A Surprise Voodoo Celebration

You never know what a day will be like here. You wake up with a plan, a hope for what you would like to accomplish and you let Benin do the rest.  Two weekends ago I thought I was going to give a lesson to my Care Group on making hand washing stations with using a small amount of resources. I did accomplish my goal for the day but then things took a surprise turn. First mistake, deciding to attend a celebration without knowing beforehand exactly what type of celebration it would be. I was invited to this particular party by a work partner in the village of Kikele, about 7km away from me. She explained that it was an annual celebration of her family. So I assumed it would be a typical Beninese celebration where I'd get fed, so I definitely wasn't saying no to that. 

It began with her leading me behind a cluster of houses where a tent had been set up with chairs underneath. Men, women, and children were dressed in their finest clothes. I sat with the immediate family of my work partner and watched as a man with a small broom in his hand prayed over people and they in turn gave him money. He came and prayed over me in a language I didn't understand, he could have honestly been praying that I give him all of my money and I wouldn't have known. I gave him 200cfa, which is less than 50cents and he went on his way. Once this was finished a traditional music troupe began to play and it was then that things began to get a little strange.

The crowd started to move toward the music and dance. I noticed women were really absorbed in their dancing, even more than I have observed at other Beninese celebrations that I've attended. One women was dancing with her eyes closed, sweating profusely and then had to be carried away to sit down. It is then that I noticed a large male goat tied next to a small mound of clay dirt with brown liquid poured into the dent that had been made on top. People began kneeling around this mound and praying on their money before dropping it to the ground. The intensity of their faces while praying is what really fascinated me. As far as I could see they were just praying to a mound of dirt. It wasn't until I asked someone next to me that I understood what it was that I was witnessing.

The woman told that it was a voodoo celebration and the people on the ground were praying to their voodoo Gods for help with various problems in their life.  The cousin of my work partner explained that some people were praying for their families and ancestors and then knelt down and started praying herself. I know that my co-worker comes from a Muslim family yet this was what everyone was taking turns doing. At that time people began to clear from the around the mound and four men brought the goat over.  At this point I knew what was happening. They were going to sacrifice this animal. It wasn't my first time seeing an animal sacrificed. What surprised me were all the small children around. Children still in their mothers’ arms were watching as the goats neck was held over the mound and cut. Blood squirted into the dent and I was close enough to it all to get blood on my foot. Some children were closer than that.

The dancing was started again and this time with even more intensity. At one point a woman started screaming in local language. My new-found interpreter explained that the woman had been possessed by the spirit of her ancestors and was eliciting all the pain that they had experienced. She was recalling the wrong the Europeans had done to her family and was literally crying at this point. Since I was the only American at this function I felt this was the best time for me to make my exit. I slid out the back and as I was saying goodbye to the family of the coworker, two elderly women walked by and threw two bowls of water on me. My coworker assured me that this was not done with bad intent. At any rate, I was now confused and wet. So I found the first taxi-moto I saw and made a quick exit home.

So I wasn't completely lied to, it was a "family celebration".  It was held to bring together a family for the purpose of celebrating being a family. It was a celebration connecting family members present and those who have already passed. In celebrating the family they had to also recognize the pain that their family had experienced. I noted that Christians and Muslims were worshiping the voodoo mound. I believe that that is because Voodoo is something that is significant to the culture of their family’s culture; something which I have also found to be significant to the culture of the Beninese in general. This is the opinion from an outsider looking in.