The Dama is a mask festival that honors deceased elders, it is more than a celebration. The Dama is a door to Dogon manhood.

 

To wear a mask and dance at a Dama is what every boy lives for. Without a Dama young men can feel suspended between boyhood and manhood. This is the case for Atime Dogolo Saye, who was 29, but doesn’t yet consider himself a man.

 

"If you are not initiated, you are not a whole man. You are thought to be a bit like a woman. That’s why the Dama is so important to us. "

 

Atime is from another Dogon village, where his grandfather is the oldest man in the village, the revered keeper of the masks. It’s his responsibility to determine the timing of the Dama. But there is a conflict. Some years ago, a spirit told the village fortune-teller, that the next Dama would herald the grandfather’s death. The last Dama in Atime’s village was 20 years ago.

 

Back in Komokan, the whirring song of the bullroarer announces that the celebrations would soon begin. Meanwhile Atime decides to act. He asks the fortune-teller to contact the spirit that seems to condemn him to eternal childhood. The old man is the village shaman（萨满黄教的教徒或巫师 ）. And the figure who predicts the future with him, is the pale fox. The shaman draws patterns in the sand, for the divination(占卜). The elusive pale fox emerges in the cool of the night. Looks like he may have his answer. Atime, the shaman says, will be part of the Dama with thousands.

 

Back in Komokan , the new day heralds the start of the ceremony that Atime can only dream of. Every household offers millet(粟草) to thank spirits. The old men of Komokan lead the dancing, showing the youngsters how it’s done.

 

Atime may have the fox’s blessing, but he still has to persuade his grandfather. Atime knows his quest will benefit all the young men in his village. He implores(恳切) his grandfather to initiate the Dama. Eventually, the old man relents, even though it may seal his fate. The Dama, however, would not be this year for Atime’s village.