The Dogon are a tribe of people living in Africa. "pale fox" of the Dogon

In the Republic of Mali, a small tribe of farmers lives on the Bandiagara plateau. They call themselves Dogo. They are known to the world as the Dogon tribe. The small people are divided into several isolated tribes: Dione, Ono, Aru and Domno. The Dogon became part of the states located in the west of Sudan more than 500 years ago, but they have retained their inherent identity and isolation of their culture to this day. Despite the dominance of various cultures and religious movements, the Dogon were able to resist both colonial conversion to Christianity and general Islamization.

The reason for this isolation of the people is largely the territorial isolation of the tribes. The first official information about the Dogon appeared in scientific circles in the 30s of the last century. Since then, the indigenous people of Bandiagara have taken several hesitant steps towards the civilized society of Bali. However, the Dogon people carefully preserve their foundations and traditions from outside interference.

Life of the Dogon

The standard of living and living conditions of the Dogon have remained virtually unchanged today. The Dogon live in primitive adobe buildings covered with flat roofs. The main part of the houses in the village are located very close to each other, and sometimes they adjoin neighboring buildings, forming a chain of monotonous sections.

One of the free-standing buildings in the village is a meeting house called Toguna. The house is arranged with some intention to prevent heated debates and prevent the emergence of heated polemics. You can’t even shake your fists in such a building, since the house where the entire male population of the village gathers has a very low ceiling.

A separate stone building remains standing outside the boundaries of the settlement. A kind of “house for women” is intended for women’s privacy during their critical days.

According to the rules of the community elected head the settlement is also required to live in a separate standing house. Spiritual leader For the rest of his life he must live alone, abandoning his family. Moreover, no one is allowed to even touch it.

The Dogon tribe is engaged in agriculture, actively growing corn, onions, peanuts and legumes. To store the harvested crops, the Dogon build special round buildings covered with a thatched roof.

Without even the rudiments of their own writing, the Dogon amazingly learned to express their thoughts through drawings and sculptures. Local ceremonies and rituals are carried out using special masks, which have been recognized by scientists as unique ethnic attributes. Dogon masks symbolize the gates to the other world, through which the souls of dead tribesmen are able to penetrate into the world of the living.

No less unique and surprising is the method of fortune telling used by the Dogon for almost any reason. On a certain plot of land, special areas are marked, on which sticks, nuts and various goodies are laid out in a certain order.

During a night hunt, foxes run through prepared areas and disturb the order of laid out objects. Since the Dogon consider foxes to be a powerful spirit of the tribe, in the morning the elders predict future events by interpreting the tracks left by the foxes and the position of the objects they move.

Beliefs of the Dogon tribe

The Dogon are firmly convinced that the Earth is by no means the only place in the universe where living beings live. “Stellar worlds in the form of a spiral are inhabited” - this is exactly what the Dogon believe. Having given people things, the dominant mythical deity Amma gave them the ability to move and created all living beings that currently exist. It is surprising, however, that the Dogon knowledge and beliefs are based on information about the smallest particles from which all matter is composed. According to the Dogon, Amma created all things from the smallest grains, and created the final appearance of objects by adding the same particles to the initial grain.

The Dogons very carefully and jealously preserve their traditions. The main thing and everything that determines everything for them is the cult of ancestors. In their opinion, the Great Lebe is considered the main ancestor of all tribes.

The leader of the Dogon tribe is considered a perfect man with a connection with the greatest ancestors. Respect for elders can be equated with fanatical worship. Many legends and mythological stories are only told by selected members of the tribe.

Dogon culture and art

Research into Dogon culture and art has allowed us to collect a lot of material for anthropologists and historians. The isolated but friendly tribe made good contact with scientists. Tools and clay products, figurines and ritual masks donated to researchers turned out to be largely unique and were about 4 thousand years old. Scientists have never seen similar products anywhere else.

Everything the scientists saw caused genuine surprise! Unusual and unique methods of irrigating crops and methods of cultivating land turned out to be very thoughtful and unique.

The rituals of the tribe were like an enchanting performance. Unusual ritual masks, which have a special meaning in each performance, attributes for dancing, a community of priests and “holy people” - everything seemed unreal and illusory.

French scientists explored an ancient cave with many wall paintings, which are not possible to decipher, even though the images drawn more than 700 years ago are perfectly preserved.

Dogon mythology

Mythology African peoples is very amazing and provides many opportunities for research by ethnologists. The worldview of African tribes is similar in many ways, however, here too the Dogon are distinguished by the presence of uniquely accurate practical scientific knowledge.

In the Dogon tribe today there is a strict hierarchical ladder, and unlike other African tribes, to violate established procedures not a single member of the tribe dares. All existing Dogon legends and myths are brought into an unusually strict system thanks to the existing active priestly layer. Various secret societies are especially developed among the peoples of Africa, thanks to which many aspects of the life of the Dogon remain hidden from civilization.

The main custodians of the ancient teachings, legends and unique living standards of the Dogon are members of the mask society, called Ava. Only they have the right to participate in ancient religious rituals and learn the mysterious languages ​​in which ancient legends are transmitted.

