Voodoo People!!!

Marge and the guide at the entrance of the Ethnographic museum.
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We woke up wednesday to the sound of torrential rain pouring from the sky. We hadn't felt the slightest drop of rain for over 4 months, so this was a welcome storm. It meant that the unbearable humidity was going to drop, a little, and it also meant we had to postpone our trip to Porto-Novo. We chilled all day, read and ate, and set off to Porto-Novo the next day.

Our first stop was the "Musee Ethnographique". We had a wonderfull guide telling us about history of the ethnic groups in Benin as well as their current traditions. There were tons of masks, sculptures, and instruments still used today by the different groups.

Remember, this is Africa, and things are very different here...

Door of the Ethnographic museum.
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Next, we moved on to the "Jardin des Plantes et de la Nature". We also had a good guide (two good guides in one day, we were lucky) that explained the use of all the trees in this garden. We saw coffee trees, coco trees, citronella trees, "muscade" trees, etc. It's very occidental of us, but it was nice to see the things we consume growing in trees. :)

Benin is the world capital of voodoo, so we also had the opportunity to visit one such voodoo priest (un feticheur en francais). Really interesting experience, let me tell you that... The negative aspect of voodoo, with the needles in the dolls, and people casting bad spells on each other, is not what african voodoo is about. Voodoo, or Orisha in local language, means Spirit, so it's all about believing in the spiritual world. People who have a problem come to see this "feticheur" who learned the profession from his father, who learned it from his father, etc. He then communicates with spirits who tell him what sort of sacrifice this person should make in order to avoid a bad situation. Of course, it's really complicated, but people REALLY do believe in voodoo and often go see this wise man. Remember, this is Africa, and things are very different here... You don't want to mess with the spirits...