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Home , Dogon people, Lebe (Dogon), Nommo, Ogotemmeli, The Sirius Mystery

University of Massachusetts Boston

From the SelectedWorks of Chukwuma Azuonye

1999

The oD gon Creation Story Chukwuma Azuonye, University of Massachusetts Boston

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/chukwuma_azuonye/74/ The Doqon Creation Story

Chukwumu Azuonye

Here, Chukwumu Azuonye outlines and analyzes contains the potential for the existence of all real- the creation story of the and ity. In the course of its flotation, it suddenly be- explains its relationship to the star . gins to expand under the pressure of internal vibrations. This happens at the point in space The Seed of the World where the Dogstar, Sirius A (Digiteria) and its The creation story of the Dogon people of the dwarf companion, Sirius B, are now located. To- cliffs in southern and the plains day, these twin stars occupy an important place of northern in the area of the on the Dogon calendar. The all-important bend in is one of the most elaborate Dogon ritual of renewal, Sigui, which takes place and fascinating traditional explanations of the every 60 years, follows the time it takes Sirius B origins of the world and of human culture. to complete one orbit around Sirius A, a fact Unlike biblical and similar stories of creation in which has since been confirmed, with only a few other African oral traditions, in the Dogon cre- minor differences, by modern science. ation story the idea of an all-powerful and all- With the intensification of the internal vibra- knowing divine creator is subordinated to an tions within it, the seed of the world expands and evolutionary process in which (Amma) expands until it reaches the utmost limits of the emerges as a but imperfect progen- universe, forming an oval mass that the Dogon itor. In place of the traditional idea of creation describe as the egg of the world (aduno tal) or the out of nothing, the Dogon creation story offers womb of the world, using the term me (which can through the magic of the divine logos a more sci- be glossed as placenta or amnion) to describe its entific explanation that anticipates the modern contents. The transformation of the seed of the big bang theory. In the Dogon creation story, we world into the egg or womb of the world takes can see a projection into the cosmos of ideas that place in seven stages. Unwinding like a spiral essentially belong to reproductive biology. from its point of origin, each of the seven stages Underlying these ideas is what appears to be of its expansion is longer than the preceding one. some knowledge of the role of chromosomes and In Dogon iconography, this unwinding process is of DNA in the formation of every new life, as for- represented by a zigzag line called ozu tonolo. mulated in modern genetics. Other ritual drawings depict the seven-stage un- The story begins with the idea of the seed of winding process as culminating in the prefigura- the world. Described by the Dogon as kize uze tion of the human shape. We can see from these (the smallest of things), this tiny seed floated qui- drawings (Fig. 1) that the first and sixth vibra- etly through the dark emptiness of space before tions represent the human legs, the second and the the birth of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Although fifth the hands, the third and the fourth the head, it is as small as the smallest cultivated seed in while the seventh represents the genitals (the male Dogon culture, namely fonio or digiteria exelis, it penis or the female ):

