The Lives and Belief System of the Dogon Tribe in Mali

When it comes to whether or not more primitive people hold ancient astronomical knowledge, there are a huge number of skeptics on either side. Despite growing controversy over how far back certain tribe's beliefs go - or if they are indeed the tribe's true beliefs - there are some pretty interesting things to know about both sides of the story.

The Dogon tribe live in Mali, below the Sahara desert and among flat land as well as the central plateau. Said to have slowly migrated over thousands of years, the Dogon have traditions, beliefs, and even certain art and costumes that correlate with their original home in Egypt. They celebrate in interesting and unique ways, wearing ornate masks and using stilts or long head pieces that they flip around like a tail, or the fin of a fish. Their belief system is largely based on animals, and their creation story is even more surprising than you might expect.

The Dogon Creation Story

The sky god of the Dogon tribe, the Amma, created the first living creature, called the Nommo. These Nommo creatures are said to be amphibious, requiring water to survive, but not always having to be physically in the water. The Nommo are also said to be spirits, or vessels encapsulating spirits, and are often called the "teachers" by spiritual leaders of the tribe.

Once the first Nommo was created, he transformed into four sets of twins. One of the twins was said to have acted out of line as much as to anger Amma, who sacrificed a twin and scattered it's body through - this is the interesting part - the entire universe.

Here's where it gets even more intriguing - Once spiritual members of the Dogon tribe were able to be clearly understood (in the late 1940s by two french anthropologists), they told of the land where the Nommo came from. The place they spoke of was apparently circling around the star Sirius, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The world they spoke of that circles that star is not visible by the naked eye, and in fact, not even visible through primitive telescopes.

The Nommo "descended from the sky in a vessel of fire and thunder", and are said to have created an large lake where once there was just dry land. Once the lake was filled, they dove in, and were healthy again. This is where the Nommo got their name - Nommo literally translates to "to drink" (or take in water) - and also got their titles as "Masters of Water".

Once they were settled, the Nommo were said to have taught humankind various things about improving their daily lives. They were said to be technologically advanced to the point where they could somehow show the humans different parts of the solar system - leading to their ancient knowledge that the sun was the center, and that Saturn has rings.

They also knew that not only did the Nommo's home planet orbit around Sirius, but there were other stars that orbited it as well, also not visible to the human eye. Couple the theories of aquatic teachers from the sky with their general veneration for their local animals, and you have a complex and ancient belief system that has said to have been kept as oral and acted tradition since approximately 3500 BC.

The Dogon Traditions and Artwork

The Dogon tribe have many elaborate traditions and artwork, and all of which seems to circle their animal-centered religion as well as their stories involving the Nommo. For example, the masks that they use in different ceremonies are heavy in symbolism, and have the same design they've had for literally thousands of years. In many pictures, statues, carvings, and other works of art, you can see depictions of people wearing these ceremonial masks - some made to literally mimic animals, and others made to symbolize the transcendence of knowledge from the heaven to the earth. (Click here to see what I'm talking about.)

Some of the masks used are well over 400 years old, and many of the oldest and most important are used in the Sigui ceremony that occurs every 60 years to celebrate the reformation of the solar system. In this ceremony, they pay elaborate respects to "sigi tolo", or Sirius A. There are different parts to the ceremonies, where the other two stars said to orbit Sirius are also respected. (How did they know those two hidden stars even existed?)

Now all this seems to sound much like the ancient astronaut theory, in that the Nommo came from a watery planet orbiting the star Sirius A in an unexplainable vessel, taught them certain things, and then withdrew to return home -- perhaps still keeping an eye on humanity. But there are many rumors and much speculation on whether this belief system is genuinely ancient, or if some of the ideas were planted as a publicity stunt by greedy anthropologists.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that ancient artifacts and depictions of the Nommo can be shrugged off as coincidence, but I realize the effects the language and culture barrier has on anthropologists from outside Mali. Some ideas may have been misunderstood or mistranslated, which would account for some of the use of words to mean multiple things - like "sigi tolo" being used to also describe Venus at certain times of the year. When it comes down to it, it's up to the individual to make the decision on whether or not this ancient mysterious belief system is a fundamental part of humanity's quest to find itself, or just a tactic to gain personal wealth and publicity gone awry.

Helpful sources:
The Dogon Tribe from DarkStar
An interview with Robert Temple, author of The Sirius Mystery
Life of a Dogon article on CrystalLinks