Binou (Dogon religion)

Part of a series on
Traditional African religions
A traditional Kanaga mask
Religions
Doctrines
Deities
Sacred places
Education
Priesthood
Relation with other religions
A Binou shrine in the abandoned village of Banani with crocodile representation on the facade.

The Binou (or Binou cult[1]) is a Dogon totemic, religious order and secret ceremonial practice which venerates the immortal ancestors.[2] It can also mean a water serpent or protector of a family or clan in Dogon.[3] It is one of the four tenets of Dogon religion—an African spirituality among the Dogon people of Mali. Although the Dogons' "Society of the Masks" (the Awa Society) is more well known, due in part to Dogon mask–dance culture which attracts huge tourism, it is only one aspect of Dogon religion, which apart from the worship of the Creator God Amma, a rather distant and abstract deity in the Dogon world-view, is above all made up of ancestor veneration (the four aspects of that practice). The Binou serves as one of the four aspects of Dogon religion's ancestor veneration. Other than the Binou and the worship of Amma, the other three aspects of the religion includes the veneration of Lebe (or Lehé[2]), which pertains to an immortal ancestor (Lebe) who suffered a temporary death in Dogon primordial time but was resurrected by the Nommo; the veneration of souls; and lastly, the Society of the Masks, which relates to dead ancestors in general. These myths are in oral form—known to us in a secret language. They form the framework of Dogon's religious knowledge, and are the fixed Dogon's sources relating to the creation of the universe; the invention of fire, speech and culture.[2][4][5][6][7][8][9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Velton and Jolijn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Mission Lebaudy-Griaule [compte-rendu] (Lebaudy-Griaule Mission (report)) [in] Persée. "Mélanges et nouvelles africanistes, Journal des Africanistes (1939) tome 9, fascicule 2. pp. 217-221". Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  3. ^ Bouju, Jacky, Graine de l'homme, enfant du mil, Société d'éthnologie (1984), pp. 33–4, 218, ISBN 9782901161240 [1]
  4. ^ 'Solange de Ganay [in] Persée. "Note sur le culte du lebe chez les Dogon du Soudan français, Journal des Africanistes (1937), tome 7, fascicule 2., pp. 203-211". doi:10.3406/jafr.1937.1641. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  5. ^ Hackett, Rosalind, Art and Religion in Africa, A&C Black 1(998), pp. 35-36, ISBN 9780826436559 (retrieved March 3, 2020) [2]
  6. ^ Asante, Molefi Kete; Mazama, Ama; Encyclopedia of African Religion, Volume 1, SAGE (2009), pp. 40–41, ISBN 9781412936361 (retrieved March 3, 2020) [3]
  7. ^ Davis, Shawn R., Dogon Funerals [in] African Art, vol. 35, Issue 2, JSTOR (Organization), University of California, Los Angeles. African Studies Center, African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles (2002), p. 68
  8. ^ Heusch, Luc de, Sacrifice in Africa: A Structuralist Approach, (trans. Linda O'Brien, Alice Morton), Manchester University Press (1985), p. 132, ISBN 9780719017162 (retrieved March 3, 2020) [4]
  9. ^ Imperato, Pascal James, Dogon Cliff Dwellers: The Art of Mali's Mountain People, L. Kahan Gallery/African Arts (1978), pp. 15, 23