The mythical stories of the Dogon also present a unique version of the appearance of the first people on Earth. In their convinced opinion, one of the main assistants of the deity Amma, Ogo, appeared first. Having settled on Earth, Ogo opposed the will of his master and began to deny his dominant position. According to the Dogon, Ogo is the personification of evil. Amma made several attempts to prevent the rebel from appearing on Earth, but the obstinate Ogo built a ship and arrived on our planet from Sirius. Following him, Nommo arrived on Earth. It was he who, with the permission of Amma, brought the first people to Earth, who were placed on a ship with about 60 compartments. According to legend, people only had an idea about 22 compartments and what was there. When people become aware of the contents of the remaining compartments, then ideas about the creation of worlds will change dramatically.

From generation to generation, the Dogon pass on the story of the appearance of the first eight people on Earth. They arrived together with Nommo on a ship that flew through a hole in the sky. Before landing, the ship, which was held by a copper chain, hung in the sky for a long time, swaying from East to West and back. The Dogon claim that a lake formed at the site where the ship with their ancestors landed. Having landed the people, Nommo plunged into the waters of Debbie and from there closely monitors the events taking place, and also takes care of the people of the Dogo tribe.

Cosmic knowledge of the Dogon

On Dogon territory there is Mount Scholl, famous for the huge dolmen on it. Made of giant stones, it depicts the ship on which the first ancestors of the Dogon arrived. Not far from the dolmen there are three structures made of stones that symbolize three planets: the Sun, Earth and Sirius. Bordering on the edge fantastic myths Dogon legends surprise scientists around the world with some facts that deserve attention due to the possibility of their scientific explanation. Many pundits regard the tribe's legends as evidence of their contact with alien visitors.

The knowledge of the Dogon about the presence of a satellite of Sirius is considered especially interesting and surprising. Dogon knowledge is already 5 hundred years old, however, its confirmation by scientists in 1812 became a real sensation. Closed and alienated from civilization, the tribe is well aware of the existence of the rings of Saturn, the orbital moons of Jupiter, and even that the Sun rotates on its axis. Many legends speak ambiguously about the spiral structure of the Milky Way.

The world scientific community considers it inexplicable that the Dogon have information about the state of the surface of the planets closest to Earth. What is especially surprising is that it was from the Dogon that they learned about the explosion of the satellite of Sirius, which they call Po. This information received official confirmation, but did not bring clarity to the knowledge of the seemingly primitive tribe.

The Dogons surprisingly noticed not only the explosion of the star, but also determined that it was not Sirius itself that exploded, but its satellite. The Dogon claims that Sirius is a triple star have received scientific confirmation, although the accuracy of their knowledge is considered astounding and inexplicable.

The Dogon idea that except for the Sun all other stars are located at a considerable distance from the Earth is now beyond doubt. Is it possible to believe them even when the Dogon leaders call Sirius the center of the universe, playing a dominant role for all the stars in the constellation Orion? All stars and systems known to the Dogon are considered by them to be the support of the whole world, which has a direct impact on people’s lives and their spiritual and physical development.

According to the Dogon, they have much less influence on people distant systems celestial bodies that form star spirals. Comparing the Dogon concepts about the properties and structure of outer space, scientists experienced a real shock when the elders told them that the number of stellar spirals is huge, and the universe itself is undoubtedly infinite, but can be measurable. “Humanity does not yet have a way to measure infinity,” say the Dogon. But that's just for now!

Trying to study the truly unique Dogon knowledge system, most scientists have suggested that it is likely that the first ancestors of these amazing people arrived on Earth from the Sirius system. Apparently, the Dogon lived on a planet that moved in an elliptical orbit with an orbital period of 50 years. This confirms the celebrations associated with the long period that comes after the sweltering heat from two active luminaries. It turns out that for 20 years out of a 50-year period people lived in conditions of unbearable heat. The 30 years of coolness that followed the endless heat were more favorable for life. During periods of heat, the ancestors of the Dogon were forced to live in the bowels of the planet and, apparently, this is why the Dogon now bury their dead not on the surface of the earth, but in deep caves.

The amazing and unique African Dogon tribe has given food for thought to a large number of scientists for many, many years. Each one is not even very good significant discovery only confirms the facts of the Dogon’s awareness of questions of existence and cosmic mysteries. Numerous scientific expeditions regularly bring back new records of legends and myths told by the Dogon. Research continues, and who knows, maybe this particular tribe, which does not have modern technical devices and scientific research works, will reveal to us the secret of the universe.

In 1950, ethnologists Marcel Griaule and Germain Dieterlen reported in short article, that, studying the life of a small Dogon tribe living in our time still primitive communal system, they discovered that the natives had extraordinary knowledge about the distant star system of Sirius. The Dogon told the researchers that in the “heavenly heights” there was a “beautiful star of Sigui.” According to their information, another star revolves around it - Potolo. "Po" means "grain grain" in the tribal language. It is interesting that in modern astronomical literature this star is called Latin word Digitaria, which also means "grain of bread". Digitaria is the heaviest star in the Sirius system, it is invisible to the human eye, and its orbital period around Sigui is 50 years. The Dogon also report that the Sirius system includes two more stars. They call one of them Emma Ya. It is larger than Digitaria, but 4 times lighter. Another satellite of Xigui is located very far from it and rotates in the opposite direction.

Photo: The constellation Canis Major in the form of a dog pattern and lines in the night sky.

The most surprising thing is that the information that the Dogon have at their disposal largely coincides with modern scientific ideas. Already in 1934, the American scientist Clark discovered the first satellite of Sirius, which astronomers later began to call Sirius-B, or Digitaria. In 1970, Sirius B was photographed. The period of its orbit around Sirius was calculated to be 51 years. The diameter of Digitaria is approximately equal to that of Earth, but its mass is unusually large. Just one teaspoon of this star's material weighs approximately the same as the Moon.

