Lebe

The Lebe or Lewe (fr. Lébé) is a Dogon religious, secret institution and primordial ancestor who arose from a serpent; according to Dogon cosmogony, Lebe is the reincarnation of the first Dogon ancestor who, resurrected in the form of a snake, guided the Dogons from the Mandé to the cliff of Bandiagara where they are found today. This Lebe sect constitutes one of the important facets of Dogon religion, which is based on ancestor veneration as well as the worship of the creator god Amma, and takes four forms: the veneration of Lebe, the veneration of Binou, the veneration of souls, and the "Society of the Masks" (the Awa society). Dogon religion posits that it was through Amma's powers which brought forth the creation of the universe, matter, and the biological processes of reproduction, and with this complex traditional belief system, Amma, the sky god, is the head of the Dogon triumvirate, with the other two being the water god Nommo and the earth god Lewe or Lebe.