Sacred Lands: Benin's Spiritual Guardianship, Voodoo, Tradition, And Survival

the beating heart of west africa lies without a doubt in benin it is a mysterious country populated by strange gods and ghosts where ancestral spirits reign over the fate of the living this place is the link between life and death our spirits are hiding here if this house disappears our ancestors will disappear too and they won't be able to do any more for us armed with a powerful spirituality these men and women are fighting to protect their heritage they are the sentinels of benin an incessant buzz rises and falls but never stops porta novo the capital of benin wouldn't be the same without the touring and throwing of its motorcycle taxis or sami zhang zemi jean meaning get me there fast in the fun language is a popular form of transport despite the threat they pose to passengers and pedestrians of both the two-legged and four-legged variety [Music] [Music] every morning attendee gets on his motorbike and crosses the city in search of customers [Music] hey how are you good i want to go to that crossroads over there how much do you charge 200 climb on [Music] [Music] i mean five liters please here's your 200 francs thanks bye give me five liters i'm in a hurry there's no oil in benin but nigeria has vast reserves benin is unemployed by cut price fuel on the other side of the border and bring it back here to sell service stations are too expensive we can't afford it but i have a family and farming doesn't pay well enough to feed them all year round so during the dry season i run a taxi service it helps us to make ends meet [Music] what's good about this place is that puerto nova is a cosmopolitan city that attracts people from all over benin and even foreigners there are lots of old colonial buildings but also hotels and restaurants which bring together people from all over africa and the rest of the world i'm really proud of my city porta novo the fiefdom of the goon and yoruba peoples has been enriched by numerous architectural influences over the course of its turbulent history before becoming french it was a portuguese trading post in the 18th century slaves were carted off to brazil from here in their thousands the majority of them were muslim and they took their god with them to south america after the abolition of slavery some of the slaves descendants crossed back over the atlantic to settle on the land of their ancestors these afro-brazilians built this baroque mosque by hand modeled on salvador cathedral in bayer with just one difference the great mosque is topped by a crescent instead of a cross [Music] here in benin the mix of architectural styles and the religious syncretism have never bothered anyone islam and christianity have had no choice but to accept the presence of animist cults that are as old as africa herself what unites us all here is voodoo as soon as i wake up in the morning i start praying to my deities only after i've done that can i get on my motorbike and head out in search of customers benin is the birthplace of voodoo with its 50 million followers worldwide practiced in secret behind closed doors or in the open such as here in this temple shaped like a termite mound voodoo is a powerful and demanding master for its followers is a high-ranking initiate he plays a crucial role in his own voodoo community summoned for a ceremony he leaves the city centre to return to his village on the outskirts of porto novo voodoo has a pantheon of god symbolizing the forces of nature atene's village is protected by revioso the god of storms and lightning review sometimes represented by iran is invoked several times a year by the villagers if he appears he will take possession of an initiated [Music] [Music] [Music] the village's voodoo priest leads the ceremony he is assisted by cult leaders from the surrounding area your children haven't come to worship you empty-handed have mercy on us and grant us longevity may any enemy who decides to persecute us find you blocking their power the sacrifices are made voodoo musicians signal to their deity that the ritual has been completed suddenly it's all happening appeared he has taken possession of a follower go away you haven't been initiated you can't touch him stand him up stand him up and hold him hold him it is the taxi driver who has only just arrived but is already in a trance he has grabbed hold of a villager and it has taken four people to free the man give him some water the trance is dangerous only a few well-prepared initiates can serve as a receptacle for the powerful voodoo god atenye is one of them and he plays this role in his community but now that he is possessed he has lost control of himself [Music] [Applause] the priests have dragged him to the sacred hut to prepare him for the rest of the ceremony [Music] it's time for the celebrations to begin they must drum chant and dance with all their might to obtain the blessing of ravioso who has appeared on earth among men [Applause] the purple loincloth the colour of lightning and the straps on the costume symbolize the bonds between the possessed man and his god placing themselves under his protection the faithful asked the deity for good health good luck and prosperity for their village despite all the cliches voodoo is a benevolent religion for its initiates and the wider community now that the spirit the strength and the soul of the lightning god has entered anthony's body he no longer knows what is happening if you meet him later anthony will tell you that he doesn't know what happened if you ask him and say to him but you were dancing just now he will just reply so [Laughter] spirituality is very important especially voodoo because voodoo embraces rich and it embraces young and old voodoo brings together the different strata of society 92 percent of the beneni's practice voodoo even those who claim to be religious when they have problems they turn to voodoo to solve them the entire population belongs to this age-old secret cult in order to understand the beninese you