48 The Dogan Creation Story 49

At the seventh vibration, the enveloping sheath breaks releasing all creation into space, just as young lives are released into the world from an egg. An interesting and significant aspect (from the perspective of modern science) of the Dogon view of the processes within the egg of the world before creation is the notion that the egg of the world contained a master plan for creation. This master plan is composed of images or signs called yaJa. -. Each yaJa contains a model or code of all the in- structions needed for the creation of each and ev- ery thing now known to exist in the universe, and Figure 1: First Seven Vibrations of the Egg of the World all these, according to the Dogon, are grouped (after Griaule and Dieterlen, 1954) into 22 basic categories. Amma, the supreme being, is among the first Serou, rather than the perfect model of creation, of the 22 categories of beings (deities) who the twin , that was intended. emerged to become fully differentiated self- Dyougou Serou was a male being without any conscious beings. As god of creation, he set out to complementary female elements. In time, this all- complete the work of creation. But he does so, not male being raped his own mother, Earth. The re- as an omniscient and all-powerful God, but, sult was a breed of incomplete beings that have through procreation, as a great father figure with survived in the universal order as evil beings of all the imperfections of humankind. various kinds. Seized with shame over his mis- Lacking foreknowledge of things, he must also deeds, Dyougou Serou spent the rest of his life in proceed by trial and error. His first task was to pro- restless disgrace. Dogon represents him create a divine model for humankind, Nommo. in several cringing poses with his hands covering Nommo would be a pair of androgynous twins. his face (Laude, 1973; Imperato, 1978; Goldwa- Each pair would comprise two persons, one basi- ter, 1959; and Ezra, Art of the Dogan, 1988). In cally female but with balancing male attributes, the time he suffered an anti birth by dissolving back other basically male but with balancing female at- into his mother, the earth's, vagina. But his evil tributes. Through further procreation between the offspring have survived to trouble the world. twin Nommo, the ancestors of humankind would The Dyougou Serou episode is only one of sev- come into being. Their offspring, like themselves, eral versions of the explanation of the origins of would preferably come as twins or as individual evil in the Dogon creation story. In other versions, male and female beings with complementary fe- the origin of evil is attributed to a being known as male and male attributes like themselves. But, un- Ogo, who, paradoxically, is an offspring of one of fortunately, Amma's first attempt at procreating the pair of perfect Nommo born of Amma's sec- the Nommo proved to be a failure. ond mating with the now circumcised earth. At first Amma was thwarted by the aggressive While still in the womb, the male person (Ogo) in masculinity of the model earth (then still sus- one of the androgynous pair of twin Nommo tore pended in the heavens). As he approached the pri- his way out into space before the appointed time mordial female Earth in sexual foreplay, a termite of his birth, leaving his female counterpart be- hill, Earth's clitoris, rose aggressively like a gigan- hind. He emerged carrying with him a piece of his tic penis. Amma was forced into a struggle to sub- own placenta. Outside the world-womb, this due this aggressiveness. In cutting down the earth's piece of placenta became his own earth. In addi- clitoris, he set down the rule that subsequent gen- tion to stealing a piece of his own placenta, he erations have followed through clitoridectomy (fe- also stole some of the fonio, which Amma had in- male ) to subdue the potential of the tended to give to perfect humanity to plant for female clitoris to compete with the male penis. Af- their sustenance on the pure earth. Ogo is thus ter this, Amma succeeded in copulating with the also known in Dogon mythology as Yo Ogo (the earth; but unfortunately, the struggle with the thief Ogo) or Yurugu. earth's maleness had already marred this first sex- But Ogo's rebellion was in vain. The earth he ual union. The offspring was the jackal, Dyougou created in such haste before his birth at full term 50 Sub-Saharan Africa

