Dogon Country
Days 25 - 27
Thurs Aug 11 - Sat Aug 13
Dogon Country, Mali
All doubts to the friendliness of the guide were lifted when he picked us up at the house. The volunteers greeted him happily, told jokes, laughed, asked how his family was (with specific names), and they started talking business of what other things can be down around the house in which Hassimi (his name) might help. He was true friend of the volunteers and not just some random guy. I would pay extra for that added comfort.
He spoke semi-fluent english and told me no problem to being added, I just would have to pay the same as the girls. No discount on all three of us which we all hoped the night before. His younger brother came along and we hopped into his car, nicknamed "Grandma". His brother had quit school, so Hassimi told him he should help him out as a guide. I think after our experience he had enough of toubobs and would go back to school. Unintentionally we made Hassimi yell at him for the most mundane things, which to us was no problem. For instance, he had us wait five minutes one time. He got yelled at for making his (Hassimi's) customers wait. We didn't mind.
Dogon Country is in the South-East region of Mali. He drove us to the first village Bandiagara and started telling us the history of his people. The original settlers of Dogon Country were the Tellem people who lived in the rocks and cliffs. The Dogons believed they could fly since no one could get up there for some time. Before Islam hit the region the Tellem people would 'bury' their dead in the caves - which still to this day you can see the bones and remains of some of their ancestors as we did that first day.
The Dogon people entered the region to actually escape the rise of Islam. They are animist society, and believe in fetishes - similar to modern day Voodoo beliefs of Haiti (although highly distorted by Hollywood to be demonic and evil). Individual houses have a their roof extended with the appearance with a grid of holes, maybe 6 by 4, each one the size of a post-office box. In each hole are some bones, animal blood, or some other fetish that particular family believes would help (or did help) in a particular situation. The holes face outwards and not upwards so from a distance you can see which houses are animist or which are Muslim. Yes, although they tried to run from Islam, it caught up to them. The first person to convert to Islam was in Bandiagara (hence it's importance in the Dogon Country). From within the Dogon community he was able to convert others, as outsiders had failed. Through centuries this has brought a mix of the Dogon people of those who practice Islam and those who practice animist beliefs.
Each day we put our bags in the car and hiked to the next town or village. Sometimes we would hike back through a different route, other times his brother would get the car for him to continue on the trip.
One interesting thing about Dogon religion is their cosmology. As most westerners have a priority towards the northern star, theirs is Sirius, the Dog Star - which is the brightest in the sky. They believe that the divine male named Amma created the earth, moon, and sun. The earth was formed in the shape of a woman, and by her Amma fathered twin snake-like creatures called the Nommo, which Dogon believe are present in streams and pools. Scattered across villages are drawings, made of coal and other material of snakes and crocodiles. For years they believed that Sirius was three stars - two visible and one invisible. The 60-year cycle of the binary star system (now recognized as closer to 50 by modern astronomers - technically speaking (I looked it up) 18295.4 days) is celebrated by the Dogon community with huge masks and ceremonies. The last was held in the 1960s. This is to celebrated their cosmic origin. Interestingly, it wasn't until 1995 that telescopes were able to confirm their three-star system belief. There is indeed an invisible star to the naked eye, but not gravitationally bound to the other two.
On the second day we hiked up a plateau reaching a village on top. This is also a tourist attraction as many other tourists were there as well. The village was broken up into three sections: the Islamic, Christian, and Animist regions. The animists lived behind a small cliff to the side and signs were posted to not cross the area. The tourist camp was set up in the Christian part although the call-to-prayer from the Islam region could be heard.
The hike down covered isolated villages, where animist practices were the norm of life.
One lady we met on the hike was from England. Her job was to work with special education students at the high school. When she isn't helping them she sits in the other classes and acts like a student to the benefit of the other students. She raises her hand, "I don't understand that" and makes the teacher explain it again in a different way. If she feels the students still don't understand she says "I don't understand" again. This irritats the teachers sometimes, but the students really enjoy it. They benefit since sometimes they don't want to be the only person to raise their hand. She causes some trouble in her school, but has fun with it. I told her about "Buzz Word Bingo" she should try on the next faculty meeting. Each faculty member has a Bingo board with different buzz-words in different order (affirminative, brain-storm, consensus, etc.). The first person to get a Bingo wins!
It's hard to due the hike justice, as there are entire books written about the Dogon people, their religion, and their way of life. Hopefully some of these pictures will help.
