A hogon is a religious figure as well as a temporal authority;[1] the hogon may be hereditary or may be chosen from among the village elderscustom varies from place to place. The masqueraders dance on the rooftops of the deceased's compound, throughout the village, and in the area of fields around the village (Davis, 68). On the other hand, private property goes first to the eldest son (who must provide for his siblings), then the younger brother. These are two story building with separate areas for men and women. Dogon damas include the use of many masks, which they wore by securing them in their teeth, and statuettes. WebDogon or Tellem peoples (?) How the Dogon Preserved Their Unique Culture Along The Cliff In addition to the priests and religious functionaries of the various cults, there are seers or visionaries (kumogu ) and diviners. Social Organization. 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. I have written a book and several peer reviewed journal articles. A virgin who has not yet had her period takes care of him, cleans his house, and prepares his meals. The term "Punjabi" signifies both an inhabitant of the Punjab and a speaker of the predominant Language, Wolof [2], The hogon has a key role in village rituals and in ensuring fertility[3] and germination. After his election, he has to follow a six-month initiation period, during which he is not allowed to shave or wash. Caste boys do not get circumcised.[31]. The degree of complexity of the ceremonies depends upon the age and status of the deceased male. All initiated Dogon men participate in Awa, with the exception of some caste members. Hogon live alone and should be celibate, but a village girl may act as a maid. "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. Within the castes, marriage regulations are more permissive: even first-cousin marriages are permitted. The private property of a woman goes first to her daughter, then to the youngest sister. The importance of secrecy is due to the symbolic meaning behind the pieces and the process by which they are made. The Dogon people were not the first inhabitants of the cliffs of Bandiagara. The authority of the household unit is vested in the father, who controls both the economic and ceremonial functions of the family and demands unquestioning obedience from his offspring. Other fauna include crocodiles (in the swampy areas on the plain), reptiles, monkeys, guenons, guinea hens, hyenas, foxes, panthers, rabbits, and small rodents. Inheritance. Their eyes were red, their tongues forked, and their arms flexible and unjointed.[21]. Due to the expense, the second traditional funeral rituals, or "damas", are becoming very rare. These events are held annually to honor the elders who have died since the last Dama. The escarpment is rich in archaeological discoveries both from the Dogon and the earlier Tellem society. Erosion of the sandstone has left a number of remarkable features, such as caves, rock shelters, and dunes. All agree, however, that they learned about the star from Griaule. A new 'sigi' is started every 60 years. [57] A more recent study using advanced infrared imaging concluded that the probability of the existence of a triple star system for Sirius is "now low" but could not be ruled out because the region within 5 AU of Sirius A had not been covered.[58]. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. [12] See also [ edit] Pangool Mand creation myth Samay (mythology) Zin (water spirits) Traditional African religion portal Mali portal References [ edit] ." This problem has been solved! Often the buildings are so close to one another that the floors of some houses begin where the roofs of adjacent ones end. Each Dogon village, or enlarged family, is headed by one male elder. A secret language known as sigi so is used by members of the men's society (awa ) in connection with religious rites. (February 23, 2023). You'll get a detailed solution from a subject matter expert that helps you learn core concepts. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Dogon moved into the region of the Bandiagara escarpment in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, probably as a result of the breakup of the Mali Empire at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The "Sigi so" was used to tell the story of creation of the universe, of human life, and the advent of death on the Earth, during both funeral ceremonies and the rites of the "end of mourning" ("dama"). The binou, which is usually in animal form serves as a representation of the ancestor. 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 dama consists of an event, known as the Halic, that is held immediately after the death of a person and lasts for one day (Davis, 68). The hogon is assisted in office by a sacrificial totem priest (yebene ), three bodyguards or policemen, a public crier or herald, and an ambassador who deals with other districts. The Dogon dialects are highly distinct from one another and many varieties are not mutually intelligible, actually amounting to some 12 dialects and 50 sub-dialects. I have lived nearby and visited Dogon country. 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 WebDogon Female Ancestor Sculpture. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [41] They reported that the Dogon believe that the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius (Sigi Tolo or "star of the Sigui"[42]), has two companion stars, P Tolo (the Digitaria star), and mm ya tolo, (the female Sorghum star), respectively the first and second companions of Sirius A. Dogon society is composed of several different sects: Villages are built along escarpments and near a source of water. An enlarged family can count up to a hundred persons and is called guinna. [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. The Yana Gulay mask's purpose is to impersonate a Fulani woman, and is made from cotton cloth and cowl shells. While the people keep chickens or herds of sheep and goats in Dogon villages, animal husbandry holds little economic value. ." Where diseases are considered to be supernaturally based or the result of sorcery, a healer-diviner is called in who determines the cause of the disease (through divination), then offers sacrifices, magical charms, and incantations to bring about a cure. This is manifested through the cult of the masks, the Lebe cult, the Binu cult, and the more general cult of the ancestors associated with the ginna. 