Vodun Days · Why we exist
We did not arrive in this story through tourism. We were born into it. What we offer today comes from an observation made from the inside, over years, from the place of those who organise.
The origin
His name was Adetelou Gbinvlamin Agbessi Houndohome. He was the first Hounon, and the first of our family to set foot in Sogbadji. Seeing his bearing and his aura, Zossoungbo, chief of the land, had Dehoue Aglametoka grant him a place at Houxwe.
Then he took to the sea, and the sea did not give him back. So each year, during the Xwetanou, his daughters and sons went to carry him his offerings, to remind him that he was remembered. That is what 10 January was, at the beginning. Nothing national. A family that does not forget.
Hounon means mother of the sea. The title belongs to the one who managed to tame it. Our tutelary deity, Agbe, is a miniature of the sea. Those who truly know us know our temperament is never far from what one would grant the ocean.
Zossoungbo was chief of the land, and he remained so. But before the strength, the power and the unequalled wisdom of the first Hounon, everything that existed prior to his arrival was entrusted to him.
For Hounon is not one title among others. It is the title of the highest dignitary of the Vodun universe, and it was entrusted to him across the whole extent of Beninese territory.
Ouidah has never been a city of kings in the ordinary sense of the word. If one had to speak of a kingdom here, it would be the Vodun Kingdom, and Dada Daagbo Hounon would be its only king.
That is what ought to be established, and what would be established if things were done as they should be. The title has always existed. The charge has been held. Vodun was carried across the world through his many travels, until he became one of the high religious figures of his time. Only formal recognition is missing.
What the sea carried away next
It is the same sea that carried our brothers and sisters away, by force, to the other side. In time, what had been homage to one became homage to all. Rites were devoted to them, even as several guarantors were not in favour.
Those who knew the first 10 January ceremonies led by Dada Daagbo Hounon Houna 1 remember the moment when the true ceremony began, at the water's edge. Those rites existed long before the date became official. They had two reasons.
To let those who died on the way find peace, and find their own again in the beyond.
To grant a succession to those who had taken the sea, so that African traditions would not die over there, but be reborn stronger.
It happened, after repeated hardships, that the Fa revealed in consultation the need to carry offerings to the sea, for those on the other side or to appease those who fell into it. So much was done for us to deserve this return to the black land of our brothers and sisters born over there.
And it was to complete that work that our grandfather travelled himself to the other side, to show them his struggle and his responsibility. Nobody else in the world had done it. He did not give his life to that work for nothing, and he brought it safely to port.
That is how things stood before the authorities decided to validate this celebration of the endogenous cults. A family ceremony, become a ceremony for the deported, become 10 January, become the Vodun Days.
The observation
I have always had the chance to take part in organising 10 January, and to hold positions of responsibility there. That place let me understand certain things, and see what we had to improve so that what we do would truly be felt, including by the public.
What I saw was that there was not enough mediation. People leave thousands of kilometres behind. They spend energy, money, time. And once here, all they face is what looks like stage theatre, of which they understand nothing. A ceremony unfolds, and there is nobody to explain it.
This is no reproach to the state. We know very well that a government cannot go beyond what it is able to offer. We are here to offer what it cannot.
The answer
Young people from Ouidah, trained to know each cult and to render it as it should be. Every step. Every dance. Every drum. Every costume, every piece of cloth. Everything that appears before you, they must be able to say.
And the quarters of Ouidah with it: their key points, their histories. So that once here, you finally know why this town is called the world capital of Vodun.
The idea holds in one sentence. To make this no longer a tourism you look at, but a tourism you live.
You no longer come to see. You experience these realities.
All year round
Our programme is set across the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. You come when you have the time, and you do what you came to do.
Initiations
We are here for that.
Ceremonies
Carried by those to whom they belong, never replayed for an audience.
The return
You are a descendant. You come to find where your people came from. We open access to your family house and to your own ceremony.
The rest of Benin
The heritage is not limited to Ouidah. From south to north, the same depth of exploration, in the other towns.
We are specialised in memorial tourism and in everything touching the cult. If someone truly decides to come to Africa to restore themselves and learn from this heritage, we are here to offer it.
What we open
Access to the guarantors. Access to the family heads. Access to the right people. Access to the libraries. We let you experience this knowledge we hold of nature, then decide for yourself whether you could put it into words.
We work with the dignitaries and with the appointed and sworn conservators of each place. People who did not learn this from documents. They were born into it, they live from it, they answer for it.
No theorists.
Yes. Before any political decision, it was the homage paid by the daughters and sons of the first Hounon to their patriarch, Adetelou Gbinvlamin Agbessi Houndohome, who went to sea and never returned. His offerings were carried to him during the Xwetanou, to remind him that he was remembered. The homage to one man later became the homage to all those the same sea carried away.
Mother of the sea. The title belongs to the one who managed to tame it. Our tutelary deity, Agbe, is a miniature of the sea, and those who truly know us know our temperament is never far from what one would grant the ocean.
From observation, after years spent organising 10 January from the inside, in positions of responsibility. What was missing was not the beauty of the ceremonies, it was mediation. People cross thousands of kilometres, spend time, money and energy, and find themselves before what looks like stage theatre. A ceremony unfolds, and there is nobody there to explain it.
By training young people from Ouidah to know each cult and to render it as it should be: every step, every dance, every drum, every costume. And to know the quarters, their key points and their histories, so the visitor finally understands why Ouidah is called the world capital of Vodun.
No. Our programme covers the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. You come when you have the time, and you do what you came to do. January concentrates the crowd, not the depth.
We open access to the guarantors, to the family heads, to the right people, to the libraries. For a descendant searching for where their people came from, this can reach the family house and their own ceremony. For those who come for the knowledge, it goes as far as experiencing it, then deciding for yourself whether you could put it into words.
No. Beninese heritage is not limited to Ouidah. We are anchored across the territory, from south to north, and we work with the dignitaries and conservators of each place.
Appointed and sworn conservators who did not learn this from documents. They were born into it, they live from it, they answer for it. No theorists.
Whatever your means. Whatever time you have. Whatever the need.
Write to us in one sentence, even an imprecise one. Someone from the family answers you from Ouidah, and you will know very quickly what is possible.