News Excerpt:
Climate change is threatening not just economic survival but also centuries-old rite. Heat waves threaten Sanke mon, a collective fishing rite in the southern Mali town of San.
About Sanke Mon:
- The Sanké mon commemorates the town's founding in San, in the Ségou region of Mali, every second Thursday of the seventh lunar month.
- It begins with sacrifices of roosters, goats, and offerings made by villagers to the water spirits of the Sanké pond.
- The collective fishing lasts for fifteen hours, using large and small mesh fishing nets.
- It is followed by a masked dance on the public square featuring Buwa dancers from San and neighbouring villages. They wear traditional costumes and hats decorated with cowrie shells and feathers and perform specific choreography to drum rhythms.
- The rite reinforces collective values of social cohesion, solidarity, and peace between local communities.
Threat to this Tradition
- Traditionally, Sanké mon marks the beginning of the rainy season and is an expression of local culture through arts, crafts, fisheries, and water resource knowledge.
- Climate change and heat waves are disturbing the tradition, with temperatures in Burkina Faso and Mali becoming 1.5°C hotter, according to the World Weather Attribution.
- Snake mon was inscribed in 2009 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. After this plans were made to dig deeper into the pond to prevent silting, but no action was taken.
- The disappearance of the Sanké pond threatens the centuries-old rite and the town's economic survival.
- Additional threats include a lack of awareness about its historical significance, declining attendance, occasional accidents during the event, environmental degradation of Sanké Lake due to inadequate rainfall, and urban development impacts.