was an impure earth in which nothing good or and technological foundations of civilization complete could thrive because of its denial of the were laid by the Nommo turned blacksmiths. female essence. In frustration, Ogo returned to Though he was an evil being, one of Ogo's ac- heaven to search for his sister but discovered tions for which he is still remembered in Dogon that Amma had retrieved her and placed her in today was the theft of a piece of the sun. the world-womb under the charge of the remain- Through this act, he brought fire to the world. ing twin Nommo. Ogo then returned to the dark With fire already present on earth, the Master and desolate world he had created with such reck- Blacksmith introduced the major forms of art and less haste. There, Amma turned him into the pale technology for which the Dogon have been fox as a punishment for his misdeeds. The single, known for centuries. First, he taught humans how all-male incomplete beings born of his incest with to weave. Then he instructed them in music and his mother's placenta who now peopled the earth the making of the harp-lute and other musical in- have survived as the breed of evil beings that still struments. After that, he taught them how to trouble humankind. At this point the Dyougou make various agricultural and household imple- Serou and the Yurugu versions of the Dogon cre- ments. The first ancestors of human beings ap- ation story can be seen to merge. peared soon after the descent of the Boat of the Now, the impure earth of Yurugu or Dyougou World and its transformation into pure earth. The Serou must be cleansed or created anew. To do Dogon creation story says that there were four this, Amma sacrificed the complete twin (male male ancestors: Amma Seru, Seru, Binu and female) Nommo of the other half of the pla- Seru, and Dyougou Serou (each with a female centa. These heavenly Nommo had been born at companion, his sister and wife). These four twins full term. Their bodies and blood were scattered were born of four other pairs of Nommo which over the cardinal points of the earth. Then the came from the four cardinal points-east, west, pieces were gathered together, resurrected in north and south-at the time of the descent of the heaven, and sent back to the earth to remove all Boat of the World. As they came from the four impurities. Earlier, Amma had created the sky and ends of the world, the four pairs or eight ances- the stars to perfection through these sacrificed tors brought with them eight seeds. These seeds and resurrected perfect twin . They were sown in the new, pure, and fertilized earth. would now create a new earth, a world which, Out of each seed, a new seed grew. like the sky and the stars, would be perfect. They The arrival of the eight ancestors signalled the came down from the sky in a gigantic boat or ark blossoming of civilization on the new earth. This which the Dogon describe as the "Boat of the was not a civilization in which human life would World," or "the Ark of the World." be measured in terms of material success or the The "Boat of the World" is also described by erection of tall architectural buildings and ma- the Dogon as the "Granary of the Master of Pure chines of destruction. It was rather a civilization Earth." It contained everything needed to created governed by ideas about the completeness and a gana duge (a world in harmony). Piloted by the meaningfulness of human life that run through- two heavenly Nommos, who now took the guise out the Dogon creation story. of blacksmiths, the Boat of the World finally came The Dogon creation story as recounted above to rest in the present location of the earth, where is only one of several versions of the myth found it instantly became a new earth. This new earth in Dogon culture. There are a wide variety of was complete, formed according to Amma's or- other versions, some far more evolutionary than der. Up until then the universe was in total dark- the foregoing. Others are more creationist and ness. Now light appeared for the first time. Water represent Amma creating through the divine also appeared in the form of rain to clean and pu- logos. Some of these versions may have been in- rify the earth, making it ready for the first ances- fluenced by creation myths from other cultures. tors of human beings. Nor are myths of this kind peculiar to Dogon cul- With the descent of the boat of the heavenly ture. Similar myths seem to be widespread among Nommo came not only the separation of earth the 44 or so ethnic groups that make up the from other worlds, but also the separation of Mande cluster in the area of West Africa that night from day and the appearance of the cycle of stretches from the Fouta Djallon to the Niger the moon (months), seasons, years, and genera- Bend and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Sahel. tions. Social life was organized and the artistic Possible links with ancient Egyptian 'mythology The Doqon Creation Story 51

