Koumen, the Bush-Spirit Master of Herders
Fulɓe pastoral initiatory tradition · numen · Fulɓe pastoral initiatory tradition traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Koumen is the dwarf-sized bush genius and initiatory master of the pastoral Fulɓe, central to the initiation text recorded from the Senegalese silatigi Arɗo Dembo and published by Amadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen in 1961. Bearded like an ancestor and counted among the laareeji, the guardian powers of the wild, he is the auxiliary of the primordial serpent Tyanaba. With his wife Foroforondou he meets the herder Silé Sadio in the bush and conducts him through twelve successive clearings of knowledge that encode the four elements, the structure of space and time, and the secret science of cattle, at the end of which the herder becomes a silatigi, a master of pastoral and bush lore.
Domains
- pastoral initiation
- cattle and the bush
Powers
- to lead the herder through the twelve clearings of knowledge
- to teach the hidden science of cattle and the bush
Epithets
- nyaayre ngaynaakaAmadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: Foroforondou, Mistress of the MilkForoforondou is the wife and ritual partner of Koumen; together they conduct the herder through the initiation, she presiding over the milk and the milk-altar.Amadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary)
- subordinate to: Tyanaba, Primordial Serpent and Ancestor of CattleKoumen is described as the auxiliary of the mythical serpent Tyanaba, acting as the serpent's agent in instructing herders.Amadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary)
Sources
- Koumen is the bearded dwarf bush-spirit and initiatory master of the Fulɓe pastoral mystery who, as auxiliary of the serpent Tyanaba, leads the first herder through the twelve clearings of cattle knowledge.: Amadou Hampâté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen: Texte initiatique des Pasteurs Peul, Cahiers de l'Homme, n.s. 1 (Paris: Mouton, 1961). (secondary); Amadou Hampaté Bâ and Germaine Dieterlen, Koumen, reviewed by Alice Hopen in American Anthropologist 64, no. 4 (1962): 868-869. (secondary)