The Beninese Culture
I love that someone used the "Comments" option to ask a question, so I guess I'll try to dedicate a post to it. Please excuse grammar errors, typos, and bad English, as I'm not using my usual spell checker.
The Culture of Africa. Oh, where do I start. I guess my view of it usually depends on the day you talk to me, and being I had a frustrating day yesterday, I have a bad taste for it right now... But I'll try to be fair.
The culture here is incredible, and incredibly different. Life moves much slower here. People don't really worry so much about things, unless they are going to make the fetishes mad (fetishes = voodoo fetishes, which come in wide varieties).
Voodoo is a huge part of the life here. I know I've said it before, but I love it so much that I'm going to repeat it again: They say that 50% of the population is Muslim, 50% Christian, and 100% Animist... and it's true. Even people who say they don't believe in gri gri (gri gri = magic/voodoo) will tell you that they don't believe in it because they are scared of it... which of course means that actually they do believe in it, but don't try to explain that one to them. Gri gri is everywhere though. Many people wear necklaces with charms to guard them from bad spirits. Children especially are adorned with multiple charms, but I can't blame them: some poles have Benin as having the highest infant immortality rate. Both boys and girls are usually scarred with gri gri. According to the people I've talked to in Boukoumbe, your facial scars are decided by your bische's dead spirit, and the bische is sacrificed for you at a certain age by the local 'Gariseur', or healing man. I don't know if I believe that there are enough bisches anymore to do this for every person, but that's probably how it was back in the old days. Africa is developing quickly though, and you don't find wild animals outside of the parks anymore. Occasionally a dragon type lizard averaging about 4 feet long is caught and killed, but even those have become more rare since I've been here. Anyway, while you are still a very small child, you are given the local scars, depending on your garisseur. Each village or area has a garisseur, and he has his scars and traditions that he does for you, just as his father did the fathers before you. Each cut is kept from healing by putting a black powder into the fresh wound. If the people were white, it would look like a permanently swollen tattoo... but it would never work for white people because our skin reacts differently. The Garisseur also gives you different cuts in different places in order to heal different diseases. Some people have little lumps on their arms or back, which I'm assuming is where the garisseurs have injected some kind of local herb under the skin, but I'm not sure. Garisseurs are probably the most important men in the communities, after the kings of course.
Every village and bigger town has a group of elders that make most of the decisions based on property disputes and the like, and they are usually the kings and princes, which are roles that have been passed down from days of old. A king once might have 'ruled' an area of a few kilometers each. The 11Th and last official king of Benin, then known as Dahomey, was Behanzin who died in 1894. Interestingly enough, the Dahomey kingdom was one of the largest slave trading nations, if not the largest. Some say Ghana's slave trade was bigger. To his credit though, Behanzin was the king that told his people that slave trading was bad, thus abolishing it.
Enough history! Every village does have it's own king and Garisseur though, and a group of elders. The label of 'king' does not entitle them to the voluptuous lifestyle you might think it would. In truth, most of the kings I've met live very humbly, usually in mud brick buildings with a layer of cement on top. Yes, they do where very nice clothes and cary staffs, but the title does not include servants and piles of gold and giant palaces like Hollywood would like.
I feel like I could spend all day describing the lifestyle of the people here, but I think something more worth while is their typical personality characteristics. I hate bordering on stereotypes, but I guess anything is better than the 'starving, fly-in-the-eye, Africa' stereotype that already exists. Anyway, I think that what I have to say is pretty typical for most of West Africa.
First of all, the people here are not sad and unhappy all of the time. I'm not saying their life is easy, but if you are pitying them then I pity you. The thing that has become the most obvious to me here is that people manage, no matter their situation, and they don't really think of themselves as being without until you pity them to their faces, or show them how great life could be by giving them a one-time lump of money. In fact, I would say that these people should be an example of the world on how to deal with things. If there is no food, you go visit your neighbor for dinner. If there is no money for the rent, you borrow it, and then you help out others when they are in need. I have to say though, there does seem to be quite a few people who don't really have much interest in finding real work. I think it's because so many people aren't working, and if you're that one person with a real job than everyone comes to you for money (and you have to give it to them), but then you resent it because it cost you all that work just to give the money away, which leaves people wanting the money without the work. I understand it, and I hope that made enough sense for you guys. I'm not saying Africans are lazy. Not at all. When you think about it, all the work here is manual labor - in the heat. There is nothing easy about that.
