Secret Dogon Myth About The Star Sirius example essay topic

The Dogon people are an indigenous tribe who occupy a region in Mali, south of the Sahara Desert. Early history is informed by oral traditions, which claim that the Dogon originated from the west bank of the Niger River (10th to 13th centuries). They emigrated west to northern Burkina Faso, where local histories describe them as kib si. Around 1490, they fled a region now known as the northern Mossi kingdom of Ya tenga when it was invaded by Mossi calvary. They ended up in the Bandiagara cliffs region, safe from the approaching horsemen.

Carbon-14 dating techniques used on excavated remains found in the cliffs suggest that there were inhabitants in the region before the arrival in the Dogon, dating back to the 10th century. Those Dogon who did not flee were incorporated into Mossi society and were known as the Nyonyose, or descendants of the first inhabitants. They are believed to be of Egyptian decent. At first they lived in Lydia for a time before they settled in Mali, West Africa, bringing with them astronomy legends dating from before 3200 BCE. The Dogon society was like a secret society. You had to grow up through the system to learn the sacred teachings of the Dogon people. it was like a pyramid, the people on the bottom didn't know much.

The bottom consisted of children. Once you got to the top you knew everything. The Dogons kept the strangers at the bottom of the pyramid. That is why most scientists still call the Dogon's knowledge of astronomy a myth.

The first Western scientist to visit and study the Dogon people were French anthropologists Drs Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieter len, who initially made contact with them in 1931. During their work, these anthropologists documented the traditional mythology and sacred beliefs of the Dogon, which included an extraordinary body of ancient lore regarding Sirius, the brilliant, far-distant Dog star. The priests told them of a secret Dogon myth about the star Sirius (8.6 light years from the Earth). The priests said that Sirius had a companion star that was invisible to the human eye. They also state that the star moved in a 50-year elliptical orbit around Sirius, that it was small and incredibly heavy, and that it rotated on its axis. Sirius, which we now call Sirius A was not seen through a telescope until 1862 and was not photographed until 1970.

Also every 60 years the Dogons have a ceremony. This is fascinating because this ceremony has been going on for years. Each person may only get to see it one time in their life time. They don't have calendars on which they write the date down. The can tell that its time from the ceremony by the positioning of the stars. That means that the Dogon children are very obedient to their parents, because each family has kept the tradition alive.

The Dogon name for Sirius B, Po Tolo consists of the word star- Tolo and "po", the name of the smallest seed known to them, The Dogon people claim that Po is composed of a mysterious, super-dense metal called saga la which, they declare, is heavier than all the iron on Earth. Not until 1926 did Western science discover that this tiny star is a white dwarf, a category of a star characterized by very great density. In case of Sirius B, astronomers have estimated that a single cubic meter of its matter weighs about 20,000 tons. The Dogon also describe a third star in the Sirius system, called "Em me Ya" ("Sorghum Female"). In orbit around this star, they say, is a single satellite. To date, Emma Ya has not been identified by astronomers.

In addition to their knowledge of Sirius B, the Dogon mythology includes Saturn's rings, and Jupiter's four major moons. They have four calendars, for the Sun, Moon, Sirius, and Venus, and have long known that planets orbit the sun. The Dogon say their astronomical knowledge was given to them by the Nommos, amphibious beings sent to Earth from Sirius for the benefit of mankind. The name comes from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink", and the Nommos are also called Masters of the Water, the Monitors, and the Teachers. The Dogon people a re a brilliant people and most of the time brilliance is misunderstood. In their case their brilliance is misunderstood as a myth.

In the African community inventions and discoveries aren't kept to ones self. They believe in sharing information and that is why you can't attribute one person for the discovery for the discovery of Sirius or any other discovery made back in ancient Africa.