Photo: Dogon Sanctuary

Until recently, scientists believed that the Sirius system consisted of only two stars: Sirius A and Digitaria (Sirius B). But already in 1997, French astronomers Bonnet-Bidot and Gris suggested that Sirius-A has two more satellites: Sirius-C and Sirius -D. The components of this star system are still extremely little studied, and scientists have not yet made any final conclusions, but, according to preliminary data, Sirius-C is larger than Digitaria and several times lighter than it, and the fourth star is very distant from Sirius-A. Astronomers cannot yet say with certainty whether Sirius-D is an independent star or part of the Sirius star system. Nevertheless, information about the structure of this system obtained from African tribe, coincide unusually accurately with the latest scientific data.

Photo: Dwellings of the Dogon tribe

Dogon culture contains amazing knowledge

It should be noted that in addition to Sirius, the Dogon also knew other stars and planets. They were well aware of the presence of moons on Jupiter and rings on Saturn. The Dogon also determined the borders Milky Way and believed, like many ancient peoples, that our solar system consists of 12 planets. Interestingly, many astronomers and astrophysicists are currently inclined to believe that beyond the orbit of the last planet known to us - Pluto - there is heavenly body, having a large mass. It is also possible that there may not be one celestial body, but two or three different planets.

Photo: Representative of the Dogon tribe

How do the Dogon know so many details about the structure of stars and celestial bodies? There are several opinions on this matter. Some researchers believe that the knowledge of astronomy available to the primitive Dogon tribe confirms scientists’ hypotheses about paleocontact, that is, the interaction of ancient peoples with representatives of a certain highly developed extraterrestrial civilization, whose representatives visited Earth millennia ago. Perhaps it was the aliens who were the “gods” and “teachers” of antiquity, about whom the legends and tales of almost all the peoples of our planet narrate. Based on the legends and amazing knowledge of the Dogon, the famous astronomer Robert Temple believes that in time immemorial Residents of Sirius or one of the planets included in this star system arrived on Earth. It can be assumed that, having met intelligent beings on the “blue planet”, the messengers of a distant star passed on some of their knowledge to the aborigines of the Earth, and then departed for their own world. According to Temple, it was the aliens from Sirius who were the founders of ancient Egyptian civilization and the first pharaohs of this state. According to another version, on our planet many millennia ago there were “our own”, highly developed earthly civilizations that perished as a result of global disasters. It is believed that the Dogon are the heirs of a great people who once possessed enormous knowledge. Perhaps the few representatives of a highly developed civilization who survived the disasters assimilated with other peoples at a low stage of development, and, having transferred some knowledge to them, degraded in the prevailing historical conditions. There is no consensus among scientists regarding the information received from the Dogon. Some believe that everything stated by scientists is so incredible that it simply cannot be true. Some critics accused Griaule and Dieterlen of a hoax. Others have stated, however, without any basis, that Sirius B (Digitaria), Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn can allegedly be seen with the naked eye, although it is known that the rings of Saturn, for example, were discovered only in the 17th century. Italian astronomer Cassini using a telescope. Robert Temple, in response to numerous attacks from opponents, said that he understood the critical attitude of his colleagues to this issue. After all, Dogon knowledge “does not just change the traditional picture of the world, but shakes the foundations modern science. To admit the existence of such knowledge among a tribe living in a primitive communal system requires a certain amount of courage,” says Temple in one of his articles.

Disputes about the knowledge of a small African tribe are still ongoing. Science has yet to answer the question of who and when told the Dogon about the stars of the “Sirius system”.

Materials

The Dogon live in the southeast of the Republic of Mali in western Africa. This nation numbers approximately 800 thousand people, the vast majority of whom are Muslims, a small part of Christians, and an even smaller part of pagans. The Dogon have own languages and its own rich history. Other civilizations had little influence on Dogon culture. This is understandable, since they live in hard-to-reach areas where conquerors and missionaries could not reach for a long time. Little is known about the origins of the Dogon. Their ancestors settled in Mali in the 10th-12th centuries, displacing other tribes and partially adopting their traditions. Strictly speaking, the Dogon are not much different from many other tribes in this region.

But what then attracts the attention of ufologists and astronomers to them? And the fact that, being a rather backward African tribe, the Dogon have amazing knowledge about the constellation Canis Major. To understand the depth of knowledge of the Dogon, you need to plunge into their beliefs.

The heavenly creator in the Dogon religion is Amma, at first Amma was only an emptiness that existed outside of space and time. Nothing existed except this emptiness until Amma opened his eyes. His thought “came out of the spiral”, and our world began to grow rapidly - this idea, according to some researchers, is a mythological retelling of the Theory big bang. The creator god created Nommo, the first living creature. Soon it divided, and part of it rebelled against Amma. Contrary to the will of his creator, Nommo (or rather, his “separated” part - Ogo) built a ship and after a long journey descended to Earth. Amma did not forgive his disobedience and eventually decided to destroy his rebellious child: according to local beliefs, Nommo arrived on Earth during a “firestorm.” Allegedly, it was thanks to him that the Dogon acquired valuable knowledge about the Universe.

Dogon mythology is closely connected with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, part of the constellation Canis Major. Sirius is 22 times brighter than the Sun and, according to legend, it is the “homeland” of the god Amma.

