Africa Astronomy: Introducing the Dogon People of Mali

INTRODUCTION

The Dogon is an ethnic group living in the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa with a population of a few hundred thousand people, located 200 miles from famous ancient city of Timbuktu.

This secluded group of people are known for their artwork which revolves around art revolves around religious values, ideals, and freedoms. Their religious traditions, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and their architecture are known tourist attractions.

MYSTERY EDUCATION SYSTEM

The Dogon have advanced knowledge of the universe, astronomy, religion and other mysteries going back 3200 BC. Their ancient traditions are linked to seasons, festivals, farming cycles, mating, rituals etc.

The ancient mysterious education system resides on four pillars of knowledge: (i) the First Word (Giri So) or Fore knowledge or Word at face value; (ii) the Word from the Side (Benne So), less obvious and represents more profound explanations of symbolic events that the First Word; (iii) the Word from Behind (Bolo So), provides the possibility to tie together the three degrees of knowledge; and (iv) the Clear Word (So Dayi), the revelation of the highest degree of knowledge – a process that requires cleansing of thoughts, word and actions so that we reflect the pure eternal wisdom of the soul.

Initiates have been known to spend up to 16 years just to undergo the initiation process, Giri So, the word at face value.

The House of Word

The Dogon understood evolution even before Charles Darwin and believe they evolved from crocodiles, lizards and turtles.

The priests spend long periods observing the skies and stars at night and have the ability to foretell the future because of their closeness to nature and the stars.

Through time, the Dogon have gained a huge wealth of knowledge of our solar system, the universe, constellations, stars, planets orbiting the sun, four moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, spiral nature of the Milky Way, orbit of Sirius stars and 86 fundamental elements.

Next time, we will look at their advanced knowledge of astronomy.