The Dogon’s Territorial organization, districts, countryside and villages: The country of the Dogon is organized as far as possible in accordance with the principle that the world develops in the form of a spiral. In theory the central point of development is formed by three ritual fields, assigned to three of the mythical ancestors and to the three fundamental cults. When laid out they mark out a world in miniature on which the gradual establishment of man takes place. Starting from these three fields, the fields belonging to various kin groups, and finally individual fields, are sited along the axis of a spiral starting from this central area. The various shrines are similarly distributed according to the same plan and, in theory, sacrifices are offered in the same order as the shrines, on the line of the spiral starting from the center.

 

The Dogon even says that, in accordance with the original rule, when land is to be cleared the cultivators must work with their backs to the edge of the last field and the area cleared must be of such a shape that the opposite side is much longer than the side from which they start. Thus each field will be an irregular and, as it were, twisted quadrilateral, two sides of which will form a ver wide angle opening towards the fields which will subsequently be cleared. This angle symbolizes the continuous extension of the world.

 

Another form of organization, every family should possess eight fields grouped in pairs and facing towards the four cardinal points; each of these pieces of land is associated with one of the eight original seeds. As the theoretical arrangement of fields and the process of clearing, the ground reproduce the primitive spiral form, so the method of cultivation recalls the more delicate vibratory movement of the axis of the spiral. This screw-like movement, which is represented on shrines and in caves by a zigzag line, is reproduced in the old method of cultivation which is like the technique of weaving; it consists in starting on the north side, moving from east to west and returning from west to east. Each line of millet planted is eight feet long, and a typical patch of planted land comprises eight lines, recalling the eight ancestors and the eight seeds. moreover, the cultivator advances along the line changing his hoe from one hand to the other at every pace, like the action of weaving, whereby the thread of the wool is fitted into the warp, which itself symbolizes cultivation and the advance of man’s labor in uncultivated land.

 

The purposive repetition of the processes of creation is carried yet farther: the different tribes combine to work their land in accordance with the same detailed symbolism, each one, when cultivating, moving in the opposite direction from the next. In theory each tribe observes its own rule in working on its own land so that the country as a whole is cultivated in every possible direction. Just as the original vibration in the first seven segment prefigured man, who is placed at the center of the universe, so at the center of the territorial organization, embedded in the three fields which constitute the point of departure, is situated the village, itself, a symbol of man. The village may be square like the first plot of land cultivated by man, or oval with an opening at one end to represent the world egg broken open by the swelling of the germinanting cells.

 

Whatever its shape, it is a person and must lie in north to south direction; the smithy is the head and certain particular shrines the feet. The hits used by women at their menstrual periods, situated east and west, are the hands; the family homesteads form the chest, and the twin-ness of the whole group is expressed by a foundation shrine in the form of a cone, the male sexual organ, and by a hollowed stone, the female organ on which the fruit of the “Lannea Acida” is ground to express the oil.

 

It is the village anthropomorphic but each part or section of it is a complete and separate entity and, so far as possible, must be laid out on the same pattern as the whole. Thus, individual families are fitted into a grouping which itself is a unity. Finally, if such group of habitations is seen from above or from a height, the fields shining in the sun on the one hand and the shadows cast on the earth on the other resembles hillocks of cultivated land casting their shadows into the hollows. This is a picture of a little family homestead which bears on its facade eighty incised lines of shadow separated by bright surfaces.

 

Furthermore, this facade is a substitute for the black and white checked blanket which resembles the appearance of cultivated fields and the alternation of light and shadow in the rows of hillocks. Thus the settlement of men dwell close together is a representation both of man himself and of the layout of the fields outside the walls. This is a way of calling to mind the fact that the processes of germination and gestation are of the same kind. In accordance with the principle of twin-ness, villages are built in pairs, one of which is often referred to as upper and the other as lower.

