I learned a lot of things about the religions of the people in these countries. For instance, Animism (voodoo), Islam and Christianity are the three biggest beliefs. But many people who are Christian still believe in and practice voodoo. But no voodoo has been mixed with Islam. This is because when missionaries came through western Africa, they had to compromise with the indigenous people's beliefs to get them to listen to the gospel. Interesting, huh?
In Benin, I went to a village that practiced Christianity and voodoo. We took a canoe to get there.
Matthias, our guide showed us some of the ways the local people catch fish, crabs, and shrimp. Matthias said he is a Christian and practices voodoo as well.
Matthias and a fishing basket
And a fish!
We took a little tour of the little village. Every so often, there would be a sacrificing area in which a voodoo spirit lived. What one does is make a request and promise a gift to the spirit for said request. When your request has been answered one must give the gift (a sacrifice, usually a chicken or goat) to the voodoo spirit by spilling the blood on the altar. The people then use the rest of the animal (the meat and hide).
An alter with a huge *ahem* "man part" sticking out.
He looks friendly
In the picture above, the stains on the spirit are years of blood from the sacrificial animals. I went in there. Imagine the smell...
We attended a voodoo "ceremony" as well. I say "ceremony" in quotes because the voodoo priest (the older gentleman in the red) comes out with this voodoo decorated bottle which looked legit. However, he then proceeds to fill the thing with whiskey from another bottle (which I could smell from 10 feet away) and a bit of burned plants to make his magical concoction.
The priest had some, the priest's assistant had some and then offered it to us. A few people were brave enough to try.
Kaye about to drink voodoo mix
Jakob drinking
Then after everyone who wanted a shot had a shot, the priest and his assistant pretty much downed the 2/3rds of the bottle that was left. I'm sure they felt very magical after that!
In the village, people were just going about their daily lives:
Bath time!
Older lady and her goats
House
A unhappy baby (Don't worry, mom came and scooped her up right after this picture was taken. Baby turned happy!)
It was almost sunset when we left. We got complimentary coconuts and drank the milk and ate the flesh on our canoe ride back.
- Sent from Africa using my iPad
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