Of all the ceremonies of Voudou extant in Benin I have seen only a few. There are the ceremonies for the admission of new initiates to a particular Covent with lots of dancing of the fetishers (the already initiated) in a ceremonial fashion which is sometimes singular and sometimes as part of a large wave and mass of dancers moving towards the musicians and master of ceremonies as a wave, then retreating with a flourish of their small sword, cane or ornamental club. There are the ceremonies to honor the cheif fetisher of a particular covent which don't differ that much from the new initiate ceremonies other than that they have more pagentry, richer ornamentation and costumes, a greater display of wealth.

There are the ceremonies in the eight days following the death of a family member that culminate in a night spent dancing to the sound of talking drums, celebrating together in a display of joy for the contentment of the spirit of the departed until dawn when all the direct descendants of the departed shave their heads and cut their nails and bury this together with the body.

In none of these ceremonies did I see anyone become recognizably possessed or enter any trance state that I could detect. To be sure, the rhythm is hypnotic and there is some movement of energy with experienced fetishers deeply feeling their dance but I saw no one flip out or swoon and felt no supernatural presence.

This was a little disappointing since I had entered Benin with just that in mind: posession, bringing down the gods etc. That was is the steriotypical image of Voudou I entered Benin with, country of 70% animists. O complained.

‘Well’ everyone asked me: ‘have you seen a Revena ?’

La Revena (The Return)

A revena is a special kind of Voudou ceremony which is ostensibly just for that thing I was seeking. Fetishers dress themselves in a very special set of costumes representing certain dieties. During this ceremony the spirits of the departed are supposed to return to the circle tp enter the dancer's bodies, wear the costumes, interact with the spectators.

This is originally a ceremony brought to Benin centuries ago from bordering Nigeria. Yoruba-decended people living in Benin were the purists in the performing of this ceremony in its fully traditional (and purportedly more dangerous form). Since the Abomey kingdom of present day Benin and the Yoruba kingdom fought each other for centuries the taking of prisoners was frequent (this played into the slave trade during the advent of Arab then European exploitation of West Africa) and so there are many Yoruba descended people in Benin.

I was lucky enought to attend several Revena ceremonies, some of which were in the family compound of Yoruba-descended peoples. But I did not feel any real posession or spiritual presence there. Instead I experienced the Revena as more of a large public spectacle to make the blood race with its element of danger than anything else.

Here is how it goes :
In a largish public space a crowd gathers in a big circle having the percussionists, elder priests and respectable people seated on benches, chairs and stools on one side and young energetic men standing and agitating about on the other. In the center of the circle there are the ‘spirits’ which I can describe as various types of elaborately decorated multicolored costumes with heavy use of gold and silver thread and cowry shells. After seeing a few revenas there appears to be three or four standard spirits with recognizable costumes and personalities for the spectators to know which spirit is harmless and which are the most violent. Along with fluctuations in the rhythm these spirits one by one or concurrently dance in bizarre ways around the circle, sometimes turning in circles, sometimes threatening those seated or standing in the crowd.

Some are more ornamental and turn and turn, letting their robes flow outward and spin beautifully in rich satin colors laced with silver and gold embroidery. Others are slow, lumbering box-headed spirits that prowl around the circle, whip in hand and then suddenly begin running madly at the yound men side of the gathering, striking anyone they can get within arms reach with anything from a little lick of the whip to a full all-out beating about the head. The young men love this and clamour to test their bravery.

Almost every spirit is followed by at least one cartaker with a large whipping rod whose job is to try and control the spirit and the crowd of spectators, maintain the sacredness of the circle, and keep the spirit and human world at a safe distance from one another. He is rarely successful in this but if you as a spectator run unthinkingly into the circle he will beat you also.

The percussionists are there in groups of three or four and I noticed that for every five or so spirits there would be another group of percussionists. So, if the family is rich enough to have ten spirits in attendance there might also be two groups of percussionists. The percussionists really make NOISE more than anything else, their tempo of frenetic tapping on the talking drum going un unison with the agressivity of the spirit they are following.

Revenas usually take place in the early afternoon and run into sunset. It is the last bit of the ceremony that is the most dangerous (and feared) because some particularly notorious spirits will turn into absolute monsters ready to seriously beat everyone and anyone they can get their hands on just after sunset, even disturbing the respectable seated people if he is particularly ambitious. This transition from bad to worse is signalled by a change in the drummer's tempo and the fact that most spectators run for the door when they hear this.

For my own part was a lot of fun and perhaps might even make an excellent civil disobedience riot training excercise for protesters but it never seemed to me particularly "spiritual."