"Djiguibambo & Dogon Country" a Djiguibambo Travel Page by sachara

The ideal layout of the Dogon villages has the form of a human body.

The fact is that the universe is projected in the same manner on different scales - of the cosmos, the village, the house and the individual.

At the level of the village, the settlement should lie north-south, like a man on his back. The smithy and the To guna are the man's head at the north. The hands are symbolized by the menstrual round lodges. The patriarchal ginna houses are the chest and the body. The oil-crushing stones and foundation altar represent the female and male sexual parts. At the south are the communal altars as the reclining man's feet.