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Dogon dancers don masks for dama
funerary rites in Tireli, Mali. These are
enacted to lead spirits of the deceased
out of the village and toward their final
resting place with the ancestors.Nommo represented language,
which was considered the essence
of all things: the seventh Nommo
was the master of the Word and the
eighth was the Word itself.Cleansing gifts
When the serpent vomited Lébé’s
remains out in a series of stones,
they made the shape of a body.
First came eight dugé stones,
which are formed when lightning
strikes the ground. These stones
marked the joints at the pelvis,
shoulders, elbows, and knees. Then
came the smaller stones, forming
the long bones, vertebrae, and ribs.
The stones were a gift from theANCIENT EGYPT AND AFRICA
Nommo to humanity. They held
Lébé’s life force, and were a
physical manifestation of speech.
The stones also absorbed all that
was good from the ancestors and
cleansed the people of their
impurities with the water that was
the Nommo’s essence and life force.
When Lébé’s remains were being
ejected, torrents of purifying water
also came forth. It brought fertility
to the land and enabled humanity
to plant crops and farm.
The Dogon view Lébé as the
manifestation of the regenerative
forces of nature. To this day, Hogon
wear stones that symbolize Lébé’s
remains and remind them of their
link to their ancestors. Although
Amma is the supreme deity in
Dogon religion, and prayers and
sacrifices are made to him, the
chief focus for most of the Dogon’s
rituals is ancestor worship. ■Water and the Dogon
Water is crucial in the myths
and lives of the Dogon people.
Mali, the Dogon homeland,
sits on the edge of the Sahara
Desert, where water can be
scarce and the amount of
rainfall dangerously variable.
The water cycle in the area is
variable. Both droughts and
monsoons afflict the region,
and rivers and lakes appear
and disappear again.
Rejecting the pressure to
convert to Islam, the Dogon
first set up their villages at
the base of Mali’s Bandiagara
Escarpment 1,000 years ago,
attracted by its defensibility
and its springs; they later
spread to the nearby plateau,
where they built deep wells.US_288-293_Dogon_Cosmos.indd 293 05/12/17 4:16 pm