THE DOGON TRIBE OF WEST AFRICA

The Dogon are a tribe from the Republic of Mali , West Africa , where they settled at Bandiagara Plateau. They are believed to have arrived there sometime between the 13 th and 16 th centuries. The area where they live is desolate, arid and rocky.

These people are generally classed by anthropologists as primitive but are they as primitive as they suggest or not. These people seem to have knowledge of the Solar System and Sirius in particular which may place this tag as irrelevant.

Dogon Creation Myth.

A rough idea of their creation myth is as follows:

The Dogon hold a belief that the Supreme God Amma created Earth and then married her. However the clitoris of Earth rose up against the divine phallus and as a consequence Amma had to cut it from her before he could take possession of his new wife. From this union of Amma and Earth was born Yurugu, who would introduce disorder and chaos. It was after this that Amma re-fertilised Earth by the way of rain and the following result was twins, these were one female and one male who would become the model for all future creations. These twins would be labelled Nommo.

Nommo in respect to their mother Earth then used a fibre skirt with which they covered her nakedness. Seeing this and disliking it Yurugu then commits the first act of incest, which brings about the evil Spirits of the Bush and as a result of Earth now being impure the emergence of menstrual blood. Amma then decides to leave Earth and carry on with the Creation on his own. He firstly creates eight ancestors, four of which are female and four male. These ancestors then give rise to eighty descendants from which the world’s population would arise.

The Nommo then decide to send down the first Smith who comes down by an Ark via the Rainbow and has with him copies of all living things, minerals and techniques. He is the one responsible for the foundations of all social structures and as such is classed as a Dogon hero.

Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen

The two people named above are two French Anthropologists who would bring the myths and secrets of the Dogon tribe to the view of the civilised world. From 1931 they would spend around 21 years studying all aspects of the Dogon and learning their ways. Only after many years of study and gaining their trust would the Priests of the tribe invite them to learn their secrets. This is when the anthropologists would notice very interesting and astonishing knowledge which the Dogon say has been passed down from generation to generation. The first writings from the anthropologists on the Dogon tribe would be published in 1950 and these would create a storm that is still causing chaos in the modern world today. These secrets would show that for a primitive society they have remarkable knowledge of the Solar System and Sirius.

What they know.

The Dogon show in their secret myths that the brightest star in the sky Sirius (The Dog Star) has a companion, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. They know that this star is small dense and very heavy, in fact they say cannot be lifted by all the people of the world. This star is called Po to the Dogon tribe but was only discovered by the western world sometime in the 19 th century and is now called Sirius B by modern astronomers. With this second star Po the Dogon also show another body, which has yet to be discovered by modern astronomers. However, some of them do believe that there maybe a third, for which they call Sirius C. This is due to the irregularities of the other two.

Their secrets of the Solar System in general are quite impressive.

They also go on to say that the Moon is ‘dry and dead like dry blood’.

They draw Saturn with a ring around it.

Show Jupiter as having four moons. ▪ (See note below).

That stars in the sky spin.

That the Earth moves around the Sun.

They also seem to know that Earth spins on its axis, the stars are infinite in number and that the Milky Way has a spiral force, which Earth is connected. This is just some of the knowledge their secret teachings portray. There drawing to show Sirius is an egg shaped ellipse, which the Dogon say is the orbit, they then place Sirius within this exactly where it should be rather than where you would place it as a guess.

Where did they get this knowledge?

Well the Dogon believe this knowledge has been passed down to them from generation to generation, but was originally taught them by amphibious beings called Nommo who came to Earth from a planet which is within the Sirius star system. Now many people will think this is absurd, as do many scientists and astronomers, who say that this information must have been passed to them somehow by way of other civilised societies over time. However these secrets were only given to the anthropologists after many years of gaining their trust, which gives a rather good idea that these are true myths and secrets of the Dogon rather than things picked up over many years from meetings with other more modern civilisations.

It is also worth noting that other tribes in Africa do show some similarities in their beliefs, and so do Greeks, Babylonians and maybe Egyptian in the way of amphibious creatures giving them knowledge.

The Babylonians believed Oannes who was the leader of the Annedoti founded civilisation, and for them this deity is portrayed as being fish-like.

Robert Temple who wrote the Sirius Mystery also considers that ancient Egyptians may have known of Sirius B and portrayed it in their mythology.

The Dog God Anubis was associated with Osiris, who in turn is associated with the Goddess Isis. So can we presume that as Isis is identified with Sirius, that her companion could be pointing out Sirius B.

After word

If you would like to find out more information about the Dogon tribe it would be worth consulting the two French anthropologists books on the subject, as more detailed information would be available. If however you just want to know more on the amphibious alien beings or Sirius you could try reading Robert Temple’s “Sirius Mystery” or the books of Erich Von Daniken. However as far as detailed information that is worthwhile it would be best to stick to the books by Robert Temple.

▪ I would also like to say that, the four moons of Jupiter, were spotted by Galileo, but today Jupiter is known to have at least 14 moons.

Written by Sage Robert Worrall

Sources and Credits:

Syrius Mystery by Robert Temple
World Mythology - Galley Books
Erich Von Daniken Books
Griaule, Marcel. Conversation with Ogotemmeli: An Introduction to Dogon Religious Ideas originally published in 1948, reprint (Oxford University Press 1997).