The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             Vodu: spiritual beings & their cult

•             Origin: Adja-Tado, ~1300

•             Place of Dynasty: Alladah / Adrah

•             Influence of Yorubá religious traditions

•             Dahomey = In the belly of Dan (the king Wegbadja is said to have buildt his palace on
Dan‘s grave after killing him)











                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             Multiplicity of Gods, Cults and Myths

•             Adopting easily to foreign traditions

•             Import of Ifá-Divination by king (now called Fa in the Fon and Ewe-language)

•             Mawu (female) and Lisa (male), stemming from Nana Buluku)

•             Mawu & Lisa sometimes considered as twins

•             Cult of twins: xoxo

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             Mawu – female

•             Ordering of the natural world, assisted by Da

•             Moon, Night, Freshness, Rest, Joy

•             Fertility, Motherhood, Gentleness, Forgiveness

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             Distribution of the forces acting in the world among the Vodu

•             World is a calabash floating inside water in another calabash

•             Da: Son of Mawu-Lisa (folkloristic approach) or a force manifesting itself in a number
of ways within the world

•             Da Ayido Hwedo: The rainbow (lit.: serpent)

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

                                           Principal Vodu

•             Heviesso (Sogbo): God of Thunder, his domain are the atmospheric phenomena

•             Sakpaté: a dual deity, his domain is the earth; lord of smallpox

•             Agbe-Naete: twins of opposite sex, sea & water

•             Age: His domain is the wild, uncultivated land, where no man lives



                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

                                   Two main Vodu without „domain“



•              Legba: intermediary between the groups of the Vodu; the youngest son of Mawu-Lisa



•              Gu: The God of Iron; the eldest son of Mawu-Lisa; belongs to a group of Sky-Gods;
assistant of Lisa in ordering the world of man

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             First day: Mawu puts cosmos into order and creates man

•             Second day: work interrupted,Gu appears

•             Third day: Man was given the senses & knowledge about the outside world

•             Fourth day: man is taught the technical skills

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             Mawu gave existence to mankind through forming the tohwiyo of each clan

•             Same essence/cult = same tohwiyo

•             Tohwiyo connects people to the world of the Gods and takes part in sending people to
the world

•             Tohwiyo gave the ancestor cult & the social rules to the clan

•             Ancestor-cult & special cult of tohwiyo

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             In the beginning the Creator himself formed men, later he withdrew

•             Now the tohwiyo & the ancestors are engaged in tis task

•             The ancestor becomes one part of the person, his joto; he selects the clay

•             The joto is linked to the se (the human soul), but not a „reincarnation“ of the
ancestor

                                  The Fon of Dahomey (R. of Benin)

•             The great Se = Mawu, the individual se is a part of it

•             Selido = the individual spiritual faculty of a person; life, feeling, personality

•             Kpoli = The person‘s destiny, identified by the Fa-Oracle

•             Ye = the indestructible part of the soul, that leaves man at the time of burial