 

A pair of villages of this sort is regarded as the heaven and earth, “Nommo” and “Yurugu”, united, and also as the representation of man. The same pattern is reapeated in the layout of the district which, at the present time, often coincides with the administrative unit, “Canton”. This area is devided into 2 parts, One known as upper and the other as lower; it is also marked by an open public meeting space in the villagewhere the “Hogon”, the district chief, lives.

 

In theory, this open space should be round like the sky which it represents. The shrine of “Lebe” at its center symbolizes the sun, and around it are various shrines belonging to the “Binu” of the founders, and representing the most important stars. In fact, in the open space called “Lebe Dala”, in upper, “Ogol” of Upper “Sanga”, there are nine shrines placed in three parallel lines, the central one facing south. The central shrine of “Lebe”, which in one sense is the first,also has the number nine which is associated whit chieftainship. The other eight are substitutes for the shrines of the family fields, beneath which specimens of the eight original seeds are buried. They are also the eight ancestors of the arch of the world of which the meeting-place itself is a symbol.

 

In a sense it might be said that the place known a “Lebe Dala” represents the coming down to earth of a new world, borne by the eight ancestors who have now assumed the form of the eight stone altars.

 

The Dogon and the Homestead: It is possible to go into yet more detail; the basic structure of the village consists of a group of dwellings, among which may be distinguished the big house, “Ginu Da” of each lineage, the plan of which clearly demonstrates all that has been described above. The big house comprises the “Dembere” or room of the belly, that is to say, central room, around which are placed, a kitchen, “Obolom”, three store-rooms, “Kana”, a stable for goats, “Ende”, and the “Denna” or big room, flanked by the entrance, “Day” and another stable “Bel de”. On either side of the entrance and at the angles of one of the rooms are four conical towers surmounted by domes, “Arsobo”.

 

The plan of the building is said to represent, on the one hand, “Nommo” in his human form, the towers being his limbs; on the other hand, the kitchen and stable are said to be the heavenly placenta and its earthly counterpart, together representing the head and legs of a man lying on his right side, whose other limbs also have their architectural counterparts: the kitchen represents the head, whose eyes are the stones of the hearth; the trunk is symbolized by the “Dembere”, the belly by the other room, the arms by the two irregular lines of store-rooms, the breasts by two jars of water placed at the entrance to the central room. Finally, the sex organ is the entry which leads to a narrow passage to the work-room, where the jars of water and the grinding-stones are kept.

 

On these, young fresh ears of new corn are crushed, yielding liquid which is associated with the male seminal fluid and is carried to the left-hand end of the entry and poured out on the shrine of the ancestors. The plan of the house then represents a ma lying on his right side and procreating. This attitude has a logical consequence: the differences in height of the roofs over the rooms and sheds, wether or not there is more than one story, express the diversity of the beings which issued from the ejected seeds.

 

Each part of the building represents an original being germinating and growing from its genitor. The whole plan is contained in an oval which itself represents the great placenta from which have emerged, in course of time, all space, all living beings, and everything in the world. Procreation is also expressed in the patronage under which the house is placed; while the “Sirige” house, also called “Tire gingi”, the house of the ancestors, belongs to the Fox, “Yurugu”, the big house is placed under a sign of “Nommo” the Demiurge, the reorganizer of the world. Thus the thunder stone, “Andugo” placed on the central terrace may be explained as a materialization of “Nommo”, who comes down in rain and fire. The stone itself is fire and water, and near it are placed the funerary urns of the ancestors, who are regarded as the human representatives of “Nommo” through the ages. Thus the same pattern, continually repeated on an ever-expanding scale, leads from man to the cosmos, each stage of the process also representing the whole, while a series of material avatars leads from the world itself to smaller and smaller groupings, district, village, village-section, homestead.

 

The “Hogon”: The chief of the district among the “Dyon”, the “Ono” and the “Domno” is given the title of “Hogon”, and the same designation is applied to the single chief of the “Arou”. Primarily, the “Hogon” is the representative of his group, which is divided into 7 age classes, he himself constituting an eighth.

