The white-robed women looked altogether more edgy, with kohl-etched eyes and tattoos. The city also manufactures furniture and produces beer and soft drinks. Benin is a religiously diverse country consisting of Atheism and Agnosticism which accounts for 7% of the population, West African folk religions and traditional beliefs aside from Vodun which accounts for 6% of Benin's population and Eckankar, Baha'i faith and other beliefs accounting for 3% of the country's population. They started to swop stories and mention of his dads death in Nigeria all those years ago nurtured in Brians mind the desire to locate his fathers grave. As reported by The Guardian, mathematical patterns were apparent throughout Benin City, from the length and arrangement of the streets to the shape and size of the buildings. I lost all my hopes getting rid of this evil spirit after trying many years get rid of him but you made the impossible thing into possible and that is out of our life. The Bah' Faith was first established in Nigeria in the 1940s. The walls around the perimeter of the kingdom were also surrounded by deep moats, which provided Benin with another degree of protection, The Guardian reports Benin's walls were "four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops," and reportedly took the Edo people an "estimated 150 million hours" to complete. Benin: A Country Armed With Powerful Spirituality Fundraiser TRACKS - Travel Documentaries 564K subscribers 979K views 11 months ago In human cultures in general, and perhaps particularly in. Her second husband, Frank Sweeney, died in 1987. Remi, a local guide, showed me the marketplace where slavers bartered 15 male Africans for one cannon. It was designed to be worn suspended on the chest or hips during important ceremonies by the two large side hoops framing the face. Spiritualists in Benin generally believe the following: For more information about spiritualism in Benin, please feel free to contact our friendly team of experts today. Spiritual healing occurs largely among practitioners who do not see traditional religious faith as a prerequisite for effecting cures. The work you done on evil spirit it's unbelievable. Is climate change killing Australian wine? The strong involvement of emotion in both the acceptance and the rejection of spiritualism has made it difficult to appraise impartially the evidence for and against it. The subject of Brians sudden death so far from home was scarcely ever mentioned over the years. The city is also linked by roads to Sapele, Siluko, Okene, and Ubiaja and is served by air and the Niger River delta ports of Koko and Sapele. Updates? The work you done on evil spirit it's unbelievable. Rituals, related to the Benin cosmic view form an intrinsic part of life. It was registered on 19 Jul 2016 and it's current status is unknown. According to Koffi Thomas Akossi, a diviner in Ouidah, Benin, a diviner is like a guide. During the expedition, Benin was decimated and burned to the ground. Stay tuned for more research and stories from the program. It was a defining and joyous moment. Generations of Dahomian Kings fought internecine wars, maintained female Amazon warriors with a penchant for decapitation, and sold slaves to the Europeans to equip themselves militarily. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, drawing on spiritual energies or forces through spiritual healing in Benin can be extremely beneficial. I lost all my hopes getting rid of this . The Royal Palace of the Oba of Benin. First National Spiritual Assembly of Nigeria, 1970. Privileged regalia. Here, members of the Bah' community are working together with their . In the tiny West African nation of Benin, Voodoo remains the state religion. Residents also appointed judges or moderators to settle disputes and to maintain overall civility. Brian served the Mass mindful of the fact that his father Brian, Sr. had also served Mass every day on board the ship, the Aureol, which had brought him to Nigeria in the company of many Irish missionaries. - Spirit beings are aware of and interested in the lives of people in the material world, especially those they have temporarily left behind in the material world. Christianity entered Benin during the late 16th century. Spiritualists sought to make contact with the dead, commonly through the assistance of a medium, which is a person believed to have the ability to contact spirits directly. The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. In term s of administration , the spiritual leader/General overseers that have administered the church till date are: Most Snr. In a cupboard-sized room, crammed with potions, the medium Casmin Fabiyi fingered his Fa beads (threads of eight wooden disks) like a rosary. Most Muslims in Benin practice the Sunni which is an Islamic branch with the existence of Shi'a Muslims who are very few and are mostly expatriates from the Middle East. From \"Today In Africa\"Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TRACKSTravelChannel/Content licensed from ZED Media to Little Dot Studios.Any queries, please contact us at: owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com I lost all my hopes getting rid of this evil spirit after trying many years get rid of him but you made the impossible thing into possible and that is out of our life. Diviner Aboubacar Otunba Taiwo gives an Ifa consultation in Porto Novo, Benin. The spiritualists understand God as infinite intelligence. Copyright 2023 - Yasseen Spiritualist - All rights reserved. Voodoo spirituality, known in Ghana as Vodun, is one of them. Photo by Rebecca Fenton. The Guardian reports the king's court was in the direct center of Benin City. Other variants of the system are found across the region, a result of its dynamic history. Amid the British Punitive Expedition, Commander R. H. Bacon disputed reports that Benin was a productive, modern, and civilized city. Roman Catholic Christians account for 27% of Benin's population. Porto Novo's ceremonial king no longer resides inside Honme's maze of red-earthen compounds. Anyhow this was not my real inspiration for visiting Benin, a peaceful democratic West African minnow squeezed between Nigeria and Togo. A Christian worship service inside the Cotonou Cathedral. 