The Serer-Ndut or Ndut also spelt (''Ndoute'' or ''N'doute'') are an ethnic group in
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠ðž ...
numbering 38600.
They are part of the
Serer people
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. who collectively make up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal. The Serer-Ndut live mostly in central Senegal in the district of Mont-Roland, northwest of the city of ancient
Thiès
Thiès (; ar, ثيس, Ṯyass; Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population officially estimated at 320,000 in 2005. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St-L ...
.
Culture
Their language
Ndut, is one of the
Cangin languages
The Cangin languages are spoken by 200,000 people (as of 2007) in a small area east of Dakar, Senegal. They are the languages spoken by the Serer people who do not speak the Serer language (''Serer-Sine''). Because the people are ethnically Ser ...
, closely related to
Palor. Like the other Cangin languages, the speakers are ethnically
Serers but they do not speak the
Serer-Sine language.
Their language is not a dialect of Serer-Sine (or Serer proper). The people are agriculturalists and lake fishermen.
Religion
Serer-Ndut people traditionally and still practice the
Serer religion
The Serer religion, or ''a Æat Roog'' ("the way of the Divine"), is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog (o ...
which involves
honouring the ancestors covering all dimensions of life, death,
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
etc. Their name for the Supreme Deity (
Roog
Roog or Rog (Koox in the Cangin languages) is the Supreme God and creator of the Serer religion of the Senegambia region. Thiaw, Issa Laye, "La Religiosite de Seereer, Avant et pendant leur Islamisation". Ethiopiques no: 54, Revue semestrielle ...
- in Serer religion) is
Kopé Tiatie Cac
Kopé Tiatie Cac (also Koh and Koope; in Ndut language, meaning ''god grandfather'' or ''god the grandfather'') is the Supreme Creator in the Serer religion. Ndiaye, Ousmane Sémou, "Diversité et unicité sérères : l’exemple de la région de T ...
- (''God the grandfather'' in the
Ndut language
Ndut (''Ndoute'') is a Cangin language of Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senega ...
). The
Ndut initiation rite
The Ndut is a rite of passage as well as a religious education commanded by Serer religion that every Serer (an ethnic group found in Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania) must go through once in their lifetime. The Serer people being an ethnoreli ...
, a
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
in Serer religion takes its name from the Ndut language. Some Serer-Ndut are Catholic. The main
Catholic mission
Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...
is at the town of Tiin.
History
The Serer people to which they are a sub-group of are the oldest inhabitants of
Senegambia
The Senegambia (other names: Senegambia region or Senegambian zone,Barry, Boubacar, ''Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade'', (Editors: David Anderson, Carolyn Brown; trans. Ayi Kwei Armah; contributors: David Anderson, American Council of Le ...
along with the
Jola people
The Jola or Diola ( endonym: Ajamat) are an ethnic group found in Senegal, the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Most Jola live in small villages scattered throughout Senegal, especially in the Lower Casamance region. The main dialect of the Jola lan ...
. Their ancestors were dispersed throughout the
Senegambia Region
The Senegambia (other names: Senegambia region or Senegambian zone,Barry, Boubacar, ''Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade'', (Editors: David Anderson, Carolyn Brown; trans. Ayi Kwei Armah; contributors: David Anderson, American Council of Le ...
and it is suggested that they built the
Senegambian stone circles
The Senegambian stone circles are groups of megalithic stone circles that lie in The Gambia north of Janjanbureh and in central Senegal. With an approximate area of 30,000 km²,Laport et al. 2012, p. 410 they are sometimes divided into the ...
[Espie, Ian, "A thousand years of West African history: a handbook for teachers and students", Editors : J. F. Ade Ajayi, Ian Espie, Humanities Press (1972), p 134, ] although other sources suggest it was probably the Jola.
The Ndut were also the original founders of
Biffeche
Biffeche or Bifeche is an area of Senegal centred on the town of Savoigne, around 30 kilometres north-east of the major coastal city of Saint-Louis.
Low-lying and largely flat, the region has Fula, or ''Peulh''; in ff, Fulɓe. Serer-Ndut people ...
as well as the Mt Rolland.
[More about the Ndut : Dupire, Marguerite, "Sagesse ]sereer
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. : Essais sur la pensée sereer ndut
/ref> During the colonial period of Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠ðž ...
, both the French colonial empire, French administration and the Muslim communities of Senegal tried to annihilate the Serer-Ndut people.[Becker, Charles, "Les Serer Ndut: Études sur les mutations sociales et religieuses", Microéditions Hachette (1974)][Echenberg, Myron J, "Black death, white medicine: bubonic plague and the politics of public health in colonial Senegal, 1914-1945", pp 141–146, Heinemann (2002), ] They failed to achieve their objectives.
Notes
Bibliography
* Thiaw, Issa Laye, ''"La Religiosite de Seereer, avant et pendant leur Islamisation"'', nEthiopiques no: 54, Revue semestrielle de Culture Négro-Africaine, Nouvelle série, volume 7, 2e Semestre (1991)
*Dione, Salif, "L'APPEL du Ndut. ou l'initiation des garcons Seereer", IFAN Ifan may refer to:
People
*Ifan (given name), list of people with this name
* Ifan Evans (born 1983), Welsh rugby union player
* Wil Ifan
* The nickname of Riefian Fajarsyah of a former Seventeen member, disbanded by 2018 Sunda Strait tsunam ...
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop (29 December 1923 – 7 February 1986) was a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. Diop's work is considered foundational to the the ...
(2004)
* Gravrand, Henry, "La Civilisation Sereer - ''Pangool''", vol.2, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal, (1990), p 9 and 77,
*Echenberg, Myron J, "Black death, white medicine: bubonic plague and the politics of public health in colonial Senegal, 1914-1945", pp 141–146, Heinemann (2002),
*Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation Sereer - Cosaan : les origines, vol.1, pp. 140–146, Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1983,
* Dupire, Marguerite, "Sagesse sereer
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. : Essais sur la pensée sereer ndut
*Becker, Charles, "Les Serer Ndut: Études sur les mutations sociales et religieuses", Microéditions Hachette (1974)
*Klein, Martin A., "Islam and Imperialism in Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠ðž ...
, Sine-Saloum
Sine-Saloum is a region in Senegal located north of the Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 24,000 square kilometers, about 12% of Senegal, with a population in the 1990s of 1,060,000.
The western portion contains the ...
" 1847–1914, pp VII-5, Edinburgh University Press
Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
History
Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...
, (1968),
*Daggs, Elisa, "All Africa: All its political entities of independent or other status", Hasting House, (1970),
*Taal, Alhaji Ebou Momar, "Senegambian Ethnic Groups: Common Origins and Cultural Affinities Factors and Forces of National Unity, Peace and Stability" (2010)
*Gamble, David P., & Salmon, Linda K., (with Njie, Alhaji Hassan), "Gambian Studies No. 17 : People of The Gambia. I. The Wolof, with notes on the Serer and Lebou", San Francisco (1985)
{{Authority control
Serer people