 

These eight classes symbolize the eight ancestors and are represented in each village by eight elders, who possess the necessary knowledge and who act as a corporate body, having been constituted as such by means of various rituals. Thus the chief stands for the group as a whole; but the seven classes and the chief are represented by a chapter of eight notables who, to some extent and in specific situations, act in their name. So, the chief does not rule alone, he is assisted by a council. Every “Hogon” is the successor of “Lebe Seru” and as such is responsible for one of the two seeds which “Lebe Seru” had charge to with the female sorghum, “Emme ya”, which is in some sort a substitute for all cultivated plants, and therefore the “Hogon” is ruler of all land laid out in cultivation and of all the rituals connected to it. But since the seeds are the earthly images of the stars, the “Hogon” controls the cosmic rhythm, and is thus the personification of the universe and the regent of “Nommo” on earth.

 

In consequence, all his material attributes and all the prerogatives attaching to his function represent the qualities and movements of cosmic mechanism. The “Hogon”’s clothing: The usual dress of the “hogon” consists of a tunic, trousers, a head-dress, and sandals. The Tunic is made of strips of cotton cloth sewn together to form a long rectangle, which is folded over and sewn along the edges, leaving opening for the arms and a slit in the folded part for the head. This is garment, which is the genral dress of all Dogon, resembles the egyptian “Calasiris”, but those worn by the “Hogon” and the notables, unlike the common style, have wider sleeves.

 

The white threads of the wrap are striped with the red, white, dark blue and light blue threads of the wool. These colors symbolize the four cardinal points, the elements, and, in general, the world; but the name of the garment, “Arge Bunugu”( the tunic which has not come), indicates that it cannot achieve the size or the diversity of the world owing to its limited dimensions and the small number of colors which compose it. To express the universal character of this garment, all the “Arou” contribute to the cost of their chief’s dress, which is woven by a “Dyon”. Conversely, the tunic worn by a “Hogon” of the “Dyon” is woven by an “Arou”. The trousers, which are white or dark blue, have on the front and back of the legs four colored stripes to which the same significance is attached as to the colors in the tunic. The sandals represent the arch of “Nommo”, the point of the toe being the east.

 

The moon is symbolized by the button which fastens them and the sun by a disk on the heel. This interpretation is valid for the “Arou”, while for the “Dyon” it is reversed. The button is ornamented with a cluster of twenty-four cowries, representing the twenty-two categories, with two added for the original “Nommo”. Finally, the sandal is the image of the “Hogon”, the point of the toe being regarded as the head, the heel as the feet. The Head-dress symbolizes even more clearly the function and the quality of its wearer, particularly in the case of the supreme chief of “Arou”. It is in a shape of a cylinder, slightly convex at the back, made of basketwork woven from the stalks of the seven sacred plants, millet, sorghum, hibiscus etc...

 

The weaving produces a spiral pattern from the center of the crown to the edge, which symbolizes the path followed by the original seed. Eight “Hogons”, representing the eight ancestors, share in its making. Not counting the female sorghum “Emme ya”,which is quite separate, the stalks of the seven other seeds used in the head-dress symbolize the seven colors of the rainbow. In any serious emergency, the chiefs assemble round the head-dress of the “Hogon” of “Arou”, who then invokes the God “Amma” and , before all the assembled company, speaks into his head-dress and places it on the ground, as if it were a world turned upside down which has to be restored to order. With this Head-dress, whose shape suggests the moon, the chief indicates the positions of the planet in its various phases.

 

The female soul of the chief reside in the head-dress, the chief may not wear it on his head, if he does, the course of the moon will be disturb and therefore the course of the seasons as well. At the death of the Head-dress’s owner, it is deposited in a granary at his home, which is opened on that occasion only; it is regarded as the shell of the world-egg since it contains all the potency of dead chiefs and all the seeds symbolized by their head-dresses.

