Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis
I
n Africa, the perception of space, at least
among certain peoples, is not limited
to indicating the sensorial processes—
especially sight and hearing—that make
it possible to situate an object in space.
Among theDogonand theEwe, for example,
space is often evoked metaphorically
or emblematically to explain the
creation of the world.
According to the Dogon, ‘Amma,
god the creator, omnipotent
and immaterial, launched
the planetary system, balls of
earth transformed into stars
that women then gathered in
the sky to give to their children.
These put spindles through themand
made them spin endlessly like sparkling
spinning tops. Ammamade thesun-female,
themoon-male and the earth, a lump of clay
that he squeezed in his hand and spread
in space, going northwards, lengthening
towards the south, and extending to the east
and thewest, stretching its flesh, separating
its limbs likea foetus in thewomb. Theworld
became a woman, lying on her back, north-
south. Amma, god the creator, the «father»
of creatures, wished to unite with mother-
earth, represented by the world as an egg
consisting of a double placenta, to engender
beings that would further his creation.
The first beings were created, fertilised by
Amma’swords. Apair of androgynous twins,
one of whom revolted against paternal
authority and the other a «saviour». Put to
death and then resurrected, the saviour,
Nommo, used his own sacrifice to
reorganise the world that had
been disturbed by the actions of
his rival brother, Yorougou, the
fox’.
The Ewe peoples explain the
beginning of the world as
follows: ‘At the beginning of all
existence there was a Calabash.
It filled time and space. It was the
All. Divided horizontally in the centre,
its lid formed the Sky and the base formed
the Earth. The Sky was male and contained
Water. The Earth was female and Fire
burned in its entrails. The Calabash as a
whole was thus Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
Life was born at the initiative of the Sky
which, one day, sent water to the surface
of the Earth. The Earth received the first
rain and coolness made plants germinate.
These underwent metamorphosis, some
turning into animals and others into human
beings. The Sky and the Earth, put into
contact by Rain, made Lightning which
triggered theprimordial impetus, launching
the perpetual movement of the Sky and the
Earth themselves, together with the Water
and Fire that each contained’.
Is there a risk that this knowledge passed
on from generation to generation without
fault, except sometimes to soften the
images, might be called into question as
satellites are becoming more familiar to us
and bring us almost perfect images of the
earth and the sky?
Thecosmologyandcosmogonyof theDogon
andtheEwe,andofmanyotherpeopleshere
and there, used celestial bodies to explain
the creation of the world. With the rapid
development of electronic, information and
communication technology, might there not
be doubts and weakening of their beliefs?
Because, beyond its limits, science gives
us the means to push back the barriers of
ignorance.
c
Dr Aly Tandian
Teacher researcher, dpt of sociology
GERM coordinator
Université Gaston Berger de Saint- Louis
Senegal
i
In the Dogon creation myth, the original created beings were the Nommo twins.
© All rights reserved.
In their cosmogony, Sirius B star is
mentioned as Pô tolo (fonio star, bottom) and Sirius C as Emma ya tolo (female sorghum star, right).
©Doc. M. Griaule
u
The Rosette cloud (image by ESA Herschel satellite), close to the constellation of Orion, the Hunter. Sirius is located at the heel of this
constellation. What the naked eye perceives as a single star is actually a binary star system, Sirius A and Sirius B. The scientific community
has not confirmed the existence of Sirius C, described by the Dogon. Maybe a space telescope will succeed.
©2000 – 2011 ESA. ESA/PACS & SPIRE Consortium, F. Motte, Laboratoire AIMParis-Saclay, CEA/IRFU-CNRS/INSU- Uni. Paris Diderot, HOBYS Key Programme Consortia
The calabash and the satellite
The Concerns - 31
