Hogon Cup Ogo Banya

The Ogo Banya are known as “Hogon Cups”, which would be their translation into some dialects. In spite of all the conjectures that have been poured on them and that we see appearing on the pages of the antiquarians and the gallerists, there is no scientific certainty as to the reasons for their origin or their use. But as for its actual use, Mathilde Buratti who has studied these glasses in depth tells us that “the hypotheses are numerous and range from a kitchen utensil to a ceremonial cup or from a container to a purely tourist object“ The only finding is that these are magnificent works of art as described by Lieutenant Louis Desplagnes in his mission of 1905 throughout Niger, the first European to report on the culture of the Dogon.

Normally these cups are carved by the blacksmith, who is the sculptor of the Dogon, in hard wood, so they are usually carved in green wood, easier to carve.

From the food remains found in some of them it can be said that they had a function of container and not purely symbolic or ritual in the ceremonies of enthronement of the Hogon. At least one of the cups would have served according to Desplagnes to preserve the grey-grey (amulet) of the village. Mathilde Buratti based on the descriptions of Desplagnes tells us that a ceremonial use in a sacred or funerary context would be the most likely hypothesis, although apparently a ogo banya was used on very rare occasions.

The fact that many of these cups featured female characters made Germaine Dieterlen and Hélène Leloup associate them with women thinking that they would belong to the woman of the Hogon and would be used to serve her food, or that those of a simple vessel would belong to the woman for the female initiations and those of double recipient to the Hogon, these seem very unlikely according to Mathilde Buratti. Nor are the above theories about their use in enthronements or funerals demonstrable because they do not appear in the filming of these ceremonies at the end of the century. XXUnless customs have changed. Robert Arnaud, Franz Olbretchs, Jean Laude and others have spoken of an oral tradition according to which these cups would serve in agrarian cults, specifically in the celebration of sowing, whose date is between April and the beginning of June, when the rainy season arrives. According to Mathilde Buratti, there are several different descriptions of this festival, communicated also by Denise Paulme, Deborah Lifchitz and other researchers, although they have a common basis: “During the feast of sowing, two species of animals are sacrificed at the altar of Lebé, which are torn apart and cooked together. Once stewed the dish is placed in the og banya (Arnaud 1921) Then the Hogon and each of the council members eat a piece without looking, since they have to be on their backs to the cup. A portion is left for offering. When the cup presents two containers, the food is placed in both spaces, but it is eaten only from the content of the major; the food contained in the minor container is reserved for the ancestors. It seems that this rite contributes to abundant rains and favors future crops. The two species sacrificed differ according to the degree of drought”.

So Mathilde Buratti tells us that it is not unlikely that the cups have served in the fertility ritual during the sowing parties, even that the construction of the dam “Marcel Griaule” a 3 kms. from Shanghai, the art market and the weakening of the local traditional religion have helped to modify the role of the ogo banya. 

This large cup has two containers, the first of them on two rows of caryatids and the base of the second serves as the lid of the first. The top cap is crowned by two female squat figures with raised arms.