In Dogon myths, Sirius is described as a double star - just like in the ideas of astronomers. An invisible white dwarf rotates around Sirius A (in Dogon language Sigi tolo) - Sirius B (in Dogon language - Po tolo). Nowadays, scientists are confident in the correctness of this interpretation. But if we can observe Sirius A with the naked eye, then Sirius B can only be seen through a telescope. The white dwarf was discovered only in 1862, and it is unclear how the Dogon learned about it. But that’s not all: the Dogon “know” that the rotation period of Sirius B is 50 Earth years (according to modern astronomical data - 51 years), and every half century they organize the Sigi holiday, thereby marking the “rebirth of the world.” Just a coincidence? But the Dogon also know that Sirius B is a white dwarf - they even designate this star as a white stone.

Surprisingly, according to the Dogon priests, another star revolves around Sirius A - Sirius C (this is a conventional designation for now). Its existence has not yet been officially confirmed, but in 1995, astronomers Duvent and Benest reported that they had observed Sirius C. Perhaps Sirius C really exists and is a small star.

It is believed that in addition to knowledge about Sirius, the Dogon, even in ancient times, also had information about the structure of the solar system - they, for example, were aware of the rings of Saturn. In addition, they divide celestial bodies into planets, stars, satellites, etc. The Dogon are sure that people also live on other planets, although they are different from you and me.

Evidence of contact

All this knowledge is known thanks to the book “The Pale Fox” by the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule. He and his colleague Germaine Dieterlen studied Dogon culture for more than twenty years. Hypothesis about contact with extraterrestrial civilizations Other researchers have also put forward. One of them was, for example, the writer Robert Temple, who published the book “The Mystery of Sirius”. In the second half of the 20th century, the public's attention was also attracted by the work of the French astronomer Eric Guerrier, in which he convincingly proved the veracity of the idea of ​​paleocontact.

However, many scientists actively criticize these assumptions. One of them is an anthropologist from Belgium Walter van Beek, who spent twelve years of his life communicating with the Dogon. According to him, during the entire time he was among these people, he did not hear anything that was mentioned in the work of Marcel Griaule - about any Sirius or the structure of the solar system.

But it is also possible that van Beek communicated with those representatives of the Dogon who do not have such knowledge... The fact is that Dogon legends can only be retold by initiates - the Olubaru. It is known that Marcel Griaule had a long conversation with several Dogon people who had access to secret knowledge. One of the patriarchs, a Dogon named Ongnonlu, described to Griaule the basis of the system of traditional beliefs. Subsequently, the words of Ongnonlu were supplemented by other noble Dogon.

Lost in translation

Dogon ideas about the structure of celestial bodies are far from a strictly scientific understanding. Their knowledge of Sirius is part of their traditional beliefs and is closely intertwined with myths. To indicate the movement of Sirius B around Sirius A, the Dogon made sketches. These could be figures laid out on the ground or inscribed on stone. There are also oral traditions about Sirius. One of the Dogon ritual songs contains the following words:

The road of the mask is the star Digitaria (Sirius B), this the road goes similar to Digitaria.

In any case, the French ethnographer Marcel Griol insisted on this translation option, knowledgeable Dogon dialects. But there is an alternative, literal translation of these lines, which completely changes their meaning:

The road of the mask is a straight vertical, this road goes straight.

Versions and assumptions

Some researchers have tried to explain the Dogon mystery without resorting to “alien” versions. But these attempts sometimes only further strengthened the position of the paleocontact hypothesis.

Take, for example, the common version about ancient telescopes. It is known that the Dogon were in contact with the ancient Egyptians. Theoretically, they could have inherited astronomical knowledge from them. Another question is: was there anything to inherit? After all, even if we assume that the ancient Egyptians had primitive telescopes, they still would not have allowed them to see Sirius B: it became known only with the advent of modern equipment.

Another version says that the Dogon could have... their own telescope. True, in this case we're talking about just about a natural phenomenon that can replace optics. There is an assumption that water, rotating at a constant speed in a closed space, under certain conditions could form a giant concave mirror and would allow one to distinguish the celestial bodies reflected in it. Supposedly this is how you can see stars that are hidden from the naked eye...

An equally strange hypothesis states that the Dogon had unique vision, which allowed them to see Sirius V. Indeed, a trained eye is able to distinguish objects at a considerable distance. But in the case of Sirius B, even the sharpest vision will be powerless. In general, if you believe the words of Marcel Griaule, the Dogon knew not only about the very fact of the existence of Sirius B, but also about its orbit, mass and density. Not to mention the knowledge of the African tribe regarding other celestial bodies. It is impossible to explain all this with some ancient devices or physiological characteristics of the Dogon.

There is, however, another version that can give a comprehensive answer to the question about the mystery of the Dogon: knowledge about astronomical bodies was brought by European missionaries who visited the Dogon even before the expedition of Marcel Griaule. Late XIX century (Sirius B was discovered a little earlier) became a period of greatest activity for Christian missions, and perhaps the Dogon subsequently wove the stories of the white-skinned guests into their traditional value system, and subsequent generations accepted them as the real ancient traditions of their ancestors.

On the other hand, it is not so easy to imagine that European missionaries told Africans about the structure of our Universe, and not about Jesus Christ. However, the version that aliens left astronomical knowledge completely unnecessary in everyday life to a wild tribe also sounds quite ridiculous.

