throughout a Dogon village, neighboring peoples have dubbed the Dogon the sewa people. 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 newly circumcised youths, now considered young men, walk around naked for a month after the procedure so that their achievement in age can be admired by the tribe. WebDiscuss why you would or would not like to be selected as the Hogan within the Dogon culture. Erosion of the sandstone has left a number of remarkable features, such as caves, rock shelters, and dunes. "hogon | African religious leader | Britannica", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hogon&oldid=1122616271, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 November 2022, at 14:57. Not on view. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). They purchase sugar, salt, European merchandise, and many animal products, such as milk, butter, and dried fish. Marriages are endogamous in that the people are limited to marry only persons within their clan and within their caste.[29]. The [45], Griaule and Dieterlen were puzzled by this Sudanese star system, and prefaced their analysis with the disclaimer, "The problem of knowing how, with no instruments at their disposal, men could know the movements and certain characteristics of virtually invisible stars has not been settled, nor even posed. In 1912 a school was established for them in Sanga, followed by a Christian mission in the 1930s, and later a medical dispensary. Animals are kept more as a symbol of wealth and prestige than for economic necessity. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. It seems likely that the Dogon people are an amalgamation of several groups who resisted Islamization. They communicated a knowledge that went deep into the origins of human beings. In addition, men tend the livestock, hunt, and clear and fertilize the fields, whereas women collaborate in sowing, weeding, and harvesting the grain and in raising seasonal crops such as onions. Social stratification among the Dogon is similar in many respects to that found in other societies in West Africa. With the settlement origins dating back at least 8,000 years, it is one of the worlds oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Not many people know of the Gambia. [23] They were symbolized by the colour red, a female symbol. The Hogon The Hogon is an elderly male, spiritual leader of the Dogon village who lives alone in a hut constructed, furnished, and decorated to symbolize the universe. The Iliad can provide new insights on the role of motherhood among the ancient Greek gods, and by extension, amongst ancient mortal Greek women themselves. Unlike norms for the rest of society, parallel-cousin marriage is allowed within castes. [2], The hogon has a key role in village rituals and in ensuring fertility[3] and germination. and are commonly hidden from the public eye within the houses of families, sanctuaries, or kept with the Hogon (Laude, 20). "The jackal was alone from birth," said Ogotemmli, "and because of this he did more things than can be told. 15th19th century. However, the gender is deliberately ambiguous, and it may be intended to represent a nommo a mythological hermaphroditic ancestor. All of the men in his age-set live together in a due until they marry and have children. Industrial Arts. A few villages also keep bees. Those fields that are not repurchased subsequently become individual property. The increase in the number of visitors to the area in recent years has done wonders for tourism, but has sadly damaged the environment and this special cultural landscape. Dogon funeral rituals come in two parts. Social Organization. 1000-1500 AD, Dogon Sculpture, Mali. This chief head is the oldest living son of the ancestor of the local branch of the family. Other crops include sesame, maize, peanuts, yams, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, okra, watermelons, papayas, some figs, gourds, and cotton. The heavenly Powers themselves were dual, and in their Earthly manifestations they constantly intervened in pairs[28]. WebThe Hogon is the spiritual and political leader of the village. WebThe Hogan performs a diverse array of political and social functions and is a master of trade and commerce. Africa, 38(1), 16-25, Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/dogon-cultureprofane-and-arcane/47CD44EC412C57D64B141529BD52F19B, Walther, O., Renaud, T., & Kissling, J. 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. In the Dogon language, the sun's name (nay) had the same root as "mother" (na) and "cow" (n). ETHNONYMS: Cohatur, Kohatur, Kotar, Koter, Kothur A Blazing Weapon: Unraveling the Mystery of Greek Fire, New Moai Statue Found on Chiles Easter Island Excites Researchers, Curious Mussel Shell Arrowheads in Norways Mountains Confound Archaeologists, 2,000-Year-Old Roman Phallus Could Be Oldest Known Sex Toy, Huge Wari Empire Temple from 800 AD Unearthed in the Highlands of Peru, What is Shambhala? The Mali landscape around Dogon (Spooner, J / CC BY 2.0 ). The great annual Feast of Sowing (bulu ) begins in April or May, prior to the beginning of the rainy season, in all the villages of the region. It was held once every sixty years and allegedly celebrated the white dwarf star, Sirius B. Villages usually contain a single localized lineage whose dwellings are grouped around the "great house" (ginna ) of the head. A hogon is a spiritual leader in a Dogon village who plays an important role in Dogon religion. Retours au 'pays du reel'", Genevive Calame-Griaule: "On the Dogon Restudied". However, the date of retrieval is often important. The traditional dama consists of a masquerade intended to lead the souls of the departed to their final resting places, through a series of ritual dances and rites. The funerary ceremonies of the Dogon consist of two parts: the initial rites, which take place immediately following death and continue for about a week, and the more elaborate dama rites that terminate the mourning period after an indeterminate period of time. Within Dogon culture, an individuals status is determined by position within a family group according to rules of descent and age. Social Control. In traditional Dogon society, land was transmitted within the family group (ginna, or lineage), and was considered inalienable property. The birth of human twins was celebrated in the Dogon culture in Griaule's day because it recalled the "fabulous past, when all beings came into existence in twos, symbols of the balance between humans and the divine". The Cliff of Bandiagara (or Land of the Dogons) in Mali is an outstanding landscape and has earthen architecture that seems to defy the laws of nature and the passing of time. Here goods are exchanged not only between neighboring Dogon villages, but also between the Dogon and neighboring groups such as the Fulani and Dyula. Dogon art consists primarily of sculptures. Religious Beliefs. The ritual language, "Sigi so" or "language of the Sigui", which was taught to male dignitaries of the Society of the Masks ("awa"), was considered a poor language. After initiation, he wears a red cap, and a pearl bracelet. Morton, Robert (ed.) (2008). Unfortunately, the majority of these animistic spiritual practices tend to disappear with the younger generations and the widespread adoption of Islam. This problem has been solved! Beierle, John "Dogon The Dogon people were not the first inhabitants of the cliffs of Bandiagara. Then the Dogon who has entered the contact repeats the ritual, asking the resident how his or her whole family is. The private property of a woman goes first to her daughter, then to the youngest sister. [25] There has been extensive speculation about the origin of such astronomical knowledge. He is elected from among the oldest men of the dominant lineage of the village. Often the buildings are so close to one another that the floors of some houses begin where the roofs of adjacent ones end. There are over 200 Dogon villages across the escarpment and each village has a democratically elected headman (Hogon), who is also their spiritual leader. Every Dogon village or clan has its own totem. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. The Dogon primarily sell agricultural commodities: onions, grain, cotton, and tobacco. Other crops include sesame, maize, After his election, he has to follow a six-month initiation period, during which he is not allowed to shave or wash. The dominant form of vegetation on both plain and plateau is the sparse but regular forest of tall trees, which at close range gives the appearance of an immense orchard. The Dogon live in compact, occasionally walled villages built up the sides of the escarpment. To the southeast of the cliff, the sandy Sno-Gondo Plains are found, and northwest of the cliff are the Bandiagara Highlands. Since the twentieth century, there have been significant changes in the social organisation, material culture and beliefs of the Dogon, in part because Dogon country is one of Mali's major tourist attractions. The Dogon religion was centered on this loss of twinness or androgyny. "[46], More recently, doubts have been raised about the validity of Griaule and Dieterlen's work. The cliffs and rocky terrain provided excellent protection from slave WebThe Hogan is treated much like a deity, the one of creation in this instance, and is free from having companionship but may have maids accompany him. Les dogon. 23 Feb. 2023
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