A Hogon is a spiritual leader in a Dogon

Dogon people

The Dogon are an ethnic group living in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000 The Dogon are best known for their religious traditions, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and...

 village.

Dogon people

The Dogon are an ethnic group in Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

, with some unusual mythology and cultural practices. Most Dogon village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

s are situated around the arid Bandiagara Escarpment

Bandiagara Escarpment

The Bandiagara Escarpment is an escarpment in the Dogon country of Mali. The sandstone cliff rises about 500 meters above the lower sandy flats to the south. It has a length of approximately 150 kilometers. The area of the escarpment is inhabited today by the Dogon people. Before the Dogon, the...

 in central Mali.

The life of a hogon

A hogon is a religious figure as well as a temporal authority; the hogon may be hereditary or may be chosen from among the village elders - custom varies from place to place. The hogon is always a man. After being chosen, a hogon must pass through several months without washing or shaving. After initiation, he wears a red cap, and a pearl bracelet. Hogon live alone and should be celibate, but a village girl may act as a maid. Nobody should touch the hogon.

It has become customary for tourists

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 to bring small gifts of money or kola nuts for the hogon when visiting a village.

Ritual

The Hogon has a key role in village rituals and in ensuring fertility and germination.

The hogon is central to a wide range of fertility and marriage rituals, which are closely related to Dogon origin myths.

The hogon may conduct rituals in the Sanctuaire de Binou, a special building whose door is blocked with rocks.

Creation myth

According to legend, the first hogon, Lebe, was descended from a nommo

Nommo

The Nommo are ancestral spirits worshipped by the Dogon tribe of Mali. The word Nommos is derived from a Dogon word meaning, "to make one drink," The Nommos are usually described as amphibious, hermaphroditic, fish-like creatures...

. He was eaten by another nommo, and their spirits merged; the nommo vomited out a new Lebe (part human and part spiritual), plus copious liquid which shaped the landscape.