Trees of a Sacred Forest

I promised pictures, and unfortunately that's all I've got. I had written out a nice, lengthy blog but somehow it didn't get saved properly on blogger. In about five minutes I'm leaving for the bus station for a week in the North so I can't write now, but when I get back there will be explanations for these photos and many more to add. For now, let's just say that tree is a king, I got to see a Voodoo ceremony and meet a King in human form crowned with a lampshade topped with a plastic ducky :)

Update: Here are those explanations!

Once upon a time in West Africa, there was a small kingdom of people called the Xweda. Unfortunately for the Xweda, their neighbours were the ruthless people of Dahomey, whose king followed a strict policy of expansionism and employed Amazons as his personal bodyguards. So, naturally, when the Xweda got wind that the Dahomey were marching their way, their king, King Kpasse, did what all sensible leaders would do in such a situation; he ran into the forest and turned himself into a tree. Sensible indeed. The Dahomey were fooled by his disguise, though I doubt this helped the rest of the Xweda, and King Kpasse still stands in the sacred forest that bears his name. That's him above, standing in the middle of the ruins of his home in the sacred forest. He could have fooled me.

But the sacred forest is home to more than just leafy, old kings. Statues of Voodoo deities loom everywhere. Meet the god of smallpox, to the right. I guess you appeal to him if you've got enemies. Voodoo does have its component of evil after all and it's not difficult to see where Hollywood got its inspiration for the fictional Voodoo doll. The only dolls here are carried by those who have lost a twin (there are lots of twins born here) representing their dead sibling. They must carry these dolls until they die and when they do it is said that they have gone to the sacred forest to look for their lost twins.

After meeting a number of deities, including our guide's personal protector, the god of thunder, we found a comfy bench and waited for the afternoon's Voodoo celebrations to begin. Luckily for us, we happened to be in Ouidah on a very special day in its history, July 14th. Again, a tree was involved.





























The story goes, one night a man from Ouidah had a dream in which two leopards told him that he was meant to be king. And he believed them. Unfortunately, the current king of Ouidah did not. On July 14th, 1985 they were arguing for the throne in the Sacred Forest of Kpasse when a storm blew in suddenly and unexpectedly. It was so strong that the giant tree next to the temple was torn from its roots and fell over, postponing their bickering.

Exactly one month later, on July 14th, 1985, the men returned to the forest to pick up where they left off. Another, even greater storm, interrupted them yet again and this time the winds and rain were so violent they were forced to lie on the ground. When the strange weather had passed, they stood up to find the tree by the temple had righted itself as though nothing had ever happened. It was clearly a sign from the gods and so the lamp-shade crown, complete with plastic birdy, was passed on to King Kpassenon, sitting on his throne in front of the temple in the photo above. Kind of reminds me of that story about the emperor's new clothes...

And so we waited for the celebrations of the King's coronation to begin. And we waited. And we waited some more. Even the children had run out of games to entertain themselves with. But finally, all the metal folding chairs were in place and a line of women came dancing in, literally.
Most of the real action involved mixing crushed seeds and gin in little bowls, a bit of singing, and a whole lot of kneeling in front of the king. The real stuff was happening inside the temple so we couldn't see much, but there definitely weren't any animal sacrifices or people in trance. Not sure whether I'm more disappointed or relieved about that. And as you can see from the photo above, we weren't the only one's eager to get a peek at the action, though we were all surprised at how relaxed the ceremony was.

It was so relaxed in fact that the three of us westerners weren't sure when the festivities had officially begun and officially ended. Throughout the entire affair, those in the audience chatted to their friends, ate snacks, and even got up to purchase snacks from little stands set up in the forest especially for the event. The last 45 minutes or so lingered on as a man from the national television news interviewed the king and nearly every priest (there's a priest for every deity) on the stage. And after he interviewed us! My lack of any significant French language abilities saved me, but one of the other girls had to tell the nation what she thought of their traditions and beliefs. Talk about being in a tight spot.