have been explored (Temple, 1976). But, in the Ogoternmeli, reveals the framework of the Dogan end, the Dogon creation story is best understood system of thought and in a series of re- as a reflection of the advanced scientific knowl- corded interviews. Similar revelations have come edge of the people and as the fundamental basis of from other sages, among them Tierno Bokar (Ba their philosophy, worldview, and religion. and Cardaire, 1957) and Yebene Dolo (Ezra, On the advances in scientific knowledge of the 1988b). From these and from more recent Dogon in their creation story, and sources, we now know that the secret knowledge Germaine Dieterlen (1954), two pioneering stu- that constitutes Dogon philosophy is based on dents of Dogon thought and religion, have writ- solid scientific knowledge of the universe and that ten as follows: "All these images seem to relate to it is founded on four major pillars. Stated briefly, an effort of discovery, an attempt to apprehend these are: first, the idea that the universe is a sys- the infinitely small at its point of departure to- tem of forces (dynamism); second, the idea that wards the immeasurably vast. In fact, the order of everything in the existence comes in pairs or twins the heavens, as it is observed and understood by (dualism); third, the idea that human beings are the Dogon, is no more than a projection, infinitely the centerpiece of all creation and hence that ev- expanded, of events and phenomena which occur erything in the universe exists in human interest in the infinitely small." (anthropocentricism); and, finally, the idea that We shall see that the Dogon creation story ex- everything in the universe is a miniature of the plains the creation of the universe in the light of whole (microcosmicism). their knowledge of how life is procreated, that is, For the Dogon, the vital force, nyama, which the reproduction of life in the womb. Thus we they see as pervading the universe, became person- have images of the egg of the world, the womb of ified in Amma, the creator. From Amma, this force the world, the placenta, the amnion, the sperm, has been transmitted to all beings. Humans re- etc. If this is so, then the 22 basic categories cannot ceived it through the Nommo and through the first be understood outside the biology of human re- human ancestors begotten by the Nommo. At production. The yaJa may refer to a supergenetic death, nyama is let loose and must be contained in code, and the 22 yaJa signs may refer to 22 of the some way or it may cause harm. The Dogon do 23 pairs of chromosomes that carry the genes of this by making dege (images) into which the nyama the codes of life. Indeed, the Dogon speak of 22 of the dead must be channeled. The main rituals of pairs of basic categories, each comprising a male the Dogon are thus concerned with maintaining and a female. Twenty-two of the 23 chromosomes the continuity of nyama in its positive forms and in the human body comprise male and female ele- with controlling all its negative manifestations. ments. It is also known that the 22 are grouped Dogon religion reflects the four pillars of the into four sections. The DNA is controlled by four people's philosophy. It seeks to control the flow of bases: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. the life force, nyama, in the interest of humankind These correspondences are far too close to be ig- as the center of all creation. In the visible aspects nored. Myth is not all fantasy; it is also a symbolic of Dogon religion-in its rituals, altars, and ma- expression of the facts of life. This reality is clearly jor icons, such as carved images of and other embedded in the Dogon creation story. powers (dege), care is taken to represent the prin- As both the reflection of and main pillar of ciple of twinness associated with cosmic har- Dogon philosophy and religion, the full meaning mony, and one is at every stage reminded of the of the Dogon creation story can only be acquired fact that in the smallest of things will be found the by initiated elders as part of what the Dogon re- image of the universe, which in turn reflects the gard as so dayi (clear speech, or advanced knowl- form and functioning of the human body. edge of world order arrived at through progressive Two main aspects of this religion stand out lifelong revelation and ). This initiation clearly. One is the directness of the relationship begins with gid so (front speech, or elementary between every Dogon person and the creator, knowledge) and proceeds like formal schooling Amma. The second is the existence of a similar di- through the intermediate stages of benne so (side rect relationship between individuals and the speech) and boJo so (back speech) to so dayi. community with other major bearers of nyama, An example of so dayi in print is Marcel Gri- through four fundamental cults: the totemic cult aule's book, Conversations with (Binu), the cult of the earth deity (Lebe), the cult (1965), in which the blind hunter and sage, of ancestors, and the cult of (imina). 52 Sub-Saharan Africa