 

The Homstead of the “Hogon”: The house of the “Hogon” of “Arou”, paramount chief of the Dogon, is so built as to present a model of the universe. It portrays, either by figures made of millet pulp or in reliefs of puddled earth, the beneficient heavens. On the wall behind the platform or dais on which the “Hogon” sits are painted the northern stars to the left, the stars of the south to the right. This diagram is divided in two by vertical row of four hemispherical earthen bosses, the topmost of which is level with the ceiling of the room above the platform. Each boss is decorated with a spiral of four coils, representing the descent of the world, and is itself the center of four rays with four intercalary rays. Each of the four sections of the three lower bosses on the wall represents a lunar month, while the boss at the ceiling symbolizes the head of the “Hogon” and the thirteen month. In another context the four bosses are interpreted as the four seasons which, like lunar months, serve to sustain the head-dress of the “Hogon”. Facing the platform, the sun is represented on the wall between the two doors of the east. This egg-shaped relief is painted red and surrounded by 22 rays of the same color symbolizing 22 chieftainship of the Dogon world. The solstices are represented by 2 smaller ovals placed to right and left of the doors.

 

In the wet season the “Hogon’s” pouch, called the pouch of the world, is hung on the left, while his staff, called the axis of the world, is placed on the right. In the dry season, their respective positions are reversed. The “Hogon’s” platform is made of sun-dried mud, in which are embedded fragments of dry stalks of eight varieties of millet; eight store-rooms set in walls also represent these eight cereals. The house is entered by a flight of 8 stairs, representing the first eight chiefs; thus the “Hogon” follows in the step of its predecessors. To the left of the entrance is the “Hogon’s” own hut, “Toguna”, which is also approached by 8 steps. Beside it are 8 stones, representing the eight mythical predecessors, which serve as sits when the “Hogon” sits in judgement.

 

The whole arrangement of standing stones reproduces the great constellations, especially Sirius and its cluster. To the right of the entrance is the hearth where beer is brewed; a row of eight stones represents the “Hogons”of the future. By the side of these a hollow stone serves as altar where the spirits of dead chiefs come to drink. The daily life of the “hogon” is thus set against a background which presents the world in miniature, and in reference to which his ceremonial acts and movements symbolize the motive power which animates the whole. At dawn, seated with his face towards the East, he is present at the rising of the Sun; he then proceeds to walk through his homestead following the order of the four cardinal points. At the end of the day he takes his sit facing towards the west. His walks abroad are similarly regulated: he may never go outside the homestead during the season of vegetal growth when his two souls are in close communion with the spirit of the corn.

 

The beginning and end of this period are marked by libations of water, one from the first rain and the other from the last. In the dry season, however, when growth is suspended, the “Hogon” enjoys greater freedom of movement except at time of the new moon, when the moon is not yet out. So, the “Hogon” represents the world by his clothing, he participate in the universal rythm of things by his movement about his home, and in addition, he controls the calendar through his links with the motion of the stars, and particularly the moon. On the other hand, he is set at the midpoint of time, between two theoretically equal series of predecessors and successors, symbolized by the steps placed before his doorway and his judgement sit.

 

The “Hogon” and the millet beer: Just as his clothing and his homestead are necessary in the exercise of the “Hogon’s” power, and substitutes, in their particular spheres, for the whole universe, so also the large yeast-container belonging to the chiefdom is the image of the world. This vessel, of a different shape from those used for making beer in other cults, consists of a large cap-shaped container made of basket-work with four small tassels hanging from its rim, and represents the sun in the centre of the four cardinal points. When the beer is being brewed, it is dipped in the boiling liquid in which the grains of millet have lost their vitality; This signifies the plunging of the sun, with its rays and the world which depends on it, into a state of death in preparation for the renewal of spring and in order to set in motion again the phases of creation.

 

The baobab fiber of which the vessel is made is a substitute for all vegetation and , in particular, for the original seed; the bubbling of the fermenting beer recalls the movement of living beings struggling to emerge from the enclosing sheath. Finally, the pattern of its weaving resembles the chief’s head-dress woven from the stalks of eight grain plants, and signifies the moment when men first obtained possession of seeds.

