Contemporary Vodun arts of Ouidah, Benin

[FIGURES 20-21 OMITTED]

Following the idea of "return," on National Vodun Day. 1999, Hounongon Joseph Guendehou of Cotonou held a special Vodun ceremony at his house, inviting a delegation of visitors from Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. During a celebratory dancing and drumming session, members from Haiti began to shout "Ayibobo!" This Haitian Vodou praise exclamation was immediately picked up and repeated by all of the Beninese participants as if it had already become part of Benin's Vodun liturgy. The head of the Haitian group, Dr. Henri Frank, in an appreciative response to the activities surrounding National Vodun Day, suggested that the Door of No Return be renamed the "Door of Return."

Encompassing centuries of transatlantic slaving history from the Ouidah port, the Slave Route is based on cumulative histories, yet in the way these are communicated through art, historical accuracy is less important than comprehensive African and African Diaspora consciousnesses. Does it really matter whether the slave auctions took place outside de Souza's compound? Does it make a difference if enslaved Africans were forced to walk around a tree either to make them forget their cultural identities or to give them strength for a transatlantic journey? The Slave Route of Ouidah, as a reinvention and a self-creation, recognizes and mourns the history of the slave trade, yet celebrates and praises the strength of Vodun which survives on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Daagbo Hounon's House

Although Daagbo Hounon's house is not recognized by the government as the actual beginning of the Slave Route, nor is it so credited by Lokossou (1994), some people nevertheless consider it to be so. According to the Supreme Chief, all Vodun manifestations can be found in his house because, he claims, before the enslaved were put up for sale in the Ouidah auctions, they were allowed to stop there for one last opportunity to pray to their Vodun spirits on African soil (interview, March 18, 1995).

If the Abomey kings did grant this "privilege," their motives were by no means altruistic. What they most sought was foreign spiritual power (Blier 1995), such as might be held by enslaved ritual specialists. Daagbo Hounon asserts that those exhibiting the traits of extraordinary ritual specialists during their supposed last prayer were not sold at the auction block but were sent back to serve the kings. (19)

Whether this story makes sense is contestable. However, considering what we know about the great pains the Abomey rulers took to make certain that no one powerful left their domain, this scheme does not seem unlikely (Blier 1995). The fact that King Gezo worked closely with de Souza, his Viceroy of Ouidah, adds credibility to such a proposition. In any case, it is abundantly clear that important ritual specialists did make it from the Ouidah port to the Americas, where they continue their activities.

Daagbo Hounon's compound is a microcosm of Vodun art from Benin, Haiti, Cuba, and Brazil, painted by artists from those very countries who participated in Ouidah 92. The Supreme Chief boasts that he represents all Vodun spirits who exist and thrive on both sides of the Atlantic. The Hounon dynasty (hou=sea, non=owner of, the one with) has been the ruling family of the vodun of the sea, Avlekete, since their arrival in Ouidah in the mid-fifteenth century. This fact is recorded in the meeting room in the inner sanctuary of Daagbo Hounon's compound, where portraits of former Supreme Chiefs are painted on the wall (Fig. 22). Daagbo Hounon takes great pride in the fact that Avlekete is known as Aizan Velekete in Haiti.