Dogon people — Bandiagara Escarpment, Mali, West Africa · Bandiagara Cliffs, Sahel region, Mali — one of the most dramatic landscapes in Africa, cliff dwellings built into vertical sandstone escarpment
Through the initiation system — deeper cosmological knowledge is transmitted at successive levels of initiation. The outer (giri so), inner (bolo so), and deep (so dayi) levels of knowledge are transmitted progressively. Public ceremonies (Sigui, Dama) transmit knowledge through performance,…
The universe was created by Amma (supreme deity) through a series of creative acts involving vibration, spinning, and cosmic egg. The universe is organized around the Sirius star system — Sigi Tolo (Sirius A), Po Tolo (Sirius B), and Emme…
Amma — the supreme deity who created the universe. Present everywhere, in everything. The source of the cosmic vibration (kize uzi) from which all things emerged.
The Sigui mask (large wooden snake mask, passed between generations during the 60-year ceremony). Kanaga masks (cross-shaped, used in Dama ceremonies). Hogon's iron staff. Sacred granary architecture encoding cosmological knowledge in its proportions and divisions.
cyclical