Overview
The Xooy divination ceremony is organized in village squares among the Serer community in west-central Senegal prior to the rainy season. During this long nocturnal gathering, master seers known as Saltigues each in turn step into a designated circle, where they deliver predictions before a rapturous audience accompanied by the rhythm of drums. The Xooy ceremony provides answers to key issues for the community such as the rains, plagues or illnesses, and remedies. The combination of the Saltigues’ vibrant clothing, songs and dances, proverbs and riddles creates a colourful ceremony, high on drama, as these officiating priests – masters of the art of communication – hold the audience in suspense until daybreak. The Xooy is a major event in the national cultural calendar and constitutes a privileged forum for the expression and presentation of Serer cultural heritage. The Saltigues are...
This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.
Community and Authority
- Communities
- Senegal
- Languages
- Not specified in UNESCO dataset
- Cultural territories
- Senegal
- Countries
- Senegal
How the System Works
The Xooy divination ceremony is organized in village squares among the Serer community in west-central Senegal prior to the rainy season. During this long nocturnal gathering, master seers known as Saltigues each in turn step into a designated circle, where they deliver predictions before a rapturous audience accompanied by the rhythm...
Sources and Evidence
Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.
Field-Level Provenance
- title
- UNESCO DataHub field title_en
- preferredTitle
- UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
- summary
- UNESCO DataHub field description_en
- type
- UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
- countries
- UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
- categories
- ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
- relationships
- UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
- sourceUrl
- UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
- rights
- UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url
Original Source Metadata
Why This Record Is Credible
This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.
Cultural Access
Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.
Relationships
Review and Corrections
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