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BENIN
When I read that voodoo (voudou) originated in Benin, I just had to go to see for myself. |
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Benin
Enter Benin's sun-scorched landscape, stilt villages and flamboyant markets. A land of voodoo, fetishes and traditional medicine. The world of Benin: a place hidden away in the green folds of west Africa; a place that few have heard of, but a place that will leave you enchanted by its spell.* |
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Voodoo has over fifty million believers in west Africa alone and a huge following in parts of the Caribbean, South America, and southern United States.*
There are general principles behind Voodoo and most African 'tribal' religions.*
These lesser gods have a particular job to do.*
Humans are not perfect; and suffering, sickness and death are all a part of the cycle of life and are delivered as a punishment for sins that have offended the gods.*
This means that the living must interact with the spirit world and keep the dead and the unborn happy.*
They can also be 'invited' into something manmade, through which a priest can communicate with them more easily.*
Some of these objects guarantee you a safe journey, some promise pregnancy and others guarantee that a member of the opposite sex will fancy you.*
Beninese magic is of religious significance and is used for healing.*
The priests of Voodoo are ritual leaders who oversee most religious matters and ceremonies.*
Healers or witch doctors have the ability to cure a range of physical, mental and spiritual illnesses using a mixture of natural medicines and supernatural intervention.*
The national religion of Benin is Voodoo,one can find a fetish vendor at any market, and with some searching a voodoo priest may let you visit their home filled with Voodoo statues, tools, and trinkets.*
Small though it is, Benin manages to pack an awful lot of tribal variety into its compact form.*
The second biggest of the southern groups are the Yoruba, who came originally from western Nigeria and now make up around 12% of the overall population.*
The Gate of No Return is the high arched gateway at the head of the beach covered in murals depicting the journeys of the slaves.
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For a start there is no Voodoo equivalent of the Bible, and its customs, legends and theology are not written down by religious leaders.*
Voodoo is an animistic religion whose roots stretch back thousands of years.*
There is one Supreme Being who is the creator and controller of all life.*
People speak to these lesser gods through prayers, sacrifices and rituals, and the lesser gods communicate the messages on to the Supreme being.*
Some of these sins can be amended through rituals, prayers and sacrifices.*
Voodoo includes hundreds of different gods -- in fact when a person dies his or her soul turns into a spirit, which is an advantage as a spirit has supernatural powers.*
These manmade objects are called shrines or fetishes.*
Mediums are people who can contact the spirit world through possession by the spirits.*
Chickens and goats are the most frequently sacrificed creatures.*
Healers or witch doctors have the ability to cure a range of physical, mental and spiritual illnesses using a mixture of natural medicines and supernatural intervention.*
Ganvie is a village in the West African country of Benin. The people began building their village on Lake Nokoué to escape the threat of slave trading tribes. The people of Ganvie rely mostly on fishing for food and all their daily activities are done by boat or on a boat.*
Within its seven-million-odd citizens are over 20 different tribal groups, each with a distinctly different history, language and culture.*
In the town of Porto-Novo and Ouidah you may come across people of half-caste origin. These are the Creoles, descended from former slaves, who have returned to their homeland.*
Lac Nakoue is a dominating feature of the town and it's easy to arrange a trip out on its calm waters to visit the nearby stilt village of Aguegue...*
To get the most out of a trip to Benin it is absolutely essential to travel out of the towns and cities, off the beaten track and into the villages.*
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Although Voodoo is actually followed only by the Fon people, other religions may well be based on the same principles.*
Its name means 'god', 'spirit' or 'power' in the Fon language; and its adherents believe in the power of nature and the natural forces that course through everything.*
The creator has a number of lesser gods, spirits or other forms to aid him in watching over all life.*
Everything in the universe is a part of the whole and everything is linked.*
All life is communal, even of those who are dead or as yet unborn; they remain part of the living community.*
Gods and spirits may be everywhere at all times, but their presence is stronger in some places than in others.*
When there is no shrine available, many Beninese carry around some kind of sacred object: a necklace, amulet or charm with religious or mystical powers.*
Trance is brought on in Voodoo ceremonies through the beat of drums and other musical instruments playing repetitively over and over again until the spirit is summoned and enters into a human body.*
Diviners have the ability to reveal secrets of the past, present and future thanks to their rapport with certain spirits or gods.*
The people in the north of the country live in mud huts known as tata somba. The tata somba are unique in that they are not just a single room hut but can have multiple levels and multiple rooms.*
They have built all their houses and other buildings on stilts which raise their houses above the water. The city is right in the middle of the lagoon, and the only way to reach it is by boat, there are about 20,000 people living in this city.*
The biggest and best-known group is the Fon, who comprise some 40% of the overall population and whose language, Fon, is the most widely spoken local language in the country.*
In the north of the country tribal groups tend to be smaller and many more people dress traditionally than in the big southern towns. The big groups up here are the Bariba, Betammaribe (or Somba) and Dendi people.*
You'll discover a forest's worth of fruit and vegetables, an ever-growing range of cheap plastic tack, mounds of bright materials, smelly piles of fishy and meat, all sorts of household goods and an interesting fetish market...*
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*These captions are from Benin - Bradt's travel guide.