Dogon Religion

The Dogon are an ethnic group indigenous to the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa. The Dogon are best known for their religious traditions, their mask dances, wooden sculpture, and their architecture. Since the twentieth century, there have been significant changes in the social organisation, material culture and beliefs of the Dogon, in part because Dogon country is one of Mali's major tourist attractions. Currently, 35% of the Dogon practice Islam and another 10% practices Christianity. The key spiritual figures in the Dogon religion were the hermaphroditic Nummo/Nommo twins. The problem of "twin births" versus "single births", or androgyny versus single-sexed beings, was said to contribute to a disorder at the beginning of time. The removal of the second sex and soul from humans is what the ritual of circumcision represents in the Dogon religion. "The dual soul is a danger; a man should be male, and a woman female." The Dogon religion was centered on this loss of twinness or androgyny.