Although some Dogon do a little hunting, the people are primarily farmers, raising millet as their staple crop. The Dogon have also raised onions as a cash crop". (Paraphrased & edited; source: Olson 152).
"Muslim and Christian missionaries also work among the Dogon. They have had little success in making converts in recent years. Approximately 35 percent of the Dogon are Muslim, and about 10 percent are Christians. The majority of the Dogon remain loyal to their indigenous, animist religion. The indigenous Dogon religion places great spiritual significance on the many caves dotting the cliff landscapes. The Dogon bury their dead there. They believe that the environment (especially the baobab tree) is full of spiritual beings who must be pacified. The Dogon "calendar" is full with religious festivals and rituals designed to guarantee the renewal of the world in its eternal cycles." .
(Paraphrased & edited: Olson 152).
"Dogon culture reveals not only sophisticated concepts of ethics and astronomy but also a total world view that infuses their arts. Dogon religious myth is centered on "Amma" (the only God, created the earth as a woman, and then married her) and his offspring "Nommo" (is equal to: water and fire and blood and word). "Nommo" is the physical-spiritual life force which awakens all 'sleeping' forces and gives physical and spiritual life." (Paraphrased & edited: Jahn 105) "Their village plan, in the form of a human being, incorporates the "Nommo". A typical village includes the houses of the blacksmith; and the men's houses; the houses of leaders; the women's houses; & religious shrines that enable the Dogon to interact with their gods". (Paraphrased & edited; Dathorne 142) .
"The Dogon have worked out a table of signs and symbols. This is based on the assumption that a given symbol, when interpreted by the initiated, provides a key for understanding that which it symbolizes.