We are back in Accra, Ghana and will fly back to North America tonight. Internet access has been spotty and we have been busy. We traveled from Lome, Togo to Cotonou, Benin, which is one chaotic city. From Cotonou we went the 3 hours north to Abomy in what is called a bushtaxi. This is basically an old small/midsize Peugot or Toyota with a cracked windshield, no suspension(there are many potholes and speed bumps), no gauges that work, few door handles that work, sometimes a window roller that works or in one deluxe model a detached handle that people pass around.And there are always a lot of people in a bush taxi! The minimum is 6 plus the driver, not counting kids and considerable amounts of luggage. 3 passengers in the front bucket seat is not uncommon
Abomy is the seat of a significant kingdom also known as Dahomi, which was the colonial name of Benin under France. It is also known for the local people's significant adherence to voodoo religion, which is quite different from the Hollywood stereotypes, but is certainly dramatic.
Here is a description of a public voodoo ceremony performed in a very large laneway in a residential area between a voodoo temple and a local chief's house, which are often adjacent. We did not take any pictures at this event, (I adopted a policy of not risking the pissing off of voodoo priests) but a friend of our guide was shooting a video and we may get access to this when it is edited.
Night- we head back for the voodoo initiation ceremony rescheduled for tonight after last nights rain delay - by 8:15PM when we arrive about 200 people ring the performance under leafy boughs and lit by a compact fluorescent bulb strung into the tree and a 48” fluorescent tube strapped to the phone pole. A few young people- are in costume and taking turns dancing along with a couple of adults. 5 yrs is youngest- initiated last year- excellent dancer. Heads are covered and ladies have traditional clothes.
8:30? A stream of people dressed in robes, headdresses, skirts. Multiple necklaces etc issue forth from the temple entrance. They cross the dance area and going behind the drummers pass a cement metre square cubicle protecting a fetish where people bow or pat respect. The crowd squeezes together to avoid contact with the procession, in particular the aggressive leader in white robes, bearing a white hatchet and emitting high pitched yells. Returning to the dance area, where the drummers keep playing, pairs of the new arrivals take turns dancing in the fluid, multiple movements of voodoo dance, interspersed with repeated sideways barrel rolls, taking off on the right foot and landing on the left.
One dancer has a large (70 cm) wooden penis about 15-20cm in diameter with a horse tail on the back end- balanced on his head. He sprawls on a mat beside the dance area, and plays the buffon- rising on occasion to take a turn dancing.
A man is video taping the dancers with a handheld halogen light with a long extension cord. Dancers perform for the camera and while the dancer’s feet are moving quickly and somewhat erratically to my eyes, dancers cross the extension cord with meticulous care. Hats and headdresses often fly off in the action of the dance, to be picked up by a waiting dancer for owner reunion later. After several dances, the drummers speed up and dance frenzy increases. Finally the dancers stop and five of the group form a line facing the drummers and a mature woman, with a man by her side who acts as her speaker. A 13ish year old boy, initiate is in the middle of the line and steps forward to respond to the woman. The speaker calls for contributions to the initiate’s fund. Each person contributing raises the money and the speaker takes it shouting their name and amount proferred. Josephat tells us to give 500 CFAs each- about $2 CAD- Kenzie hears him shout 1000 CFAS from the blancs (whites) – we are the only ones there. This goes on for 20-30 minutes until no more offers come from the crowd. Change is provided when requested.
All songs are played / sung in a prescribed order. Male and female elders are seated on plastic chairs or wooden benches in a row facing the drummers and the dancer huddle. The crowd fills the spaces in between. Camera guy starts panning the crowd near us and respectable looking middle aged guy beside me makes a beeline for the back of the crowd. The queen dances along with two retainers. Mostly stately dancing, but she busts out some moves towards the end, losing part of her headpiece.
Eventually the drummers start up again and the initiate does a dance, pairs start again slowly for the first song or so, but things soon heat up and dancers compete for turns on the floor and number of sequential spins and barrel rolls. We are getting close to the end and the hatchet guy in white starts charging the crowd. People part like the Red Sea wherever he goes and Josephat grabs us and pushes us into the crowd, when he runs past behind us. I learn later that if he catches a person they will be carried about above his head, as he is possessed with superhuman strength now. Circling behind the drummers and tree, he emerges with about a mid-size motorcycle upside down on his shoulder, gas pouring out of the tank behind him as he continues to menace the crowd. We wait for an opening and make a hasty exit for our bikes as the crowd disperses.- 10:30 PM
There is no party like a voodoo party. We also attended a smaller and more intense event that we will edit for private showing.
However voodoo and African traditional religions are very meaningful for people and contain strong codes for moral behaviour as I will attempt to portray in the posting below:
Ruminations: French West Africa, Togo and Benin at least are distinctly different in atmosphere from Ghana. First, almost everyone of every age speaks French, where many people in Ghana do not speak English. Kenzie suggests that French colonial practices where everyone is essentially a French Citizen is a factor. The quality of the spoken French is much easier to understand than Quebecois. There is little of the nasal tone and it is often more sung than spoken- the greeting Bon Soir for example. There are fewer tourists and most of them are French- while we often hear YavoYavo (white person) called out, it is delivered with less aggression than the Ghanaian Obruni and the constant Ghanaian handshakes. Here people are less likely to get up and accost you, they would rather sit and make a loud PSSST noise several times to attract your attention.
Voodoo religion is part of everyday life here, with fertility fetish shrines to Leba , sporting large erect penises outside villages and compounds. While Christianity and Islam have a visible presence here, they do not dominate the landscape as in Ghana, where Christian slogans grace so many stores and vehicles and the variety and number of churches and mosques is large. Voodoo worship has been going on here for centuries and somehow it seems to fit in with the people, landscape, and culture. A theme that comes up again and again here is the complexity of life, for example in the arts of many cultural groups there are key representations of multiple heads looking in different directions, but mounted on a single body, or the Asante bird that flies forwards and looks backwards to demonstrate that looking backwards to remember what you have forgotten is important. Life is not a straight line in West African cosmologies, but more a potentially dangerous passage through the world of the living that may impede one’s future status in the spirit world. Rituals are practiced to confirm continuity, but of all the forces involved - not just of life. These are necessary steps to keep some order to life, while recognizing how little control one has over changing circumstances. Christianity, Islam, and Voodoo worship all offer assurances and a certain sense of “order and coherence,” however voodoo keeps you guessing as to what is next and often exacts a tribute to find out and impact it.
Josophat told Kenzie that some people dislike the Catholic confession system because it is private, rather than social and the penalties are not severe enough to make it hurt and thus yield penance- whereas at shrine worship in Dagbamete the size of the action, sacrifice, or payment due reflects the size of the transgression. This is often negotiated between the transgressor and the voodoo priest, much as a purchase in the market- this may be part of it, while you must bow down and respect the voodoo priest and by extension the gods, one can negotiate through discussion with the priest, a visit to the bokun /diviner where counters are tossed, or throwing of the animal to land on its side, or for the animal to stay down when lowered by the voodoo priest. While one respects and may be in awe of a god, one is in a social relationship with said god on an ongoing daily basis, not just an obligatory weekly spirit wash.
All for now and I hope you are well
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