Title: The ancestral celebration of collective fishing in San, Mali: a tradition threatened by climate change
In the southern Malian city of San, a unique ancestral ceremony is taking place: the collective fishing of Sanké mon. Thousands of fishermen with conical nets stand side by side, waiting for the long-awaited signal. Their excitement is palpable, their songs resonate in the air filled with tradition. Then, in a synchronized gesture, they rush to a large muddy pond where they cast their nets, sinking up to their knees in the mud. One of them proudly brandishes a fish as long as his arm, to the cheers of the cheering crowd.
For several centuries, the inhabitants of San have gathered in June to celebrate Sanké mon, a collective fishing rite that begins with animal sacrifices and offerings to the water spirits of the Sanké basin. The ceremony, which features masked dancers and traditional costumes, is listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Site.
The marathon session of collective fishing celebrates the founding of the town and marks the start of the rainy season. However, climate change and heat waves are threatening this age-old tradition.
Village chief Mamadou Lamine Traoré laments the gradual disappearance of the Sanké pond due to heat waves in recent years. Temperatures hit a record high this year, reaching 48.5 degrees Celsius (119 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Emmanuel Doumbia, a local weather observer.
Mali’s unprecedented heat wave this year has also led to a spike in deaths. It began in March as many people in the predominantly Muslim country observed the holy month of Ramadan, fasting from sunrise to sunset.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre said that a lack of data in Mali made it impossible to know the number of heat-related deaths, but estimated that this year’s toll was likely in the hundreds, if not thousands.
An analysis published in April by the World Weather Attribution Project – an international team of scientists studying how human-induced climate change impacts extreme weather – found that the recent heatwave in the Sahel, a drought-prone region south of the Sahara, far exceeded all previous records.
Experts warn of more extreme weather to come.
At the previous annual Sanké mon fishing ceremony, men sweated as they plucked skinny chickens and cooked them on reeds, while dancers, wearing athletic socks or plastic sandals, adjusted their bracelets decorated with cowrie shells. A national flag fluttered limply on a worn flagpole along the edge of the trampled pond.
“This tradition was already anchored long before I was born,” said one of the participants, Amadou Coulibaly, who remains faithful despite the growing challenges.
When the ceremony was listed by UNESCO in 2009, plans included digging deeper into the pond to prevent it from silting up, Traoré said. Unfortunately, since then, no concrete action has been taken and the pond is starting to pose a problem. The reasons for this inaction remain unclear.
The disappearance of the pond would threaten not only the centuries-old rite but also the economic survival of the city if attention wanes, he stressed.
This noble, centuries-old tradition, combining ancestral rituals and communion with nature, is now confronted with an invisible but destructive enemy: climate change. If no measures are taken to protect the Sanké pond and preserve this tradition, the thousand-year-old history of San could well be threatened.
In this time of climate change and unprecedented challenges, it is imperative to raise awareness of the urgency of protecting these fragile cultural treasures before it is too late.