Paleocontact: truth and fiction

To our question, the famous ufologist, coordinator of the Cosmopoisk association, Vadim Chernobrov, answered:

- Based on the available facts, we see that in some astronomical matters the Dogon level even exceeded the modern one. Where they got this knowledge is a mystery. It is not even known for certain in which village the main material evidence of this knowledge is located. Main interest cause, of course, data about Sirius. One of the Dogon myths tells of a system consisting of three stars. According to Dogon information, the third star (Sirius C, still unknown to science) rotates around Sirius A along a longer trajectory. Official science for a long time did not recognize the idea of ​​the existence of Sirius C, but then scientists observed X-ray emission from the Sirius system, and it became clear that a third star may exist.

But examples of paleocontact are not uncommon. Including on the territory of Russia. Take, for example, the Ainu. This people once inhabited the vast territory of Southern Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, the southern tip of Kamchatka and modern Japan. The origin of Ainu mythology remains a mystery.
Works have not yet been written about a possible connection in the past between the Ainu and a highly developed civilization, but the main evidence of paleocontacts that once existed is the strange figurines of the Ainu several thousand years BC. These figurines apparently for a long time were preserved as family heirlooms, but then (probably at the time of the arrival of the Japanese) the Ainu began to bury them in the ground in accordance with mourning rituals. The figurines were buried surrounded by stones on all sides and covered with stone slabs. In this strange form, dogu - the oldest possible evidence of aliens visiting the Earth - is still found.

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Amazing tribe ancient culture lives south of the Sahara in the Republic of Mali. The Dogon tribe still fascinates with its knowledge of the stars. They knew things about which they could not know, their knowledge of astronomy anticipated the discoveries of scientists.

Dogon mythology contains references to Sirius B, a star invisible to human eyes. Judging by the legends, the information was conveyed to them by Nommo - aliens from the depths of space. Many consider the knowledge of an African tribe to be irrefutable evidence that we were visited by aliens in the past.

There are between 400 and 800 thousand Dogons with a rather unusual culture. Explorers of Africa admire the interesting architecture, art and intriguing ritual masks of the local inhabitants. But what's more exciting is not what you can see, but what you can hear.

The knowledge of the Dogon tribe demonstrated a highly developed cosmology. Robert Temple, author of the 1976 history of The Sirius Mystery, wrote that even during the first contacts with anthropologists, members of the tribe were amazed by their great knowledge of the “celestial spheres.”

This did not really suit the civilizational stage of development of the tribe they were at, but the Dogon knew for sure that the Earth revolves around the Sun and a revolution in orbit takes a year. They were well aware of the daily rotation of the planet around its axis and said that this “gives the illusion that the sky is spinning.”

“The Dogon are free from the illusions that our European ancestors had, who believed that the sky and stars revolved around the Earth,” writes Robert Temple in his book. We know about this from the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule, who was among the Dogon in 1934-1956.

During the time he lived among the Dogon, Marcel gained the trust of the tribe's elders and one of the shamans, called Ogotemmeli, told the anthropologist about the myths and beliefs of his people. The story of the shaman became the basis for a number of publications by Marcel and another anthropologist, Germain Dieterlen.

The records of anthropologists most likely would not have gained fame beyond the narrow confines of the circle of specialists, fortunately the aforementioned Robert Temple illuminated the mysterious tribe. He drew attention to the unique astronomical knowledge and decided to check where the Dogon got such information from. Living separately and essentially alone, they knew much more than the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun and its axis.

The tribe knew about the closest planets, the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, which Galileo discovered for Europeans using a telescope. They distinguished between types of stars and were aware of the existence of others solar systems in the galaxy, and they even knew that they were inhabited. In addition, the Dogon have long had quite good knowledge about blood circulation and its role in oxygen transfer. This seems surprising, but it seems that the source of their knowledge must be sought in the distant past, and we acquired this knowledge only in the 18th century.

According to Robert Temple, “the Dogon have preserved traditions that go beyond the understanding of the earthly world.” Dogon mythology tells in great detail about the constellation Sirius. This in itself may not seem very strange, since Sirius bright Star sky, which has attracted the attention of people for centuries. But the Dogon knew about the existence of not only visible Sirius A, but also Sirius B - a white dwarf, which is invisible from Earth without a powerful telescope.

The Africans themselves call it “Sigi-tolo”, and anthropologists used the word “Digitaria” to describe it. More important than the name is what it refers to. The Dogon talk about the Sirius B theory, which is consistent with all known scientific facts. They knew that the star was not visible, but they knew about its existence.

Long before the discovery of astronomers, the priests of the Dogon tribe knew the duration of rotation was 50 years, and this is true. They know that Sirius A is not at the center of its orbit, and Sirius B is “built” from a specific material called sagala, and it does not exist on Earth. And all this is really true!

Where could an African tribe that developed “inside itself” and in alienation from neighboring civilizations get such detailed information about space? But this is a really exciting question regarding the knowledge of the Dogon tribe. If you believe old legend from the depth of the appearance of the tribe, and we have no apparent reason not to believe, then here the events concern popular theory about ancient cosmonauts.

ALIENS AND DOGONS.

The Dogon received all their knowledge about the surrounding world and space from Nommo, who arrived on Earth in an “ark”, which “landed in a whirlwind, reminiscent of the movement of a whirlpool.” The Ark landed on the planet in the northeast of the modern Dogon living space, which points to Egypt. Then amphibious creatures emerged from the ship, which could live both in the sea and on land.

