Antogo

Mali, 2009.Village of Bamba, 15:00 p.m., 50 degrees, maybe more. The Dogon, important Malian ethnic group, celebrate once a year the “Antogo”, a sacred fishing ritual embedded in mistery and magic. In the northern part is the village of Bamba, where, since ever, that is to say since the Dogon arrived in this magic land in Mali long ago, a sacred fishing ritual is practiced, known as “Antogo”. A small yet very powerful lake rests just beneath Bamba. Saturday, market day, and only that precise Saturday. Antogo is celebrated only once a year, in any other day fishing is strictly prohibited in the lake. It’s 15:00 p.m., May the 2 (for us westerners), an horrible heat brings temperatures up to 50 degrees. The sun, also partying, burns in the sky, giving as present rare shades every now and then to few lucky ones. In coincidence with the sixth month of the dry season – which burns the Sahel in the months between April and May – the council of wise man of Bamba gets together in order to fix the exact date of the ritual.