49
The form of man was prefigured in the egg,
and is also echoed in the form of the universe.Everything, from the smallest seed to the expanse of
the cosmos, reflects and expresses everything.A village, or a homestead, or a hat, or a seed,
can contain the whole universe.The whole universe was originally contained in an egg or seed.Everything that exists began as a vibration in this egg.See also: Symbolism made real 46–47 ■ The ultimate reality 102–105
PRIMAL BELIEFS
decoration and furnishing is laden
with symbolism. The hogon’s
movements are attuned to the
rhythms of the universe. At dawn
he sits facing east, toward the
rising sun; he then walks through
the homestead following the order
of the four cardinal points; and
finally at dusk he sits facing west.
His pouch is described as “the
pouch of the world”; his staff is
“the axis of the world.”
Cosmic meaning
Even the hogon’s clothing
represents the world in miniature.
His cylindrical headdress, for
example, is a woven image of
the seven spiral vibrations that
shook the cosmic “egg of the
world” (see right). During a
crisis, the chiefs gather around
the headdress; the hogon speaks
into it and upends it on the ground,
as if the world itself has been
turned upside down, ready to be
restored to order by the god Amma.
The complex cosmic symbolism
of the Dogon reflects outward from
the cosmos, and then back in again
to the headdress of the hogon, the
shell of the world egg. Religion,
society, cosmology, mythology,
cultivation, daily life—all are
intermeshed in every detail,
and reflected in every action. ■For [the Dogon],
social life represents the
workings of the universe.
Marcel Griaule,
anthropologistThe Nommo
The Nommo are ancestral
beings worshipped by the
Dogon. They are often
described as amphibious,
hermaphroditic, fishlike
creatures who, acccording to
myth, were fathered by the
god Amma, when he created
the cosmic egg. This egg was
said to resemble both the
smallest seed cultivated by
the Dogon, and the sister star
to Sirius—the brightest star in
the night sky. Within the egg
lay the germ of all things.
In one version of the myth,
two sets of male–female
twins, the Nommo, were
inside the egg waiting to be
born so that they could bring
order to the world. But the egg
was shaken by a vibration and
one of the male twins, Yurugu,
broke out of it prematurely,
creating the earth from his
placenta. So Amma sent the
three remaining Nommo down
to earth, and they established
the institutions and rituals
necessary for the renewal
and continuation of life. But
because of Yurugu’s premature
actions, the world was tainted
right from the beginning.