The interesting legend about the appearance of heavenly guests is not unique. We learn a similar story from the Sumerian tradition, where “those who came from heaven” appear; the same motif also appears in Egyptian mythology, which has points of contact with Dogon mythology.

The aliens gave the Dogon civilization and social organization, told them several things about space and their world. The aliens came from the constellation Sirius, which is why they talked about it the most. Much in the memory of the priests over the past thousands of years has been erased by time, but they managed to preserve important moments.

Robert Temple did not stop there and created a huge tangle of myths, translations and linguistic comparisons. The idea was to confirm that the Nommo were aliens who visited not only the Dogon, but Ancient Egypt, where the ancestors of the tribe lived.

In The Sirius Mystery, the author of the book finds evidence among Egyptian and Sumerian legends that confirms his idea. He pays attention to important role Sirius in Egypt: the rising of the star signified the beginning of the year. Temple claims that “in the past, the Earth was visited by intelligent beings from planetary system Sirius."

The author interestingly connects Sumer with Egypt, Egypt with Mali, the Anunnaki with Nommo, priests with aliens, and in Dogon rituals and art he finds traces of rockets, amphibious assault and mermaids. Everything in history, of course, can be explained much more simply and without cosmic intervention. Although in this case there is no confidence that the story will be true, especially since we are not talking about pseudoscientific, but about alternative development.

The Dogon are looking for sources of knowledge in cultural contamination; allegedly, in one of the contacts with the “West,” someone told Africans about Sirius, and they immediately included the knowledge in their belief system. Among the theorists is, for example, Walter van Beek, who described his visit to the Dogon in the publication Current Anthropology.

Van Beek conducted a series of surveys, closely asking people about "sigi tol". All the answers assured that the Dogon people first heard about the star from Marcel Griaule himself. However, Walter van Beek's research encountered serious criticism - he did not gain respect and authority among Africans, so all the answers were the same.

Several other researchers have tried to find the "incorporation" of space information into early period. Noah Brosh notes that everything could have happened in the 19th century, when members of the expedition of Henri-Alexandre Delander could have established contact with the Dogon. Brosh suggests that Griaule, who later studied their legends, took as existing ancient roots what the inhabitants of modern Mali had heard from another Frenchman several decades earlier.

Yes, these things happen sometimes. However, the theory of the extraterrestrial origin of Dogon knowledge is not so easy to destroy. First of all, supporters of the version note the main thing: Griaule or Delander could not talk about superheavy matter, since astronomers established that Sirius B is a white dwarf only in the 20s of the 20th century.

In addition, it comes to a couple of other doubts, for example, 400-year-old artifacts depict the passage of Sirius B around its larger neighbor. The Dogon regularly celebrate holidays associated with this star, and the tradition dates back to at least the 13th century. In other words, the tribe knew about Sirius centuries before the first Europeans came to them.

Locals believe that next to stars A and B there is also a small and completely invisible Sirius C. Astronomers have not yet found a curious object, but many researchers believe that the Dogon mythology is correct, and the celestial body will be discovered.

If Sirius C is indeed discovered and confirmed, then this will be the final confirmation of the theory that ancient astronauts visited Earth. Today is not the time to draw a conclusion about the existence of alien civilizations. They say that the arrivals suffered an accident and stayed on our planet until help arrived. This is exactly the case with regard to the ancient Dogon and guests from Sirius.

(Catholics and Protestants).

Ethno-linguistic division

According to the linguistic criterion, the Dogon are divided into several large and many small groups. Their language features(sometimes very significant) are found in almost every Dogon village. In the table below they are sorted by language and number. A small group of Bangan, located in the area of ​​the northern Dogon, is separated from the latter due to the fact that, according to some modern ideas, their language is not included in the Dogon family and is considered as an isolate.

People	Language	Number	Resettlement (in Mali, unless otherwise specified)	Note
southern Dogon
doon	tomo-kan	178 000	168 thousand people in the southwest of Bancas, about 10 thousand people in Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso
Togo	tene-kan (togo)	92 232
tengu	tene-kan (tengu)	67 788
Eastern Dogon
diamsay	diamsay	164 000	between Koro and Bumbum
toro-tegu	toro-tegu	3654
central Dogon
Tomm	Tommo-so	75 852		speak dialects of the Central Dogon language
toro (bommu)	toro-so	63 000
don	bottom-so	57 000	near Bandiagara
Western Dogon
mombo (colum)	mombo-so (colum-so)	24 000
ampari	ampari	6552
northern Dogon
bondum (dovoy)	bondum(-house)	31 000	north of the Bandiagara plateau, the main settlement is Borko
dogul	dogulu(-house)	20 000	northeast of Bandiagara
tiranige (duleri)	tyranige-diga	5292
	tebul-ure	3500
Nanga	nanga(-lady)	3150
Yanda	yanda(-house)	2500
will	bunoge	882
	ana	500
bangana	bangeri (bangime)	1512	in the northwest of Bandiagara	speak an isolated language
Total		790 102

Story

The Dogon elevate themselves to ruling groups Ancient Mali. According to ethnogenetic legends, their ancestors, pressed by the Fulani, came in the 12th century from the upper reaches of the Niger - from the country of Manden, displacing the local population (Telem or Kurumba) and partially assimilating their culture and, obviously, adopting their languages. What remains of the bodies are cave sanctuaries and burial complexes in the rocky spurs of eastern and southern Bandiagara (inventory includes ceramics, arrowheads and spears, bronze and iron bracelets, wood sculpture, fragments of fabric, weaving, etc.). Tradition does not report direct contacts between the Dogon and the body. Connection with Mandin peoples confirmed social connections clan groups, the proximity of art, dances, rituals, etc. In the 16th century, the Dogons were part of the early state formation of Songhai, in the 16th-19th centuries (to varying degrees of involvement for different groups) - in Masina. Contacts between the Dogon and the Islamized Fulani, which began at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, led to the latter’s capture of Bandiagara by mid-19th century.

