The cult of ancestors

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project © Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project © Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project View all images ↓
View all images ↓

Far from the obscure or evil character often attributed to it, especially by Western societies, voodoo embodies a religion in its own right, drawing its sources from an afterlife made of deities and ancestors, its etymology referring to the "invisible world".

Voodoo came from the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, born from the meeting of the Yoruba (Nigeria), Fon (Benin) and Ewé (Togo) cults. With slave trade, it was exported from the 17th century to the Americas and the Caribbean, and can now be found mainly in Haiti, Brazil and Louisiana (United States).

In Benin, voodoo is practiced daily, and although transmitted largely orally and through a series of rites, it responds to the precepts of a religion. Contrary to religions « of the book » (Christianity, Islam and Judeism), voodoo can overlap with other religions.

Between 2020 and 2021, the voodoo events and ceremonies in Benin have had to adapt to the Covid-19-related health measures, which require all events to be organized in private spaces rather than in the streets, where they usually take place. This has, in some ways, led to counterproductive phenomenons, such as decreased social distancing.

Please find below the link to the virtual reality exhibition:

https://framevr.io/paola-voodoo

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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In practice, voodoo is based on the major figure of the "bokonon", or "priest of the Fa". The Fa is understood as a divinatory art making it possible to consult the afterlife and to receive advice from divinities and ancestors. Matthias (above) has been learning from his father, who was also a bokonon, how to become one. He is playing with his niece before one of his consultations.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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Matthias consults the Fa using a rosary. He throws it repeatedly while reciting Yoruba incantations to the attention of the afterlife. With two small shells, he hits the rosary components back and forth, and throws it again to reveal a new combination. During the process, images come to his mind, sent by the afterlife. He is in charge of interpreting those images, and to share them through a fable with his visitor.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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The floor of the Fa consultation room is filled with "Lègba" altars, which belong to several men who are initiated to the cult. Lègba is a major deity of the voodoo religion who acts as an intermediary, or messenger, between the divine and the living world. Some sacrifices are made on these shrines, with ingredients such as red oil (palm oil) or sodabi (palm liquor). These sacrifices must take place after consulting the Fa, in order to gain favor from deities and ancestors, or to tell them thank you for favorable events.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Leopold, one of the main figures of the family and within the cult.
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Leopold, one of the main figures of the family and within the cult.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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Two chickens were chosen for the sacrifice. During the consultation, the bokonon draws up a list of ingredients that the person coming to consult is required to collect for the sacrifice. The list of ingredients will generally be made up of animals (often one or two chickens), red oil (palm oil), hard liquor such as sodabi (liquor obtained by distillation of palm wine, a traditional drink in Benin), beer, water, kola nuts, sometimes also pieces of animal skin or skeleton, insects, and other small objects or foods. The animals, although killed for sacrifice, are then eaten at a family meal.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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A wooden plate is passed around for each person to sip from every glass and to bite on a few kola nuts. The bill placed in the middle was used by the visitor of the bokonon to "receive" his/her special question or request.

© Paola Chapdelaine - One of the two chickens before the sacrifice.
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One of the two chickens before the sacrifice.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Gin bottle used in the sacrifice, placed next to the shrine.
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Gin bottle used in the sacrifice, placed next to the shrine.

© Paola Chapdelaine - The two chickens after the sacrifice are brought back home to be prepared for the family meal (I).
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The two chickens after the sacrifice are brought back home to be prepared for the family meal (I).

© Paola Chapdelaine - The two chickens after the sacrifice.
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The two chickens after the sacrifice.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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A group of drummers pause during a « revenant » outing, an event stemming from the cult of ancestors, one of the many cults of the voodoo religion. Most often on the occasion of a significant event (marriage, birth, death, major success, etc.), the family organizes a ceremony during which some of the ancestors are called to return for a day in the form of « revenants ». Music is an important part of these ceremonies, which are highly festive.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Detail of a revenant habit, made of complex and colorful embroideries.
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Detail of a revenant habit, made of complex and colorful embroideries.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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A revenant performs an energetic dance, twisting and turning his large and colorful cape around his neck. Many young children imitate this dance by turning fast, and drawing large circles around their courtyards.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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A group of young boys (I) watching the « revenant » outing from a rooftop. Due to the health measures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the celebration could not be held in the street as usual; it was therefore organized in the courtyard of the family house, too small to contain all the attendants. Many young boys climbed on the surrounding roofs to watch the ceremony.

© Paola Chapdelaine - One of the revenants, wearing hand embroidered clothing that covers his body entirely.
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One of the revenants, wearing hand embroidered clothing that covers his body entirely.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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A man who is initiated to the cult of revenants talks to one of them. The stick he is holding in his hands serves to maintain a distance between spectators and revenants when the latter come too close. Revenants can indeed become violent towards some of the attendants if they have to reproach them with inappropriate behaviors. However, it is forbidden to touch a revenant.

© Paola Chapdelaine - A revenant is speaking to atteendants of the ceremony.
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A revenant is speaking to atteendants of the ceremony.

© Paola Chapdelaine - Image from the The cult of ancestors photography project
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A revenant walks back to the family house after performing a dance. In Benin, family houses can represent a whole neighborhood, where inhabitants are all relatives.