Thurs Aug 11 - Sat Aug 13
Dogon Country, Mali
All doubts to the friendliness of the guide were lifted when he picked us up at the house. The volunteers greeted him happily, told jokes, laughed, asked how his family was (with specific names), and they started talking business of what other things can be down around the house in which Hassimi (his name) might help. He was true friend of the volunteers and not just some random guy. I would pay extra for that added comfort.
He spoke semi-fluent english and told me no problem to being added, I just would have to pay the same as the girls. No discount on all three of us which we all hoped the night before. His younger brother came along and we hopped into his car, nicknamed "Grandma". His brother had quit school, so Hassimi told him he should help him out as a guide. I think after our experience he had enough of toubobs and would go back to school. Unintentionally we made Hassimi yell at him for the most mundane things, which to us was no problem. For instance, he had us wait five minutes one time. He got yelled at for making his (Hassimi's) customers wait. We didn't mind.
Dogon Country is in the South-East region of Mali. He drove us to the first village Bandiagara and started telling us the history of his people. The original settlers of Dogon Country were the Tellem people who lived in the rocks and cliffs. The Dogons believed they could fly since no one could get up there for some time. Before Islam hit the region the Tellem people would 'bury' their dead in the caves - which still to this day you can see the bones and remains of some of their ancestors as we did that first day.
The Dogon people entered the region to actually escape the rise of Islam. They are animist society, and believe in fetishes - similar to modern day Voodoo beliefs of Haiti (although highly distorted by Hollywood to be demonic and evil). Individual houses have a their roof extended with the appearance with a grid of holes, maybe 6 by 4, each one the size of a post-office box. In each hole are some bones, animal blood, or some other fetish that particular family believes would help (or did help) in a particular situation. The holes face outwards and not upwards so from a distance you can see which houses are animist or which are Muslim. Yes, although they tried to run from Islam, it caught up to them. The first person to convert to Islam was in Bandiagara (hence it's importance in the Dogon Country). From within the Dogon community he was able to convert others, as outsiders had failed. Through centuries this has brought a mix of the Dogon people of those who practice Islam and those who practice animist beliefs.
Each day we put our bags in the car and hiked to the next town or village. Sometimes we would hike back through a different route, other times his brother would get the car for him to continue on the trip.
One interesting thing about Dogon religion is their cosmology. As most westerners have a priority towards the northern star, theirs is Sirius, the Dog Star - which is the brightest in the sky. They believe that the divine male named Amma created the earth, moon, and sun. The earth was formed in the shape of a woman, and by her Amma fathered twin snake-like creatures called the Nommo, which Dogon believe are present in streams and pools. Scattered across villages are drawings, made of coal and other material of snakes and crocodiles. For years they believed that Sirius was three stars - two visible and one invisible. The 60-year cycle of the binary star system (now recognized as closer to 50 by modern astronomers - technically speaking (I looked it up) 18295.4 days) is celebrated by the Dogon community with huge masks and ceremonies. The last was held in the 1960s. This is to celebrated their cosmic origin. Interestingly, it wasn't until 1995 that telescopes were able to confirm their three-star system belief. There is indeed an invisible star to the naked eye, but not gravitationally bound to the other two.
On the second day we hiked up a plateau reaching a village on top. This is also a tourist attraction as many other tourists were there as well. The village was broken up into three sections: the Islamic, Christian, and Animist regions. The animists lived behind a small cliff to the side and signs were posted to not cross the area. The tourist camp was set up in the Christian part although the call-to-prayer from the Islam region could be heard.
The hike down covered isolated villages, where animist practices were the norm of life.
One lady we met on the hike was from England. Her job was to work with special education students at the high school. When she isn't helping them she sits in the other classes and acts like a student to the benefit of the other students. She raises her hand, "I don't understand that" and makes the teacher explain it again in a different way. If she feels the students still don't understand she says "I don't understand" again. This irritats the teachers sometimes, but the students really enjoy it. They benefit since sometimes they don't want to be the only person to raise their hand. She causes some trouble in her school, but has fun with it. I told her about "Buzz Word Bingo" she should try on the next faculty meeting. Each faculty member has a Bingo board with different buzz-words in different order (affirminative, brain-storm, consensus, etc.). The first person to get a Bingo wins!
It's hard to due the hike justice, as there are entire books written about the Dogon people, their religion, and their way of life. Hopefully some of these pictures will help.
posted by Mike | 5:31 AM
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