The Dogon of Mali, Sub-Saharan Africa

O Nommo, or Nommo Dié, the Stellar Whale Being who came to earth
and engendered mankind, or Ogo.
It is Ogo who forgets, slaughters the Nommo,
and is then resurrected as Ogo Titiyane, who remembers,
thus restoring order to Universe.

Nommo is here represented as a Whale, with lungs, a horizontal tail
and breath coming out of his mouth as he floats in the water.

Nommo is radiant, shining in all of the colors of the rainbow--he is iridescent.
On land, he takes the form of a great serpent,
the legendary Rainbow Serpent.

The curious similarity between ceremonial observances by the Dogon,
and the cyclic movement of the binary star Sirius is elucidated by this diagram.

A Nommo, after his resurrection into human form,
reaching for the stars.

A female Nommo.

A male Nommo.

The Dogon are a highly structured, agrarian society,
surviving for centuries in an inhospitable land.

This is a Dogon fertilzer tower, which attracts birds to nest,
leaving thier droppings, which are harvested for the use of farmers.

The Dogon bury their dead in small stone houses,
far up on nearly inaccessible cliffs.

A Dogon marketplace.

A Dogon village.

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