Divination set

The divination set depicts two pairs of ancestors, with one covering their faces with their hands. The gesture has long appeared on objects of Dogon art. It can be seen, for example, on ancestor sculptures with which Dogon artists cover granary doors or doors leading to the houses of the ginna bana (family patriarch), locks and wooden containers. He is identified with Dyougou Serou (Dyungo Seru), a mythical figure from when humans were still immortal. He was one of eight major ancestors born from the first pair of humans formed by the creator god Amma. The four older ones were male, and the four younger ones were female. These ancestors were able to impregnate themselves, as they had received a unique gift from nature. Besides identifying one sex, they also possessed the qualities of the other sex. Dyougou Serou, at the instigation of the deity Yurugu (who was the first to rebel against the creator) disturbed the existing order in the world. He stole the land from the sacred field to cultivate the forbidden fonio seed (Digitaria exilis). Having done this act of disobedience to the creator, Dyougou Serou died. The spiritual forces released by the first death brought her into the world of people for good. The Dogon believe that when death came into a person's life, an image of the deceased was carved in wood and placed on the terrace of their house. From then on, similar figures began to be placed on ancestral altars throughout the Dogon country.

Katarzyna Findlik-Gawron