 

At the “Sigui” ceremony, which is held every sixty years and at which one of the chief ritual actions is the drinking of fermented liquor, the “Hogon” makes the first brew of beer and reserves a portion of it which is distributed to every family and mixed with their own beer. In this way the chief signifies his control of all the brewing. It may be pointed out, however, that everyone must be seated when drinking, because the seated position symbolizes founding and planting and thus to drink while seated is to found villages and set plants in the earth.

 

On the other hand, the liquor purifies the man who drinks so that he becomes, as it were, the scene of resurrection. The living seeds, which died in the boiling liquid, were restored to life in the process of fermentation and finally live again in man. The drinking of the beer causes the seeds to come in contact with the living grain with which the human clavicles are filled; the beer passes out of the body again in the urine which makes its contribution to the family dunghill. The dung, containing dry straw which once was living, will itself distribute the ferment of life to the fields.

 

 

The economic functions of the “Hogon”: The “Hogon” controls all trade. This control is exercised through his regulation of markets. Until 1932, the “Hogon’s” drums, on the eve of a market, beat out instructions for the population as to the procedure to be followed on the morrow. But even at that date this is no more than a gesture, the relic of and institution of which the chief ceremony used to be celebrated by the supreme “Hogon” of “Arou”. At the time of the first-fruits sacrifice, an assembly of all the chiefs is held on the parade-ground of the court on which is drawn the diagram of the world, a human figure whose head lay to the south and whose arms are indicated by a triple row of dots symbolizing cowries. This figure, on which the assembled chiefs stands, represents among other things, the accounting system required for trading.

 

Thus the three rows of 20 dots forming the arms give number 60, known as the “Mande reckoning”, which is formerly used in the West Sudan. The circle formed by the head and the open circle of the two legs, symbols of the male and female “Nommo”, each represents 10, the whole and perfect number. The sum of 20, 10 * 2, and 60 gives 80, the basis of the later system of reckoning in French Sudan. But to the value of each “Nommo” may be added the unity which it represents; thus, if only the one pair is taken into account, the result is (10+1)*2=22, the number of the original categories in which all things and living beings are classified.

 

This arrangement of numbers on the “Hogon’s” parade-ground is not accidental; in theory the “Hogons” of “Arou” form series of 60, reckoning by their funerary urns. At the same time the parade-ground is, as it were, the site of a great market square on which are displayed the cowries represented by the sixty dots marked out in millet pulp. But the cowries themselves, on which the assembled chiefs stand, are an avatar of the finger-nails of one of the cult ancestors which he leaves in his grave; they signify, therefore, finger-tips counting out money and handling it over in payment.

 

The Dogon and Totemism: Totemism among the Dogon emphasizes that men belong to 22 categories, and demonstrates the links which bind them to the universe, all the elements of which are similarly classified. In theory, and on one plane, the Dogon believe that the eight original ancestors sprang from eight families each of which rules an eighth part of the universe. Each family are united in substance with that whole and thus all animals and plants in the corresponding series are taboo to it, while each individual in the family is linked to one specimen of each animal and plant.

 

When a man is born, because he is their head, all animals are born at the same moment. But because this situation is burdensome and man are entangled in too complex a mesh of prohibitions, the rule is applied only to some animals and plants. The cult of “Binu”, which may be as totemic, is associated with that of “Lebe”, on of those attributes is the female sorghum, “Emme ya”, brought to earth by the monitor of the arch called “Lebe Seru”, who dies and returns to life after cleansing the soil. When the arch arrives on earth another monitor, “Binu Seru”, makes war on “Yurugu”, who has stolen the 7 seeds intended for man. 22 animals take part in the struggle, 7 of which are on the side of the victorious “Nommo”, “Binu Seru”. To mark the recovery of the stolen goods, he hands on to his successor “Dewa” the stone, “Duge”, symbol of the 7 seeds, and on it the cult “Binu” is founded. “Dewa”, whose name is given to the totem of which he becomes the priest, divides his good, his attributes, and his functions among 22 original cults, each of which is attached to a particular “Binu” with its own special name; this division corresponds to the order of the universe itself, divided into 22 categories.