5.6K views 2 years ago The GeoEx trip, "Mystical West Africa" visits Ouidah, in Benin, considered the spiritual capital of African voodoo. However, it gained independence in 1960 and became the capital of Edo state in 1963. Google Arts and Culture reports Queen Iden was, and is, considered a hero for the sacrifice she made for the betterment of Benin city. Initially, Europeans who visited the city described it as "disorganized." Incredibly, he met one man who felt sure that in those days Europeans were buried in a cemetery close to the former Police Station. As part of the healing process, some healers use touch while others will have their hands a few inches away from the clients body or will simply sit opposite their client. A sort of 'must try harder' school report, potentially remedied by sleeping under a white sheet with a light left on. Peter McCawille, SMA, was working in Benin City. Many divination practices are connected to religious traditions, but they are also used to glean insight into all aspects of daily life. Spirits were said to have the power to levitate objects, to speak independently of the medium, to leave pictures on photographic plates, and to materialize objects, including themselves. Email: bestresult786@yahoo.co.uk. In halcyon times, Abomey was capital of the feared Dahomey Kingdom (Benin's former name). With the appointment of their first Oba, the Igodomigodo Kingdom became the Benin Kingdom and, as reported by BBC, grew to become the Benin Empire. Living Faith Means Living Justly Programme, Jos: Causes of violence are not religious. "The power of Mawa-Lissa (Voodoo's Supreme Being) sent Fa to earth as a medium to answer questions about the future," Yvette told me, also describing how the medium casts his beads into one of 256 positions that he then interprets as the word of his god. In 1843, English Methodists began in Benin spreading among the Gun people from the coastal region. Religion and the spiritual realm Art and politics Rites of passage Masquerade basics Art and the individual . May Brian Senior rest in peace until the day of the Resurrection. shouted Remi above the cacophony. "If you see their eyes, you will die!" I raised my camera but several men with panic-stricken expressions warned me not to. Those for whom materialistic ways of thinking have precluded belief in a life after death have been given a new hope of immortality. The Vodun worship believes in a divine Creator known as Mawu or Mahu a female being who gave birth to seven children and gave them dominion over seven different realms of nature. A pioneer Missionary to the North America born on the 16th June 1947 at Iguogie, in Benin City. Spiritual guidance questions and answer sessions by Dr. James L. Thompkins and Dr. Leon Moss: Dr. Leon Moss : www.holy-tab: Spiritual: Iam Ubuntu: I am Ubuntu Ministry is available for the community for worship service. 13th-19th century). But, as my guidebook informed, Mami Wata is the mermaid-like goddess of water who 'offers happiness and fortune to those with courage to meet her at the seaside'. Frenzied drumming ushered the Egungun into the compound. From the sand dunes of Mauritania to the currents of River Senegal, to the Lions of the Beninese savannah to the spirits of the forests of Gabon, this series explores the origin, the nature and the survival of deep links between several populations in West Africa and their habitat.Each episode takes us to discover an emblematic landscape: the river (Senegal), the desert (Mauritania), the forest (Gabon) and the savannah (Benin). Some Voodoo priests use herbs to cure the sick - and possibly to poison enemies. At The Tree of Forgetfulness, Remi explained how "slaves would circle nine times to magically forget everything, so they weren't sad in their new lives.". "White man,' growled a deep baritone voice, before moving on. The Magnetists had specialized in spiritual healing and the public demonstration of magnetic phenomena (which included hypnotism). Spiritual healing aims to give a person total healing. Later that afternoon, Yvette and I travelled byzemidjan(motorbike-taxi) to Manikpe Tolapata temple, ten minutes outside Porto Novo. Blood and divinity are linked concepts in Vodun, and the process of animal sacrifice is seen as a way to nourish both vodun and ancestral spirits, and as a way to share ase through the human consumption of the animal. Meeting a Beninese king is a real highlight and not difficult to arrange: bring something to toast him and present a gratuity of about US$25-50. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. At one stage he was told by one of the local church members that he was engaged in an impossible task. Tradition asserts that the Edo people became dissatisfied with the rule of a dynasty of semimythical kings, the ogisos, and in the 13th century they invited Prince Oranmiyan of Ife to rule them. It was the crowning moment in a miraculous spiritual adventure. "This is our divinity before Catholicism came along and our way to make our lives better." "I'd thoroughly recommend the Route des Esclaves (The Slave Route). Almost exactly fifty-six years since his father was buried in Benin City, Nigeria, Brian McCormack, Jr. fulfilled a dream and stood at the grave and talked to the father that he never met. Tempers rose. The palace, which is centrally situated at the heart of the city, was erected by . conditions - usually through a medium. Using the traditional diviners tools of tray, sand, and shells, he conveys the results over the phone. As he paraded through a crowd, some people collapsed, shaking like fever-pitched evangelists on American TV. Read about our approach to external linking. