Mboudaye Ngoocool, memory and mysteries of Ndiaganiao (2/2) January 31, 2026
On December 28, 2025, on the occasion of the second day of the “Serer Music, Sacred Music” (Msms) festival, Ndiaganiao had a rare experience: a traveling conference towards the sacred places, carried by ancestral songs, woven loincloths and the words of the wise. A deep immersion in the Serer spiritual universe, where trees are not simple plant silhouettes, but living memories, social institutions and voices that still speak to men.
It is 4:30 p.m. when the caravan sets off. The sun, still high, imposes its law and envelopes the sandy track in a light at the end of its reign. In front, two children lead the way. The youngest. Two rhythmic steps, a knee bend, then two more steps. The movement repeats itself, sober, controlled, far from any jerky dance. Here, the body does not show off: it signifies.
Around them, the women sing ancestral songs. Deep, inhabited voices, which carry the memory of departures and the continuity of life. Their loins girded with woven loincloths, young people hold knotted pieces of fabric at arm’s length, symbols of filiation and belonging.
Two horse carts, richly furnished with traditional loincloths, bring up the rear. A dense crowd follows, silent and collected, towards the sacred places. Under the baobabs which dominate the landscape, a sentence imposes itself, almost naturally, like an intimate rewriting. Here, one can proudly say, “I am proud of the Serer blood that flows in my veins.”
Men, women, old people, children: a whole people heading towards their roots. Stopover at the “boudaye Ngoocool proudly installed in the middle of the Ndiandiaye district, a cheese maker. A colossal tree, solidly rooted, full of virtues and stories. Under its shade, the atmosphere changes. Time seems to stand still.
Old Samba Ndong, grandson and namesake of Samba Mbissane Ndong, the man who planted the tree, speaks. His voice, full of memories, rises gently and draws the audience into the telling of a story where roots and memory mingle. This cheese maker is not a tree like the others. “I can say that it is the National Assembly of Ndiaganiao,” he confides. “all important decisions are made here, with the participation of all the wise people.
Under this palaver tree, speech is collective and sovereign. According to Mr. Ndong, no danger lurks around him, whatever the time. A foreigner or a resident can spend the night there in peace. The tree protects, brings together, reassures. Then comes the founding story. The one that gives meaning to the name Ngoocool. Originally, explains old Samba Ndong, the cheese maker had grown on the wall of a woman’s hut. At night, the tree buzzed, preventing her from sleeping. An informed man then understood that this tree should neither be cut down nor thrown away: it carried virtues.
Read also: Ndiaganiao to the rhythm of the sacred (1/2)
In fact, he transplanted it in front of his house. Every morning, before the cow from the compound left to graze, the woman placed a little peanut hay near the tree. The cow ate there, always at the foot of the cheese maker. oblong shape).
From then on, the inhabitants spoke of the “boudaye Ngoocool (Ngoocool cheese maker). The name was born, the legend too. Around the big tree, the participants take ritual tours. The drums resonate gently. Not to entertain, but to summon the spirits, awaken the memory, remind us that among the Serer, nature is a language. The trees speak to those who know how to listen.
This traveling conference is neither a fixed folklore nor a simple reconstruction. It is an act of transmission. A way of saying that the sacred is not only read in books, but is walked, sung and shared. In Ndiaganiao, this evening, the trees spoke. And an entire people responded to them.
Adama NDIAYE
