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Rock art in the villages of Sanga Sanga, an agglomeration of 15 villages on the edge of the Bandiagara plateau, was Marcel Griaule's base for his study of the Dogon. Many of Griaule's (1938) observations on rock art in the Bandiagara region were recorded in Sanga, where a number of rock art sites of different function are still used today. Since most of these are not accessible to the public, a selection of four rock art sites is briefly described here, together with explanations of their functions as given in January 2001. The first three sites presented are used in the course of the sigui festival and on other occasions when masks are made, utilised and stored, while the last is used during a circumcision ritual. The shelter Djemé Togolo, for example, was formerly used for the preparation and storage of masks. Today the masks are stored at the mask dancers' houses, since with the increase of tourism they were stolen from the rock shelter and sold to tourists. Some of the designs on the ceiling are said to have been made recently by children, but others are recognised as ancient motifs, made by the ancestors of the present inhabitants of Sanga. Motifs present have been identified as: a burial blanket, the bag used by an olubaru (initiate of the masks), a great mask, the mask kanaga, a stool used by the dancers during the sigui, the knife of the masks, the calabash used by the yasigine (the only female member of the mask society), and a representation of a Dogon field.
The low shelter Kukomo Kommo serves as a retreat site before a sigui festival for the olubaru from four of the districts of Sanga: Gogoli, Bongo, Diamini-kura, and Diamini-na. The olubaru of these villages gather at this site for three months before the beginning of the sigui. It is claimed that before the olubaru enter the site the mask-like pictographs on the ceiling of the site are re-painted by those elders of the participating villages who have witnessed the last sigui. The arrival of the sigui in the Sanga villages is said to be announced by the olubaru's beating of a rock gong at the site. Segere Kommo, a small, low shelter, serves as home for the yasigine, the sister of the masks, during the months of the sigui. The few motifs present are said to represent the yasigine's calabash, her field, and the mask sirige.
Sakri Kommo, the 'shelter where children are taught to sing', is a large and spacious rock shelter where young boys were circumcised in previous times. Today, this operation is undertaken at the hospital, but after their circumcision the boys spend some time at the shelter, singing and playing. As the circumcision age is lower today than it used to be, an explanation of the motifs on the shelter walls and of the masks and their utilisation is said to be given to young men at the time of marriage, and not at the time of their circumcision, when they are considered to be too young. Gallay (1964) was informed that the boys drew the motifs as a past-time after their circumcision - the rock art is thus not part of the circumcision ritual itself. In contrast, it is now claimed that the paintings at Sakri Kommo were first made by the Dogon when they arrived at this place. They are re-painted from time to time when they are effaced by the rain and threaten to disappear.
The following themes, among others, are depicted on the rock surfaces: a great variety of mask types, tools used by the blacksmith (who used to perform the circumcision), lizards, the blanket of the hogon, the pale fox, and the Nomo (water god). Masks are by far the most common motifs. The contemporary visitor is told that the motifs serve as models for the creation of the masks, as blueprints for their correct shapes. A similar explanation was recorded by Griaule (1938) for the making of the very first rock paintings among the Dogon after the legendary finding of the masks in the bush. It is possible that the modern explanation is drawn from Griaule's works to satisfy the questioning visitor, rather than reflecting the tradition of this particular rock art site. | |
