Pantheons

Senufo

Other Pantheons

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Senufo." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/pantheons/senufo.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Senufo. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/pantheons/senufo

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-senufo,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Senufo},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/pantheons/senufo},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Kolotyolo, the creator, and Katyeleeo, the ancient mother associated with the earth and with the Poro initiation society, among the central figures of Senufo religion in Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso in West Africa. Senufo religious life is closely bound to Poro, a graded men's initiation society that transmits sacred knowledge, carving and masking traditions across a period of years, and to the parallel women's Sandogo society associated with divination; the deeper stages of both remain closed to outsiders, and only their publicly documented outline is recorded here.

Facts

Structure

Structure of the Pantheon

A supreme creator above a working order of intermediary powers 1

Divine Headship

A supreme creator who withdrew from active rule and receives little direct cult 1

Succession Between Divine Generations

One divine generation; no succession between generations is recorded 1

The Creator and the Ruling Gods

The creator withdrew after making the world and is seldom addressed in cult 1

Attestation

Era of Attestation

Held from the beginning in the tradition's own terms; documented in the outside record from the early 20th century 1

Veneration Today

Actively venerated in a living tradition 1

Sources

Primary Source

Oral tradition held by the Poro and Sandogo societies, with published ethnography. Poro initiation is closed and is not reproduced here 1

Organisation

Membership of the Pantheon

Every place, clan and lineage adds its own 1

How Mortals Enter the Pantheon

Ancestors and founders become objects of cult 1

Cult

Principal Cult Centre

No single centre. The sinzanga, the sacred grove of the Poro society in each village, is the place of observance 1

Correspondences & Relations

Pantheon Of

Senufo Traditional Religion

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Religion

Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source

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