Dogon people

The Dogon are an African ethnic group, living in West Africa in the east of Mali and is originally from the north-west of Burkina Faso. The Dogon people currently includes about 350,000 people. The Dogon are now living on the western end of the Hombori mountains on the rocks of Bandiagara, which were declared in 1989 a World Heritage Site. The Dogon are also known under the name Dogo, Dogom, Habba or possessions, or Kado Kaddo, Kibisi or Tombo.

History

The Dogon migrated to the territory of the Hombori Mountains apparent only several hundred years ago a, on the run from the rider armies of the Mossi, and they in turn expelled the indigenous population of the Tellem of the cliffs of Bandiagara, possibly with the Kurumba in Burkina Faso identical ( Laude, 1973). According to Roy (1983 ), the Dogon lived until 1480 in the north- west of Burkina Faso.

Society

The Dogon are a patriarchal, patrilocal and patrilineal society, their communities headed by a village elder. Married life at the residence of the father of the spouse and a person is related to the family of the father. As with some African nations the circumcision of women is a common custom even among the Dogon.

Culture

The main food source of the Dogon is the millet cultivation, whose harvest ensures the food for the coming year. To domestic animals especially goats and sheep are kept.

The Dogon have a highly developed tradition of craftsmanship. Above all, the masks of the Dogon are known and famous as an example of traditional African art in Western culture in the 20th century. The Dogon know about 100 different types of masks. These are derived symbolically from about 10 feet long, serpentine mother mask imina -na (large screen ), which will be issued on special funeral for 6 days and is especially honored by the great sigi festival, which only every 60 years in honor of the ancestors takes place. The sigi ritual is the most important ceremony of the Dogon people and to get rid of the clutter that is caused by prohibition violations of ancestors. The spectacle is meant as a celebration of renewal and is reserved exclusively for men. For use comes up to 5 meters long Sirige mask. It is also called floor or storey house mask and consists of 80 floors, symbolizing the floors of the house of Klangründers, which in turn are for the 80 ancestors of mankind. Despite the enormous size is also danced with the Sirige mask; meter high jumps are performed with her. Other common types of masks are the Kanaga mask that resembles a cross of Lorraine, but in fact represents the transfer of the Lizard symbol to man ( the man stretched out his hands to heaven and stands with his feet on the ground) and the samana - mask, which originally comes from the warlike tribe of Samo, who once defeated the Dogon and enslaved.

As with many other West African nations, the Dogon also manufacture other locations, artful carvings, such as doors ( for millet memory ), vessels, ancestral figures and ritual rods. Also known are the ritual troughs Aduna koro ( " Ark of the World"), which are kept in the house of clan elders. They have a rectangular shape, usually with an abstracted horse's head and tail, as well as in relief carvings on the sides.

The assignment of figures that have been found in caves of Bandiagara, for Vorbevölkerung the Tellem or even to the Dogon, is still unclear. In any case, these sculptures are among the oldest in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. On the basis of radiocarbon dating of a Dutch research group, they can be divided into three cultural periods: The first period extends from the 11th to the 15th century, the second from the 15th to the 18th century, and the third from the 18th century until today. The Dogon put their figures on altars, real or mythological ancestors dedicated.

Also weaving of cotton and wool looms are among the Dogon cut a lasting tradition since the 11th century, particularly for the production of the typical T-shaped, slightly flared bottom, loose shirts and simple hats that cover the ears.

Language

The language of the Dogon is also called " Dogon " and is one of the generally accepted classification of African languages ​​of the linguist Joseph Greenberg to the language family of the Niger - Congo languages ​​. The Dogon language consists of at least 15 widely different dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible.

Religion

The majority of Dogon practice a traditional tribal religion with a distinct ancestor worship. As a creator god they worship a deity called Amma. A minority is committed to Islam or to Christianity.

• See also: African cosmogony

Speculation at astronomical knowledge of the Dogon

In the Western world 's attention was drawn to the Dogon, as the French ethnologist Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen his student during some research cruises in the 1930s thought they had found evidence that the Dogon possess knowledge of the star Sirius B. This very faint companion of Sirius, however, can only be observed with modern instruments.

In the 1977 book " The Sirius Mystery " noted the author Robert Temple, based on the work of Griaule and Dieterlen, the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that this alleged knowledge was the Dogon long ago taught by extraterrestrial visitors. This hypothesis is one of the pillars on which the pre- astronautics in support of its argument, visitors from outer space have visited earth in the past and intervened in the cultural development of the people.

However Griaule information could not be confirmed by other researchers (Walter van Beek, 1991; Ortiz de Montellano, 1996). Detailed investigations by Markus Pössel and Klaus Richter for Sirius mystery of the Dogon have shown that there is not a Sirius mystery among the Dogon. The Belgian anthropologist Walter van Beek had found out through years of studies at the Dogon that Marcel Griaule, the survey of the Dogon conducted methodologically flawed and suggests that information among the Dogon. Astronomers also have the supposedly complex system of Sirius can not confirm.