Rites and other practices associated with all Other major objects found in and around these aspects of Dogon religion involve first, the Dogon altars include a leather string with a duge (a use of statues (dege) that represent the object of bead or stone) that represents the egg of the world ; second, the chanting of invocations or and a bundo (a small clay vessel) for libations. hymns (toro) that praise and petition the objects Daily life in traditional Dogon society is made of worship in order of seniority (beginning with up of a series of colorful rites that maintain the Amma) and that place them in the story of cre- continuity of the people's idea of the organization ation and of the maintenance of world order; of the world. Other rites are rites of renewal third, the of an animal or the making of whose purpose is to renew the life force (nyama) an offering, usually on an altar (called ama after that flows with the blood in every human being the creator, or amana). The altar usually com- and is part of the vital energy that controls human prises or includes a statue that shows the suppli- society at all levels and the universe at large. cant in one pose or another statue that indicates The Dogon rites of continuity are of two types. the need for which the sacrifice or offering is be- The first are rites of passage of the kind found in ing made. The use of altars of this kind in Dogon all cultures across the world that mark key - religion is of special interest since they separate ments in the traditional life cycle from birth to the Dogon and other Mande religious practices death. The most representative of these rites of from what finds elsewhere in Africa. passage are funeral ceremonies, which are con- The supreme god of Dogon religion, Amma nected with beliefs in the continuity of the life Tongo, the creator, is not the withdrawn high god force beyond death. The second type of rites of of the kind found in the and myths of continuity consists of ceremonies that form part many other African cultures. Amma, the source of of four primary cults in Dogon culture, namely life and rain, is ever present. The source of all the cults of Binu, Lebe, Arnma, and Dyougou. nyama, he must be called upon directly over all The most representative of these are the rites con- key problems of life. Since all ultimately nected with the cult of Binu. go to him, altars are generally called ama after The Dogon funeral ceremony is the high point him. In all rituals, including those addressed to of a series of rites of passage that begin with birth other powers, the taro (hymn or invocation to the and naming ceremonies and include initiation and divinities) that is chanted must begin by invoking marriage ceremonies. The cult of Binu exists to the power and seniority of Amma and move from promote growth in the widest sense of the word there down to the least important powers, namely and so do the rites associated with it. human ancestors. The most important of the rites of renewal in Although Amma is seen as the source of all Dogon culture is the very elaborate Sigui cere- nyama, he is by no means all-knowing, all-seeing, mony held every 60 years to mark the passage of or all-good. It must be recalled that Arnma him- one generation and the beginning of another. An- self is said in the Dogon creation story to have other important ceremony of renewal comprises made some serious mistakes in the creation of the the death anniversaries, called Dama, held every world. Amma is thus a supreme god who like hu- year to mark the doings of one or more persons man beings is subject to forgetfulness, mischief, who died in the previous year. and other caprices. Because of this in the The timing of the ceremony of Sigui is tied up fallibility of the supreme god, the Dogon feel the with Dogon knowledge about the Dog Star, Sirius need to keep their petitions constantly in his view. A, and the movements of its smaller but heavier This is where the statues that represent the peti- companion around it. The Dogon believe that the tioner in a pose that represents his or her needs big bang which led to the explosion and expan- come in. As a Dogon proverb tells us, "One can- sion of the seed of the world into the egg out of not always pray and kneel at the altar, but the which everything in the world emerged began at statue can." The dege statues thus help to keep the present location of Sirius. It takes Sirius B 60 petitions constantly in the view of the imperfect years to orbit round Sirius A, and the Dogon be- god. In or sacrificial offerings of blood or lieve that this period of time represents a signifi- millet, the petitioner would take off his or her cant span which affects the life of the world. clothes and take the pose of the statue. This also People who were born during the last Sigui are on happens in rituals associated with Nommo, the the threshold of old age while those who were old ancestors, and the other fundamental cults. men at the last Sigui are either dead or on their The Dogan Creation Story 53 way to the spirit world. The 60-year period thus DeMott, Barbara, Dogon Masks: A Structural represents a major shift in generations and of the Study of Form and Meaning, Ann Arbor, life of the world. It is therefore an excellent occa- Michigan: UMI Research, 1982 sion to make sacrifices and invoke powerful Ezra, Kate, ed., African Arts special issue 21:4 forces for the renewal of the world. In essence, the (August 1988) Sigui ceremony reenacts the story of creation. --, Art of the Dogon: Selections from the The annual death anniversaries are less elabo- Lester Wunderman Collection, New York: rate but no less colorful or less connected with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988 Dogon story of the origins of the world order. To- Goldwater, Robert, "Introduction," in Sculpture day, there are three kinds of Dama. The first is a from Three African Tribes: Senufo, Baga, general Dama, held in honor of several persons Dagon: [Exhibition} Spring 1959, New York: who died in the previous year. The second is a spe- Museum of Primitive Art, 1959 cial grand Dama, held in honor of one great per- Griaule, Marcel, Conversations with sonality. The third is a special adapted Dama that Ogotcmmeli: An Introduction to Dogon is performed as theater. Religious Ideas, London: Oxford University It must be stated in conclusion that contro- Press for the International African Institute, versy surrounds much of the above reconstruc- 1965; New York: Oxford University Press for tion of the Dogon creation story, especially with the International African Institute, 1970 regard to its scientific and philosophical under- Griaule, Marcel, and Germaine Dieterlen, "The pinnings. The Hamitic myth which holds that no Dogon of the French Sudan," in African black race has ever created any complex struc- Worlds: Studies in the Cosmological Ideas and tures of the imagination has misled some scholars Social Values of African Peoples, edited by (such as Temple, 1976) to seek explanations for Daryll Forde, London: Oxford University the Dogon's advanced knowledge first (without Press, 1954; New York: Oxford University success) in European and Arab sources, and ulti- Press, 1960 mately in ancient Egyptian sources. Temple ends --, Le Renard Pale, Paris: Institut up settling for extraterrestrial visits from the re- d'Ethnologie, 1965; as The Pale Fox, Chino gion of Sirius A and B. But today, as old-fash- Valley, Arizona: Continuum Foundation, ioned stereotypes about Africa disappear in the 1986 face of more intimate knowledge of the continent Imperato, PascalJames, Dogon Cliff Dwellers: and its culture, the Dogon creation story and the The Art of Mali's Mountain People, New worldview, science, and philosophy that inform York: L. Kahan Gallery/African Arts, and are informed by it have come to gain better 1978 acceptance as one of the most original and fasci- Laude, Jean, of the Dogon: The nating mythic explanations of the universe, of our Myths of the Cliff Dwellers, New York: world, and of human culture. Brooklyn Museum/Viking, 1973 Pern, Stephen, Masked Dancers of West Africa: The Dogon, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Further Reading Time-Life, 1982 Azuonye, Chukwuma, Dogon, New York: Rosen, Roy, Christopher, The Dogon of Mali and Upper 1996 Volta/Die Dogon von Mali und Ober-Volta, Ba, Amadou Harnpate, and Marcel Cardaire, Munich, Germany: Jahn Gallery, 1983 Tierno Bokar, le sage de Bandiagara, Paris: Temple, R.K.G., , New York: Presence Africaine, 1957 St. Martin's, 1976; London: Futura, 1976 Traditional Storytelling Today

An International Sourcebook

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