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.