must take an interest in their spirituality but also their geography situated in west africa benin is a small narrow country covering a surface area of 115 000 square kilometers its 10 million inhabitants are divided into 40 ethnic groups spread across the country in the north a swampy hilly region populated by farmers and shepherds live muslim nomads such as the animist samba or fuller people the south with its atlantic coast has the greatest concentration of benanese people the majority of whom are fon the boggy plain is strewn with mangrove swamps legumes and lakes cotton the economic hub of benin with its seven hundred thousand inhabitants stretches along the banks of lake nookway which is connected to the atlantic by a long channel [Music] on the other side of this lake sheltered from the roar of the city lives a singular group of people the tophanu who have taken up residence in the lakeside village of gombie [Music] fifty thousand tophanu live on the water's edge in ganvier they have their own language fishing is their only resource and perogues their only mode of transport [Music] bubba fuji 65 years old is a fisherman too oh your kids working hard yes thanks i've finished for the day he divides his time between his two homes on stilts each housing one of his two wives and their respective children the wives meet regularly to discuss important family business is going to bring in the fish tomorrow yes he told me would you come and sell it with me all right at the market we could enlist the help of other women if it's a good catch we could sell it over two days if we sell it all in one go [Music] yes why not so we agree then look closely hubert my site isn't what it used to ah be a hole there watch how i fix it you thread this through here and then you do it again you see baba has six children but it is hubert age 12 whom he has chosen to be his partner and successor in the art of traditional fishing any father who brings a child into the world wants that child to surpass him i want him to learn well and to continue the tradition i must pass on all that i know so that he can enhance the family's reputation they found refuge in the middle of the lake thanks to the deities that protected them [Music] which rescued the tothanu people from the slavehunters in the 18th century remains the sole refuge of a people with a very special language and way of life that has withstood the standardization of the modern world [Music] wake up time to get up come on [Music] it's five in the morning the floating market at gonvier is in full swing the fishermen come here for supplies before their working day on the lake sell me some of that shall we i want a hundred frank's worth of moyo also a hundred francs worth of a casa and i'll pay you [Music] [Music] more than fishermen the tufano people are sea farmers all around gombie they keep fish farms which are like sea paddocks when they planted palm leaves in their saltwater lake they invented these akka jars or artificial mangrove swamps which have provided them with a means of substance for three centuries this is the net that needs changing it's gone slack in the water look how dirty it is yeah let's stop here if we don't repair the net we'll be in trouble we might lose all the fish after several months of waiting bubba fuji zakaja is ready to be harvested tomorrow with the help of hubert who will accompany him for the first time he plans to raise his first net it's an important day in the year of a tougher new fisherman i'm going to tell you a story as you know they can't just come from our ancestors in their day they didn't practice fish farming the way we do now they fished with rods in front of their houses and that was it but one of them came up with the idea of planting branches in the mud to attract the fish that's how this type of fishing started it's like a home for the fish because they can get food here which fattens them up they dig holes and lay eggs here and the fish grow up in the enclosure when the time comes we close the nets and lift out the fish we'll see tomorrow it's a good system when they're not working on their akka jars the tougher new people fall back on subsistence fishing it's a technique called casting oh dear i didn't cast that very well that's no way to pass on the skill there's nothing in i'll show you how it's done put your hand here like this look at my hand you see come on yeah that's how you cast it if you've prepared your net properly it should be easy to cast nets yeah you better go on hubert you take your net show me how you cast it tonight you'll have nothing to eat it takes a long time to learn how to cast a net like learning the alphabet you start with a and you go up to zed you don't become a netcaster overnight it takes a lot of skill and patience [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] it is ten o'clock and baba fuji and hubert are hurrying to get to church it's easter weekend and there's an atmosphere of jubilation in gonvier day and night alongside the voodoo temples christians and muslims have settled in this lakeside village they all coexist in harmony [Music] weaving strong ties at the heart of this community it is spirituality that keeps the toffee new traditions alive yes [Music] is we're outside running around instead of staying inside with me did you see how we danced we clapped our hands did you see you should have stayed in church with everyone else and clamped your hands youngsters feel free in gang view on my dad is a good teacher he's trying to give me a good education he's a really good dad but i'm not planning on making a living from being a fisherman i'd rather get an apprenticeship in town and trying to do something else [Music] i don't want to be a fisherman all my life [Music] the big day has come the men have already tightened the nets around the part of the enclosure that they plan to harvest today [Music] [Music] first they must uproot the branches which have served as a habitat for the fish for the past few months this is to stop them from getting