"Igotommeli, his head bowed and his hands on the nape of his neck, was lost in the past history of the heavens. At last he arrived at the final stratum of symbols which showed the universe compressed within the walls of the primal granary, as a body filled with life and absorbing food.
"'What is eaten ,' he said, 'is the sunlight . What is excreted is the dark night . The breath of life is the clouds , and the blood is the rain that falls on the world.'"
P.40, CONVERSATIONS WITH OGOTEMMELI : AN INTRODUCTION TO DOGON RELIGIOUS IDEAS by Marcel Griaule (1975)
Saturday, August 12, 2017
DOGON
"Igotommeli, his head bowed and his hands on the nape of his neck, was lost in the past history of the heavens. At last he arrived at the final stratum of symbols which showed the universe compressed within the walls of the primal granary, as a body filled with life and absorbing food.
"'What is eaten ,' he said, 'is the sunlight . What is excreted is the dark night . The breath of life is the clouds , and the blood is the rain that falls on the world.'"
P.40, CONVERSATIONS WITH OGOTEMMELI : AN INTRODUCTION TO DOGON RELIGIOUS IDEAS by Marcel Griaule (1975)