Figure - woman

The Dogon are primarily farmers. The calendar of the fields and the success of the harvest depend on the timely start of the rainy season and its abundance. Sacrifices to induce rain are made on altars called andugo, dedicated to the Nommo deities present in all standing and flowing water, as well as in the rain. The altars are mainly made of stones, but metal objects and wooden figures are also placed on them. The sacrifices offered are mainly animals and millet flour mixed with water. The andugo altars are also often poured with a concoction consisting of powdered charcoal mixed with sa oil obtained from the Lannea acida tree. This mixture is often used by the Dogon for cosmetic and ritual purposes. As for andugo altars, the black colour of the concoction is crucial, which according to the Dogon attracts dark, rainy clouds. The prayer addressed to the god Amma accompanying such sacrifice is: As we have blackened andugo, so may Amma darken the sky. Altars of andugo are placed on the terraces of ginna houses, in courtyards inside homesteads, on the outskirts of villages, in fields and in special shrines.The statue depicts the figure of an ancestor with his hands raised in the air. This gesture is interpreted as a prayerful effort to unite earth and sky. The sign of this alliance is the rain, so important for farmers. It is believed that originally the Tellem, mysterious people who inhabited the Bandiagara Escarpment before the arrival of the Dogon, carved their ancestors in this way. The motif became part of the Dogon tradition and today the connection with the Tellem is only evidenced by the name tellem used to describe the figures.

Ewa Prądzyńska