 

The 7 animals who have been the allies on the “Nommo”, and the 7 plants associated with them, are all taboo for the priests of the 22 “Binu”, acting as substitutes for their groups. The division into 22 “Binu” corresponds to the 22 members of the first 3 mythical generations which comprise, first, the 2 original “Nommo”; second, the 8 “Nommo” ancestors of the arch; third, their 12 human descendants, 4 pairs of twins and 4 single individuals. But as the families of the Dogon increases in number and expands territorially, the 22 original “Binu” divides as segments as is necessary, and as they divide their names are changed, the segments often adopting other taboos to distinguish them from the original group; all the priests, however, continues to observe the basic double series of seven taboos.

 

Every individual is attached to the “Binu” of his father and therefore belongs to an exogamous agnatic group wider than his major lineage. This affiliation is indicated by the name of the “Binu” which is given to him by the priest at his birth. Rules of endogamy and exogamy applied to clans and smaller groups are expressed in terms of the compabilty of the symbolic contents of the clavicles of each group. As we have seen, the clavicles are thought to contain a series of seeds, 8 in theory, peculiar to each people.

 

It is also accepted that, as regards to the Dogon, each tribe is distinguished from the others by the particular order in which the same series of seeds is placed. It has not yet been possible to study fully the variations in the series of seeds in relation to what might be called the totemic clan. The cult of “Binu”, intergrated as it is with that of “Lebe”, is primarily aimed at promoting growth in the widest sense of the term; that is to say, it is concerned to secure the well-being not only of the crops but also of men, the bearers of the seeds and partakers of their substance. During the period between the harvest and the next seed-time, the totemic shrines house the spirit of the corn embodied in ears or clusters gathered in certain specified conditions.

 

The seeds from these are put into circulation again by the priests at the next sowing; during the rains they throw them down from the terrace to be gathered up by the women and mixed with the new seed. As regards to men, the “Binu” guardian of the clan bestows on each the clavicular seeds associated with his two souls. A breach of the “Binu” taboo deprives the offender of his seeds, which the “Binu” takes away; the purification ceremony proper to the “Binu” cult consists in restoring these seeds of the clan, and that he is concerned with the sustenance of its members and with the substance proper to them. It follows that the “Binu” preserves the special character of each person as member of a particular clan, tribe, and people.

 

 

The Dogon’s Technology, Iron-working: Among the Dogon, as among all the peoples of the Western Sudan, iron-working is one of the most important crafts. Iron-workers are, in a sense, a separate race, whose members, in some localities no more than a single family, are found all over the Sudan. Among the Dogon only the “Dyemme na”, meaning great skin, an allusion to the bellows, are regarded as iron-workers by origin; the “Irin” are Dogon who practise the craft by permission of the former and after the requisite initiation. In fact, however, they perform the same functions as if they were craftsmen by origin. Iron-workers are an endogamous group in relation to the rest of the Dogon, the prohibition of sexual relations being based, as has already been said, on differences in the symbolic contents of the clavicles. In theory these craftsmen own no land nor do they receive any direct payment for the agricultural implements which they make or repair. At harvest time they are given a portion which is their recompense.