caught in the nether [Music] check the branches thoroughly i keep the oysters i rinse them and put them to one side we can sell those at the same time as the fish you've been fishing with us since you were born your father says you don't want to make a living out of it i'd rather do something else i thought i might be a hairdresser hiya the new rope is woven from the end of the old rope that's our tradition we've inherited it from our parents if you don't pass it on what are your children going to do if i ever have any children i'll let some of them be fishermen but i'll send the others to school that's what i would have liked for myself being a fisherman isn't for me we close the net and push it down into the mud so the fish can't escape close it gently until we can lift it out of the water it's not easy because the water is cold and the oysters cut our hands and feet to shreds not everyone can do this work it's very challenging [Music] after laboring for several hours baba fuji and his men managed to gather the fish together at one end of the farm it is the long-awaited moment of the fish harvest the fruit of several months work [Music] oh [Music] adukong one of baba fuji's wives is in charge of picking up the fish and taking them to the market to sell [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] god has given us these fish so we can only rejoice and this is only the beginning we plan to harvest all the fish little by little and we still have a month of fish farming ahead of us today's catch has been very good it's a good omen i'm really happy thanks to these akaja the tofanu people in gonvier have found a way to preserve their identity for some time to come their future now depends on a generation which dreams of a life elsewhere and an easier way of life [Music] lake nokway is just one of benin's fragile marine areas and one of two main lakes the other one being lake aheme to the west of the country at the mouth of the mono river which flows along the border with neighbouring togo lies another fragile area the bush dua [Music] this protected 10 000 hectare estuary is an important stopover for migratory birds and the site of one of benin's main mangrove swamps [Music] dina camby works for eco benin he uses the association's meager funds to battle against overfishing and the illegal felling of trees which has drastically reduced the size of this mangrove swamp and yet the mangrove swamp is the coastal population's greatest asset rooted in the mud of the delta these mangrove trees form a rampart against coastal erosion which is breaking up the atlantic coastline everywhere else the fish eaten by humans spawn in their long stilt-like roots which also act as a fortress for the silts underclasses [Music] how can we convince the fishermen at the booster road to protect their mangrove swamps perhaps by seeking inspiration from the past benin's forests are regarded today as sacred because they are inhabited by deities or because they offer resources used by the deities in various ceremonies these forests are still here today because people's beliefs have stopped them from chopping down the trees that has really contributed to the conservation of these forests [Music] dean and the eco benin association have come up with a simple and genius idea to protect the mangrove swamp they have declared it sacred the bush torah region is one of the bastions of voodoo in benin and everyone respects the authority of the voodoo priests or agbanoon [Music] foreign [Music] greetings how are you right away how are the preparations going everything's ready everyone in the village is being informed yeah everyone's waiting for you remember is it going to happen over there on the other side i'll follow me [Applause] [Music] dean has found a powerful ally in the zongbeto deity or night watchman considered to be the protector of the community he is like the voodoo police setting rules to maintain good relations between villagers and enforcing them [Music] [Applause] [Applause] the deity is embodied by masks which are brought out at the request of the priests reputed to be violent zombeto instills fear in believers and a respect that is maintained by regular shows of strength in the form of small miracles [Applause] hey [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] some ash but no burns these two initiates are the first miracle survivors of the ceremony but the demonstration isn't over yet [Applause] [Applause] oh [Music] the deity has spoken from now on it is forbidden to cut down mangrove trees fishing in our cages is forbidden nets are forbidden too in the area that we're going to make sacred anyone found breaking the rules will be arrested and tied up yeah tied up they'll have to donate a sheep or a pig they'll have to pick up a basket of nuts and a basket of mosquitoes and on top of all that they will have to pay a 120 000 frank fine or 80 000 no depending on the mood of the deity zongbetto has spoken and it will be the deity's followers spread all over the bush to hua area who will enforce the rules he has announced [Applause] to mark out the sacred area believers are placing images of their deity around the mangrove swamp [Music] [Applause] [Music] the place is now sacred no one will dare to cut down the mangrove trees or fish the 500 hectares of sacred mangrove swamps gods and humans have united and become the sentinels of their natural habitat [Music] the remains of great sacred forests relics of a time when spirituality protected the environment cover a third of the surface area of benin further north the landscape becomes a savannah strewn here and there with rocky outcrops in the west the atacora mountain range lies between benin and neighboring togo [Music] it is in this dusty region battered by the hamaton desert wind that the samba people live from an ancient past when tribal wars were a regular occurrence they have preserved their habitat strongholds called tata samba [Music] nowadays the samba people live peacefully as subsistence farmers they have never left