Traditional culture

The traditional culture is typical of the peoples of the Sudanese subregion of West Africa. Its study was monopolized in the middle of the 20th century by representatives of the school of M. Griaule, which led to the ignoring of previously established alternative views (L. Deplane and others). Culturally, they distinguish between the Dogon of the plateau and foothills approaching the Niger Valley (central, western and northern Dogon), and the Dogon of the chain of mountain ledges and the Seno plain to the southeast of them (southern and eastern Dogon). The isolated position of the Dogon country contributed to the conservation of archaic elements of culture or secondary archaization. The main occupations are manual slash-and-burn farming, terrace farming in the mountains, and in some places irrigation farming (sorghum, millet-eleusinum, beans; the main item of exchange and trade is onions). Cattle are grazed by the Fulani on an exchange basis. The Dogon have a comic kinship relationship with Bozo.

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Literature

• Beaudoin G. Les Dogon du Mali. P., 1997.
• Calame-Griaule G. Ethnologie et langage: la parôle chez les Dogon. P., 1965
• Desplagnes L. Le Plateau central nigerien. P., 1907
• Griaule M. Dieu d'eau. Entretiens avec Ogotemmêli. P., 1948
• Griaule M. Masques dogons. P., 1938
• Griaule M., Dieterlen G. The Dogon of the French Sudan. 1948
• Guerrier E. La cosmogonie des Dogon. L'arche du Nommo. P., 1975
• Laude J. African Art of the Dogon: The Myths of the Cliff Dwellers. N.Y., 1973
• Palau Marti M. Les Dogons. P., 1957
• Paulme D. Organization sociale des Dogons. P., 1940
• Wanono N. & Renaudea, M. Les Dogon. P., 1996

Links

• Article from the collection “On Land and Sea”, 1978
• Mirimanov V. B. Art tropical Africa
• "" from The Skeptic's Dictionary.
• "" by James Oberg.

Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Dogons

The Englishman took out his wallet and counted out the money. Dolokhov frowned and remained silent. Pierre jumped onto the window.
Gentlemen! Who wants to bet with me? “I’ll do the same,” he suddenly shouted. “And there’s no need for a bet, that’s what.” They told me to give him a bottle. I'll do it... tell me to give it.
- Let it go, let it go! – said Dolokhov, smiling.
- What you? crazy? Who will let you in? “Your head is spinning even on the stairs,” they spoke from different sides.
- I'll drink it, give me a bottle of rum! - Pierre shouted, hitting the table with a decisive and drunken gesture, and climbed out the window.
They grabbed him by the arms; but he was so strong that he pushed the one who approached him far away.
“No, you can’t persuade him like that for anything,” said Anatole, “wait, I’ll deceive him.” Look, I bet you, but tomorrow, and now we're all going to hell.
“We’re going,” Pierre shouted, “we’re going!... And we’re taking Mishka with us...
And he grabbed the bear, and, hugging and lifting it, began to spin around the room with it.