 

The special position occupied by these men, a state of economic and cultural symbiosis, derives, in Dogon belief, from the fact that they are the culture heroes of agriculture who came to earth on the arch. In addition to the clavicular seeds, the original iron-worker has in his hammer eight others intended for men. The violent collision with the earth when he arrives, breaks his limbs, providing him with joints enabling him to do his work; at the same time his anvil buried itself in the ground, thereby cleansing the earth and giving it, and men, cultivable grain. The iron-worker, as a result, suffers a diminution of energy, but this puts him on an equality with other men. According to the Dogon, this enfeeblement constituted a kind of uncleanness, though of a different sort from ordinary impurity. The situation of iron-workers is characterized by a diminution of vital energy which excludes them from the category of ordinary living men, “Omo”. But this diminution is not comparable to that of death, which also divides them from men who are by destiny unclean, “Puru”. Neither are they to be ranked with white men, such as leather-workers, witch-doctors, basket-makers, wood-workers etc...

 

In one sense they are diminished, but in another sense they are increased, because they have given their energy for the common good. Along with this ambivalent position, there is a recognition of the unquestioned superiority of the craftsman who, in relation to the exercise of his ritual functions, is thought to possess all the seeds which are his at the time of his arrival on earth.

 

 

The Dogon and weaving: The Dogon make a large range of narrow lengths of cloth, plain-colored and striped, the most usual colors being indigo, white and red; these are used chiefly to make clothing and blankets. Weaving is held to be one of the original crafts, and innumerable symbolic images are associated with it. It says that cloth is the center of the world, that it expresses everything, since the originating signs of all things are traced in it. The “Nommo” who invents weaving uses his jaw-bone for loom and his tongue for shuttle. He weaves into cloth the words which are bringing in a new order. In another way, the weaver imitates the “Nommo” who, springing from the clavicles of God, forthwith wove together the four elements contained therein and made from the whole universe. Just as he draw the four elements from the clavicles of God, so the weaver draws his threads, that is, the four elements, from the spindles, the clavicles of the loom.

 

In some sort, textiles from 7 families comprising 22 principal strips corresponding to the categories of the universe. It seems that the total number must be equal to the number of signs inscribed in the original seed. For the strip of cloth is itself a sign and connotes a myth, partial or complete, a material or spiritual image. To wear a particular cloth, to possess a certain blanket, is therefore to display a symbol which , in practice, corresponds to the physical or moral condition of the wearer, to his social and religious functions and his ordinary activities, which are themselves in harmony with the rhythm of the universe.

 

As among the “Bambara”, malian tribe, there is a science of cloths which is an account of the mechanism of creation. In the Dogon mind this knowledge is identified with its subject and therefore the possession of the complete number of cloths in the form of a blanket represents the ideal form of wealth, the acme of riches. It is possible to exceed this number, but to acquire twice the ideal number of 22 kinds of cloth would be excessive. A man in such case would surpass the God “Amma” and draw disaster on his people.

 

For this reason the men are reluctant to display the family heritage of cloths, for this would be to reveal to the common gaze both the supreme expression of wealth and the symbols of cosmic knowledge. These possessions are never shown except at the death of the family head, at a moment when the social upheaval would forbid anyone to count the goods or detect hidden motives. To exhibit cloths at a funerary ceremony is evidence that death has gathered up the whole universe under the form of the symbols which also constitutes wealth.

 

 

“Mangu”, an International alliance between Dogon and “Bozo”: The original situation of the ideal couple, twins enclosed in the same egg, is also illustrated in a religious and economic relationship maintained between the Dogon and the Bozo which exists from the earliest times. This institution,which flourishes over a wide area, is known as a joking relationship, though the term cathartic alliance is suggested for it. A dogon myth relates that when reorganization of man first begins, Dogon and Bozo, represented by the “Nommo” spirits, have in their clavicles 8 seeds and 8 fishes respectively. The most important thing in the world for the “Mangu”, ritual partner, say the natives, is the seeds in his clavicles. By this means the “Bozo” are marked out as fishermen and the Dogon as cultivators. When they come down to the newly made world together, they make a pact whereby they become mutually complementary. This solemn act, at once a consecration and a recognition of the contents of their clavicles, takes place on the original field in which the iron-workers anvil is embedded. His hammer is beating out the rhythm of the first operations and, since hammer and anvil participates in the form and nature of the universal system, in this instance regarded as granary, the pact is bound up with rhythm of those 2 symbols.