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. [28] Today, a significant minority of the Dogon practice Islam. . Marriage. Formally, wives join their husband's household only after the birth of their first child. Elaborate ceremonial stools of this kind were owned by the hogon, the supreme religious and political leader in each Today, at least 35% of the Dogon practice Islam. 16th-20th Century. Ogotemmeli taught Griaule the religious stories in the same way that Ogotemmeli had learned them from his father and grandfather; oral instruction which he had learned over the course of more than twenty years. Women may leave their husbands early in their marriage, before the birth of their first child. When a woman leaves her husband, she takes with her only the youngest childthe remaining children stay with the husband's family. [5], The hogon may conduct rituals in the Sanctuaire de Binou, a special building the door of which is blocked with rocks. European contact was first made in 1857. In Dogon thought, males and females are born with both sexual components. After his election, he has to follow a six-month initiation period, during which he is not allowed to shave or wash. The district headman is also head of his lineage and occupies the "great house" (ginna) of that kin group. Location. Updates? Dogons originated for the first time from the West bank of Niger around 1490 WebThe Hogon must live alone in his house. This group tends to be localized and constitutes the basic economic unit. [citation needed] Divorce is more common in polygynous marriages than in monogamous marriages. . Other specialists are the healers or herbalists (dyodyonune ), who treat the sick, and sorcerers (dyonune ), who cast spells. Then the Dogon who has entered the contact repeats the ritual, asking the resident how his or her whole family is. Encyclopedia.com. The Dogon people with whom French anthropologists Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen worked during the 1930s and 1940s had a system of signs which ran into the thousands, including "their own systems of astronomy and calendrical measurements, methods of calculation and extensive anatomical and physiological knowledge, as well as a systematic pharmacopoeia". Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Pern, Stephen (1982). Dogon CultureProfane and Arcane . During the colonization of Mali by the French, the inhabitants of the escarpment were able to use caves and tunnels to avoid the Europeans and were able to preserve their way of life. Among the Dogon, several oral traditions have been recorded as to their origin. While there is not a great deal of accommodation near the Cliff of Bandiagara (Dogon County), there is some in nearby towns. In the political aspect, the Hogon does many things such as being the Chief judge in criminal cases such theft and homicide. This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 14:24. Amsterdam: Time-Life Books B.V. In 1912 a school was established for them in Sanga, followed by a Christian mission in the 1930s, and later a medical dispensary. A younger brother is first in line to inherit all collective property, followed by the eldest son. 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. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dogon. Conflict. Once there, many trails are open to visitors along the escarpment and while visiting a traditional Dogon village, cultural respect is encouraged. Once a boy is circumcised, he transitions into young adulthood and moves out of his father's house. About 10 percent of the Dogon are Christians. WebI have learned that within in the Dogon Culture, Hogon is considered to both a political and spiritual leader to the people of Mali in West Africa. 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. African art and culture had been a driving inspiration to European modern artists like Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, and Amedeo Modigliani, among others. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Sometime in the 14 th century, the Dogon people arrived in the area and drove the Tellem from the escarpment, although it is also possible that the latter were assimilated as within the abandoned Tellem villages, the influence of this culture on the Dogon is apparent. ); Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture, probably an ancestor figure; 17th18th century; wood; height: 59cm (23 in. The key spiritual figures in the religion were the Nummo/Nommo twins. Afterwards, the boys stay for a few days in a hut separated from the rest of the village people, until the wounds have healed. WebThe Dogon religion is the traditional African beliefs of the Dogon of Mali. The fundamental unit of Dogon social organization is the patrilineage, or ginna. "The Nummo foresaw that the original rule of twin births was bound to disappear, and that errors might result comparable to those of the jackal, whose birth was single. Also regional and dialect group names: Chinbok, Chinbon, Dai, Kuku, Lai (s, Karen [20] The religion embraced many aspects of nature which are found in other traditional African religions. Although the Dogon recognize the creator god Amma as the Supreme Being and address prayers and sacrifices to him, the core set of beliefs and practices focuses on ancestor worship. Dogon art revolves around religious values, ideals, and freedoms (Laude, 19). Another indication of this is the subjectobjectverb basic word order, which Dogon shares with such early NigerCongo branches as Ijoid and Mande. In referring to relatives, linguistic usage distinguishes between the forms of address and the specific relationship. [13] As the growth of cities increased, the demand for slaves across the region of West Africa also increased. After initiation, the Hogon wears a red fez. Are the Misty Peaks of the Azores Remnants of the Legendary Atlantis? Dogon art consists primarily of sculptures. 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hogon within the dogon culture