Prince Vasily fulfilled the promise made at the evening at Anna Pavlovna's to Princess Drubetskaya, who asked him about her only son Boris. He was reported to the sovereign, and, unlike others, he was transferred to the Semenovsky Guard Regiment as an ensign. But Boris was never appointed as an adjutant or under Kutuzov, despite all the efforts and machinations of Anna Mikhailovna. Soon after Anna Pavlovna's evening, Anna Mikhailovna returned to Moscow, straight to her rich relatives, the Rostovs, with whom she stayed in Moscow and with whom her beloved Borenka, who had just been promoted to the army and was immediately transferred to guards ensigns, had been raised and lived for years since childhood. The Guard had already left St. Petersburg on August 10, and the son, who remained in Moscow for uniforms, was supposed to catch up with her on the road to Radzivilov.
The Rostovs had a birthday girl, Natalya, a mother and a younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, the trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the big city, all of Moscow famous house Countess Rostova on Povarskaya. Countess with a beautiful eldest daughter and the guests, who never ceased replacing one another, sat in the living room.
The countess was a woman with oriental type thin-faced, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by her children, of whom she had twelve. The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, like a homely person, sat right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with the guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The Count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he said to everyone without exception, without the slightest shade, both above and below him) for himself and for the dear birthday girls . Look, come and have lunch. You will offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere.” He spoke these words with the same expression on his full, cheerful, clean-shaven face and with an equally strong handshake and repeated short bows to everyone, without exception or change. Having seen off one guest, the count returned to whoever was still in the living room; having pulled up his chairs and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, with his legs gallantly spread and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad, but self-confident French, and again, with the air of a tired but firm man in fulfilling his duty, he went to see him off, straightening the sparse gray hair on his bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hallway, he walked through the flower and waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table for eighty couverts was being set, and, looking at the waiters wearing silver and porcelain, arranging tables and unrolling damask tablecloths, he called to him Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, who was taking care of all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, make sure everything is fine. “Well, well,” he said, looking around with pleasure at the huge spread-out table. – The main thing is serving. This and that...” And he left, sighing complacently, back into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! - the huge countess's footman reported in a bass voice as he entered the living room door.
The Countess thought and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tormented me,” she said. - Well, I’ll take her last one. Very prim. “Beg,” she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if she was saying: “Well, finish it off!”
A tall, plump, proudly looking lady with a round-faced, smiling daughter, rustling their dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps... elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant... au bal des Razoumowsky... et la comtesse Apraksine... j"ai ete si heureuse..." [Dear Countess, how long ago... she should have been in bed, poor child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] lively voices were heard women's voices, interrupting one another and merging with the noise of dresses and the moving of chairs. That conversation began, which is started just enough so that at the first pause you can stand up, rustle with your dresses, and say: “Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman... et la comtesse Apraksine" [I am in admiration; mother’s health... and Countess Apraksina] and, again rustling with dresses, go into the hallway, put on a fur coat or cloak and leave. The conversation turned to the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich and handsome man of Catherine's time, old Count Bezukhy, and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I really feel sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already bad, and now this grief from his son will kill him!”
- What's happened? - asked the countess, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy’s grief fifteen times.
- This is the current upbringing! “Even abroad,” said the guest, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he did such horrors that he was expelled from there with the police.
- Tell! - said the countess.
“He chose his acquaintances poorly,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and Dolokhov alone, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the ranks of soldiers, and Bezukhy’s son was exiled to Moscow. Anatoly Kuragin - his father somehow hushed him up. But they did deport me from St. Petersburg.
- What the hell did they do? – asked the Countess.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, so what? You can imagine: the three of them found a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage and took it to the actresses. The police came running to calm them down. They caught the policeman and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear is swimming, and the policeman is on him.
“The policeman’s figure is good, ma chere,” shouted the count, dying of laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh about, Count?
But the ladies couldn’t help but laugh themselves.
“They saved this unfortunate man by force,” the guest continued. “And it’s the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov who is playing so cleverly!” – she added. “They said he was so well-mannered and smart.” This is where all my upbringing abroad has led me. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. They wanted to introduce him to me. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
- Why do you say that this young man is so rich? - asked the countess, bending down from the girls, who immediately pretended not to listen. - After all, he only has illegitimate children. It seems... Pierre is also illegal.
The guest waved her hand.
“He has twenty illegal ones, I think.”
Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened in the conversation, apparently wanting to show off her connections and her knowledge of all social circumstances.
“That’s the thing,” she said significantly and also in a half-whisper. – The reputation of Count Kirill Vladimirovich is known... He lost count of his children, but this Pierre was beloved.
“How good the old man was,” said the countess, “even last year!” More beautiful than a man I haven't seen it.
“Now he’s changed a lot,” said Anna Mikhailovna. “So I wanted to say,” she continued, “through his wife, Prince Vasily is the direct heir to the entire estate, but his father loved Pierre very much, was involved in his upbringing and wrote to the sovereign... so no one knows if he dies (he is so bad that they are waiting for it) every minute, and Lorrain came from St. Petersburg), who will get this huge fortune, Pierre or Prince Vasily. Forty thousand souls and millions. I know this very well, because Prince Vasily himself told me this. And Kirill Vladimirovich is my second cousin on my mother’s side. “He baptized Borya,” she added, as if not attributing any significance to this circumstance.
– Prince Vasily arrived in Moscow yesterday. He’s going for an inspection, they told me,” the guest said.
“Yes, but, entre nous, [between us],” said the princess, “this is an excuse, he actually came to Count Kirill Vladimirovich, having learned that he was so bad.”
“However, ma chere, this is a nice thing,” said the count and, noticing that the eldest guest was not listening to him, he turned to the young ladies. – The policeman had a good figure, I imagine.
And he, imagining how the policeman waved his hands, laughed again with a sonorous and deep laugh that shook his entire being. full body how people who always ate well and especially drank laugh. “So, please, come and have dinner with us,” he said.

There was silence. The Countess looked at the guest, smiling pleasantly, however, without hiding the fact that she would not be at all upset now if the guest got up and left. The guest's daughter was already straightening her dress, looking questioningly at her mother, when suddenly from the next room several men and women were heard running towards the door. female legs, the crash of a chair being caught and knocked over, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, wrapping her short muslin skirt around something, and stopped in the middle of the room. It was obvious that she accidentally, with an uncalculated run, ran so far. At the same moment a student with a crimson collar, a guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, ruddy boy in a child’s jacket appeared at the door.
The count jumped up and, swaying, spread his arms wide around the running girl.
- Oh, here she is! – he shouted laughing. - Birthday girl! Ma chere, birthday girl!
“Ma chere, il y a un temps pour tout, [Darling, there is time for everything,” said the countess, pretending to be stern. “You keep spoiling her, Elie,” she added to her husband.
“Bonjour, ma chere, je vous felicite, [Hello, my dear, I congratulate you,” said the guest. – Quelle delicuse enfant! “What a lovely child!” she added, turning to her mother.
A dark-eyed, big-mouthed, ugly, but lively girl, with her childish open shoulders, which, shrinking, moved in her bodice from fast running, with her black curls bunched back, thin bare arms and small legs in lace pantaloons and open shoes, I was at that sweet age when a girl is no longer a child, and a child is not yet a girl. Turning away from her father, she ran up to her mother and, not paying any attention to her stern remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of her mother’s mantilla and laughed. She was laughing at something, talking abruptly about a doll that she had taken out from under her skirt.