the tata samba around which all of their traditions are organized the local landlord called basae is also the community's healer he is a medicine man who treats patients with plants and by invoking the spirits of the dead these anxious parents have brought a young girl suffering from malaria to see him [Music] have you got the products i gave you earlier yeah i have it with me give it to me quiet darling you're going to be all right [Music] add this powder to a bowl of stew and make her drink it do that for seven days and then come back so i can see if she's cured my father and grandfather were healers before he died my father left me this tata it is this house which bestows good health on people because the soul of my father and that of my ancestors live on here that gives me the power to heal people for sambar people their spirituality comes from the cult of their ancestors the dead aren't really dead as long as they are not forgotten and each deceased individual represented by a mound of earth ensures the happiness and protection of the living downstairs the tatars are temples to these ancestors and they also serve as sheep folds the roofs which once contained bedrooms now serve as grain stores for the winter father it's my initiation ceremony tomorrow i want to know what's going to happen dominique i am not allowed to tell you you must find out for yourself it's all part of growing up and becoming a man and then what then you can take a wife and move into your own tartar i'm ready i'm glad to hear it my father used to say our lives begin in these tatters so you must keep your tartar the way our ancestors taught us that's important because it will be the scene of all your ceremonies the initiation of your future sons and daughters their weddings and even your funeral those are our traditions has just turned 18. the council of elders has decided that tomorrow he will begin the rites of passage into adulthood this week of initiation is a turning point in the life of a somber man it is an obligatory step without which he cannot take a wife or play a role in this patriarchal society [Music] when the time comes for him to leave dominique knows that he is engaging in a process from which there is no return he will no longer live in the house that he was born in dominique your initiation starts today you have grown up receive the holy water when you return from this initiation ceremony you will have changed you will have grown up dominique goes off into the bush where he will spend eight days being subjected to the secret initiation rituals performed by the chiefs [Music] meanwhile everyone busies themselves doing up dominic's new home [Music] like everywhere else in the world benin is turning towards individualist values the samba people are also undergoing this transformation with the noticeable outcome that the tata samba are being abandoned they require an enormous collective effort of building and renovation that is unpaid work that few people can afford but luckily in the village of bukumbay the values of solidarity live on villagers neighbors and family members have come to lend a hand to do up the tata the dominique will soon move into tradition after your initiation ceremony you must go to your own tata and build a home for yourself that's why we're doing up this tatter for dominique the men do the building work but we add a feminine touch we women are in charge of maintaining and doing up the tatas this place represents a link between life and death our spirits are hidden here if this house disappears our ancestors will disappear with it and they won't be able to do any more for us [Music] a week later dominique's tata samba is ready just as he and two other boys emerge from their initiation ceremony [Music] ah [Music] [Music] the adults take it in turn to carry the initiates on their shoulders before placing them on the ground to symbolize the passage to adulthood from this moment on they must stand on their own two feet [Applause] dominique and his fellow initiates leave the group and head off to make their tata samba their own [Music] oh as a hangover from past wars dominique climbs onto the roof and scours his surroundings for enemies from today it is down to him to defend his home and his land the symbolic fight the young men are engaging in is the final stage of initiation proof that they are now capable of defending themselves without any help from their fathers [Music] it is traditional for them to share a beer afterwards to mark the end of the fight and a newfound friendship amongst the young initiates it also marks the start of the celebrations [Music] i'm very proud of this celebration when it is over my son will be free he has not transgressed once during his initiation he has passed all the stages without failing that makes me very happy [Music] a new life begins for the young man today i'm very happy i used to live with my father but now i'm a man i'm sure i'll get married soon the girls will think there's a handsome boy who's come through his initiation rights in fine form i've watched my father maintaining our traditions i want to pass on all this knowledge and that child will preserve the house of his ancestors too an ancient culture devoted to the cult of its ancestors lives on in the land of the samba people here like in the rest of benin spirituality is both a weapon and a tool to protect a precious and fragile heritage

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 1,135,942

Keywords: African adventures, African culture, African culture documentary, African escapades, African sightseeing, African tourism, Cultural heritage sites, Gabonese spirits, Landscape traditions, Main characters charisma, Natural wonders, Spirituality in nature, TRACKS - Travel Documentaries, UNESCO world heritage, cultural heritage, folklore traditions, sacred landscapes, spiritual journeys, spiritual lifestyle, traditional ways of life, travel exploration

Id: EKIS-uOBwPI

Length: 50min 43sec (3043 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 30 2022