This is a medium sized Dogon medicine cabinet with two doors. These cabinets are used by the shaman of the village to store medicinal or herbs, roots and spices. It stands on three legs, two at the front and one at the back and has the head of a bearded ancestor figure at the top, functioning as a protection figure. As usual with Dogon artefacts, it is very nicely decorated.
The top door is hinged to the left, the bottom one on the right: it has a wooden hinge and then a small metal bar across the hinge. On the sides, there are two further figures with hands raised to their faces; this is also a familiar motif. On the back there is an elongated carving of a crocodile. The zig-zag motif is found on front only on this example. It is a beautiful piece to adorn any home with multiple uses.
Height: 44cm
Width: 10cm
Depth: 8cm
Weight: 0.7kg
Believed to be the progenies of Ancient Egypt the Dogon people who live in the central plateau region of Mali, are among the few African tribes who have managed to preserve their culture over the years.
According to them, the Sirius A, which is the brightest star in Earth’s night sky, had a much dimmer companion: Sirius B, which has a fifty-year elliptical orbit around the bright Sirius A and is extremely dense.
From oral tradition, the Dogon confirmed their affiliation with extraterrestrial bodies which visited earth some years ago.
According to them, ugly amphibious beings in the form of mermaids and mermen from the Sirius system known as Nommos, visited earth.
The Nommos lived on a planet that rotated around other stars in the Sirius system.
The Dogon recount that the Nommos, after descending on earth in an ark-like structure, gave them information about the Sirius system and the earth’s Solar system: that Jupiter has four major moons, Saturn has rings and that all planets orbit around the sun.
The Dogon commemorate the Sirius A’s fifty-year elliptical orbit around Sirius B with the Sigui Celebration, held every sixty years. It is unclear why the Dogon celebrate the rotational year of the Sirius B every sixty years and not fifty.
However, since the last Sigui celebration was in 1967, the next celebration is expected to happen in 2027.
They believe that the celebration of the Sirius B’s rotation comes to renew the earth.
Currently, it is believed that there are about four hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand Dogons living in Mali.