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In a village north of Ouidah, the group met with a. Support the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, sustainability projects, educational outreach, and more. - These souls can communicate with the material world as spiritualists believe that The descendants of Benins ruling dynasty still occupy the throne in Benin City (although the present-day oba has only an advisory role in government). In 2020, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival will feature a program about the West African nation of Benin and how communities connect to their environment through spirituality and traditional knowledge. Larger gatherings were held for public demonstrations of spirit contact and psychic phenomena. All but the last two have gone to their eternal reward. "He's back," whispered Yvette. He spent the next two days with his friend, Tajudeen who is a Muslim, tidying up the grave and painting it. Corrections? They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The syncretism of Beninese religious life ensured some would be worshipping animist deities later that day. largely similar to how they were in the material world, although without any physical Every morning the irresistible aroma of freshly baked baguette drove me mad with hunger pangs and after a few days Voodoo was the last thing on my mind. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. For those who have lost their faith in traditional Christianity, spiritualists have offered a new religion based not on an ancient tradition but on facts that apparently can be observed by anyone. A core belief of spiritualism is that individuals survive the deaths of their bodies by ascending into a spirit existence. As reported by Black Past, little, if anything, remains of the legendary Kingdom of Benin. Some mediums worked while in a trancelike state, and some claimed to be the catalyst for various paranormal physical phenomena (including the materializing or moving of objects) through which spirits announce their presence. Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Everywhere I went, I was accompanied by gawping children performing their jaunty little song: "Yovo(white man),yovo, ca va? And despite myHammer House of Horrorexpectations, not a drop of sacrificial blood was spilled, nor did any eye-bulging zombies grace the affair. Those suffering from grief after the death of loved ones have been offered the possibility of communicating with them. Protestantism and other Non-Catholic Christians in Benin account for 16% of the population. Brian's sudden death was a huge blow to his wife, Patricia, who is still hale and hearty and living in her native Dublin, and the other members of his family. This approach is in harmony with any other healing work you . Vodun which means spirit in the Ewe and Fon language is widely practiced by many West African countries mostly in the southern and central regions of Benin. The practice of human sacrifice was stamped out only after the burning of Benin City in 1897 by the British, after which the depopulated and debilitated kingdom was incorporated into British Nigeria. Approaching the coast, sea breezes rustled coconut groves while crabs gnashed their claws amid mangroves. Benin City has a renowned teaching hospital and a number of factories. A dancer at Benin Voodoo Festival (Shutterstock). Once again I was being swept along by a society offering a magical snapshot of life and beliefs before European Christianity arrived. Very early in the movement, however, sances featuring more spectacular physical phenomena were conducted, and mediums arose who specialized in such displays. n. 1. a. Chasing a screaming, scattering crowd was a creature maybe 7metreshigh, a masqueraded figure, totally black and oddly tubular. Some simply scared the crowd. Divination practices typically conclude with a sacrifice. Vodun is the center of the religious life and has female priesthood which can be hereditary being passed down from mother to daughter. Keeping with tradition, the palace is situated in the center of the city. Culturally diverse, Benin's people follow a diverse mix of Christian, Muslim and West African traditional beliefs. With this knowledge I headed to Porto Novo, a lagoon-facing former French colonial city of 350,000 people, 40-minutes drive from busy Cotonou, and on the flat coastal plain of south Benin's Voodoo heartland. Ikhuiwu is an African Canadian. According to Bacon, the town was rife with "crucifixions, human sacrifices, and every horror the eye could get accustomed to blood was everywhere; smeared over bronzes, ivory, and even the walls." As reported by The Guardian, each home had three sections. Handcrafted voodoo statues for sale at the Benin Voodoo festival, near Ouidah (Shutterstock). Registered Charity Number (RCN): 20006211. While Voodoo certainly isn't fiction here, witnessing it in action seems unlikely at first. Islam was brought into Benin by the Songhai-Dendi traders and Hausa from the north. Fa diviner Koffi Akossa uses chains of kola nut pieces and other materials to gain insight into clients situations. It was Chinese masquerade meets the 'running of the bulls' at Pamplona.
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