 

By the oaths which they exchange the 2 eponymous ancestors, who are already twins, confirms their complementary relationship; each, by the words he speaks, penetrates the other, depositing within his partner something of himself. This bridgehead formed by energy proceeding from himself enables each to act effectively and with impunity on the other, more especially in that essential action which directly or indirectly effects purification, and which seems to be one of the chief aims of the alliance. This complementary state is deeply felt and is expressed in 2 typical instances in the material life of the two peoples.

 

For the Dogon cultivator the double ear of millet, and for the “Bozo” fisherman the fish “Izu ya” represents this relationship of twin-ness. If a cultivator finds in his field an ear of millet, “Yu”, with 2 tufts, he immediately cuts it, takes it to the family shrine and, at the next sowing, the family head will distribute 4 grains to each member of the family in order to ensure him an abundant harvest. At the same time one grain is thrown in the direction of “Bozo” territory, which amounts to giving them half the ear, that is, half the good fortune and the abundance, as one would do for a twin. In the same way, if a “Bozo” catches an “Izu ya”, he must immediately seek a Dogon to eat it with him. If he cannot find one, he simply puts a piece of the fish in with catch he is taking to the market; if he still fails to meet a Dogon, he tries again at the next market, substituting another fish for the first, and so continues till he is able to share his find with a Dogon.

 

Only then will he feel that he has discharged the debt he has incurred by catching a fish which symbolizes twin-ness. But it is not only in circumstances such as these that the 2 groups are under an obligation to provide reciprocal gifts and services; they normally acknowledge a wide range of obligations of all kinds, particularly in regard to food. These relations are characterized by exchanges of insults and jests, often of an obscene nature, which may be easily observed and have often engaged the attention of investigators.

 

It might be said, indeed, that this is the characteristic method of establishing the relationship; the insult is in fact directed at that part of oneself which resides in the other and which one is trying to recover. It is as if one attempts to detach some of the seeds from the other and appropriate them for oneself. Here, acting in another direction, is a mechanism comparable to that of purification. The relationship is attended by taboos, any breach of which will have most serious consequences: the “Mangu” must never, in any circumstances, shed the blood of a partner; the penalty for transgression is impotence. Murder is thought to entail the death of the murderer.

 

Sexual relations between members of the 2 groups are forbidden: they would unquestionably be incestuous, and would result in the guilty parties being completely denuded of the sustenance lodged in their clavicles. That is to say, the Dogon would lose his millet, the staple grain which no other transgression can affect, and would be, as it were, emptied of his substance. The benefits of this institution are not confined to realtions between the 2 peoples.

 

Within their own society the Dogon have woven a close web of relationships all of which, in different degrees, recall the Bozo pact, and many examples can be given of alliances between groups of regions, between regions, between villages, and between kin-groups. Traditionally, the oldest of these alliances is that which links “Bamba” with a number of other regions, and is explained by the story that a “Bamba” man is travelling through the “Sanga” region at a very unsettled time.

 

On the way he is set upon by 6 bandits, whereupon he cries out “Mangu Mangu”! The brigands, disconcerted, put their heads together and ask the advice of an old man, who tell them to spare him; they all think he is a “Bozo” since the “Bozo” are the only people with whom the Dogon have relations, so the man escapes.

 

Later the fraud is discovered, but the precedent becomes a rule and the alliance between the “Bamba” and the people of the plateau come to be included in the “Bozo-Dogon” system relationships. All the “Mangu” here, meaning all the relationships between Dogon, says the elder “Ongnulu, copy the “Bozo” “Mangu”. The importance of such an institution is obvious; those who participate in it are equals in the sense that each is the product of a totality of forces to which an alien element has been added; they are complementary in the sense that each possesses the part that the other lacks. The 2 partners are equal; each finds himself in the other. When “Mangu” cleanses a man it is as if he purifies himself.

 

The End