Pendant
Dogon
Description
Subject Matter:
Dieterlen (1942) argues that such pendants may have been used to capture the souls of women who died during childbirth. She observed the display of a calabash filled with such pendants in a sanctuary outside of a Dogon village, as these women could not be commemorated on the normal ancestral altars, because of their unfortunate deaths. The iconography of this pendant supports this possible reference to death during childbirth.
G. Dieterlen. 1942. Les âmes des Dogon. Paris, Institut d'ethnologie.
Physical Description:
Pendant in the form of a pregnant woman holding her stomach.
Usage Rights:
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