Dogon mythology

The Dogon are a people of Mali, West Africa. They occupy the region, called Pays Dogon, which extends from the Bandiagara cliff to the south-west of the loop of the Niger. The mythology Dogon brings together their myths and legends.

According to their oral tradition, the Dogon would have left Mandé, a region located in the southwest of Mali, between the xi^e century and the thirteenth^e century and would have immigrated to the mountains. Two explanations have been put forward to justify this departure from their region of origin: to avoid Islamization or a lineage quarrel, the first reason perhaps having led to the second.

The animist religion of the Dogonse bases, in addition to the worship dedicated to the creator God Amma or Amba, on the worship of ancestors. This animism takes four forms:

• the cult of the lebe,
• the cult of Binoo,
• the worship of souls,
• the institution of masks (Awa company).

• Dogon Cosmology
• Dogon Pantheon