Figure - ancestor

The statue represents an ancestor. This type of sculpture is placed on the altars which are numerous in the Dogon country. For the inhabitants of the Bandiagara Escarpment offering sacrifices is a way to stimulate the nyama life energy of supernatural forces and to communicate with them. There are many forms of sacrifice, ranging from simple libations to bloody animal sacrifices. There is information that in the past, in special cases, human sacrifices were also made, but this is not practised nowadays. Millet, rice and a local beer called konyo are the most common offerings, while chickens, sheep, goats and dogs are the most common animals. The types of offerings vary according to the nature of the altar and the purpose the offeror wishes to achieve. An important part of the sacrifice is the recitation of prayers, in which Amma, the creator of the universe, is invoked first, followed by other metaphysical beings. At the end the prayers are addressed to the ancestors, first those who were the first to arrive in the Bandiagara Escarpment, then the unknown ones from generations long past, and finally the ancestors known by name. After the prayers, the reason for the sacrifice is explained to achieve a certain goal. The sacrifice itself consists of placing prepared food on the altar and pouring konyo beer on the ground around it. If the sacrifice was bloody, blood is sprinkled on the altar and feathers or pieces of fur are glued to it. At the end of the whole ritual, the deposited food is consumed by the participants in the ceremony. It is very rare to leave it behind. Sacrifices are made on altars located in homesteads, in the village space and outside its borders.

Ewa Prądzyńska