Vodou in Benin

Thomas Houessou-Adin

The Republic of Benin, West Africa, is the home of the Vodun religion. In their overwhelming majority, the Beninese people, despite past and current assaults against Vodun, whether overtly or covertly, have remained steadfast in their indefectible support of their ancestral Vodun religion. Benin and Vodun make a natural combination. In fact, Vodun and the Republic of Benin (formerly Republic of Dahomey) are inseparable. Vodun is a word in the Fongbe language, one of the languages spoken in Benin. The word Vodun means “spirit” and is used to denote both African deities (Vodun lebt: all deities, all divinities or gods) and the worship of the deities (Vodun sin sen: the belief in and worship of Vodun). The meaning of Vodun is beyond the various representations or emblems that we may see because Vodun is, in fact, the invisible spiritual force that inhabits those representations. In view of this, the Nubudo ...

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