Culture in Benin

The West African slave trade may have ceased many centuries ago, but its legacy can be observed today in unexpected ways. As well as the slave forts and chilling Door of No Return, there is a town that stands in the middle of a lake, and the impressive, fortress-like compounds of the Somba people – both of which were created as a way to defend the tribes against kidnap by slave raiders. Here are a few of our top ways to experience culture in Benin.

Forget about voodoo dolls. This most enigmatic of religions originated in Benin, and while versions of it were exported across the Atlantic along with the slaves, most notably to Haiti and Louisiana, it is still found in its purest form in Benin, where it is more commonly called vodun or vodoun. Voodoo penetrates much of Beninese daily life. Visitors to markets will reveal fetish stalls, with animal fetuses and skeletons – as well as dead animals which have been prepares for rituals. Fetishes are literally objects which are believed to have innate powers and connections with the spirit world. As well as the animal fetishes, they can take the form of shrines – places where animals are sacrificed, wooden stakes are hammered and people make requests to the spirits, sometimes via a the chief of the shrine. Small fetishes like this exist across Benin, in backyards and compounds, but the most famous is the Dankoli shrine – a mound of festering blood, guts, bones and feathers which is believed to be the most powerful of all. Witnessing a sacrifice here – usually of a chicken, sometimes a goat – is not for the faint hearted. Rum is spat onto the fetish, cash is left to ensure a response – requests are usually granted within a year. But be careful of making a request of your own – if your wish is granted, you must thank the gods by making a sacrifice; they won’t be pleased if you don’t.

The Vodoun Festival takes place in Ouidah every year on 10th January, and is the hugest event in the voodoo calendar. It draws followers who transform into their chosen God, adopting their characteristics. The Zangbeto look like giant, walking grass skirts, while the Egungun – the most powerful – are covered entirely in colourful patchwork. There are ritual sacrifices, plus dancing, drinking and the constant pounding of drums.

In the middle of Lake Nokoué in southern Benin, an entire town can be found – in stilted, bamboo houses, sheltering some 20,000 residents. This unusual set up was created around four centuries ago, when the Tofinu people fled from the Fon tribe of the Dahomey Kingdom, who were out to capture people to sell into slavery. Knowing the Fon’s traditional taboos surrounding water and those who lived in it, the Tofinu – who had no such qualms – headed into the lake and set up homes here, and thus evaded capture.

In the arid landscapes of northern Benin live the Somba people – also known as the Batammariba. They live in the areas around Natititingou, and over the border in Togo where they are known as the Taberma. Until the 1990s, the Somba were almost entirely cut off from the outside world, wearing traditional dress, hunting, herding and practising their own beliefs. Today, their lifestyles remain very traditional – but tourists are drawn to this remote region to see the Somba’s incredible fortress-like homes, known as tatas.

Photo credits:[Top box: Christian COSTEAUX] [Helpdesk - Somba woman: Jacques Taberlet] [Explore the spirit of voodoo: David Stanley] [Get festive: David Stanley] [Stay in a stilted town: David Stanley] [Somba tatas: Erik Kristensen] [Architecture: Babylas]