I love the Beninese for their quirks. Some things that I find interesting: People here can NEVER say they are sorry. They'll admit that something was their fault, but that is the closest you get to an apology. Je suis desolee was not introduced to me till I finally asked about 6 months into service. Also, the Beninese LOVE to argue. They could argue anything all day. The annoying thing is that they usually have no real points to argue, they are just arguing. I once heard a friend and his boss arguing for hours over whether or not a wife is like a servant to a husband, or whether she just helps the husband be a better man. FYI: WOMEN DO EVERYTHING HERE!!!... and they get no credit. Beninese also love jokes, but they like the Dick Van Dyke type of thing; tripping and falling is hilarious, along with speaking their local languages and making funny sounds. Sarcasm does not exist here, and neither does anger. If you get angry at someone, it has to be a controlled, powerful anger. It cannot be a crying, screaming cat-fight type. They will laugh at you for that. Also, people never cry here. Crying is for children and animals. Also, animals are the most lowly creatures in the world. They are even below children on the social scale. If a dog is near you, you throw rocks at it till it goes away. A lot of that stems from the rabies threat and things like that, but you would never see someone carrying a dog or cat around, and they would definitely never talk to them.
Well, I'm all cultured out. That's all for today. Any more questions? Post them as a comment, and if I know you leave a name! There is no joining required to leave a comment.
See you guys soon! I'll be home in less than 3 weeks!!!
Sarah
The Culture of Africa. Oh, where do I start. I guess my view of it usually depends on the day you talk to me, and being I had a frustrating day yesterday, I have a bad taste for it right now... But I'll try to be fair.
The culture here is incredible, and incredibly different. Life moves much slower here. People don't really worry so much about things, unless they are going to make the fetishes mad (fetishes = voodoo fetishes, which come in wide varieties).
Voodoo is a huge part of the life here. I know I've said it before, but I love it so much that I'm going to repeat it again: They say that 50% of the population is Muslim, 50% Christian, and 100% Animist... and it's true. Even people who say they don't believe in gri gri (gri gri = magic/voodoo) will tell you that they don't believe in it because they are scared of it... which of course means that actually they do believe in it, but don't try to explain that one to them. Gri gri is everywhere though. Many people wear necklaces with charms to guard them from bad spirits. Children especially are adorned with multiple charms, but I can't blame them: some poles have Benin as having the highest infant immortality rate. Both boys and girls are usually scarred with gri gri. According to the people I've talked to in Boukoumbe, your facial scars are decided by your bische's dead spirit, and the bische is sacrificed for you at a certain age by the local 'Gariseur', or healing man. I don't know if I believe that there are enough bisches anymore to do this for every person, but that's probably how it was back in the old days. Africa is developing quickly though, and you don't find wild animals outside of the parks anymore. Occasionally a dragon type lizard averaging about 4 feet long is caught and killed, but even those have become more rare since I've been here. Anyway, while you are still a very small child, you are given the local scars, depending on your garisseur. Each village or area has a garisseur, and he has his scars and traditions that he does for you, just as his father did the fathers before you. Each cut is kept from healing by putting a black powder into the fresh wound. If the people were white, it would look like a permanently swollen tattoo... but it would never work for white people because our skin reacts differently. The Garisseur also gives you different cuts in different places in order to heal different diseases. Some people have little lumps on their arms or back, which I'm assuming is where the garisseurs have injected some kind of local herb under the skin, but I'm not sure. Garisseurs are probably the most important men in the communities, after the kings of course.
Every village and bigger town has a group of elders that make most of the decisions based on property disputes and the like, and they are usually the kings and princes, which are roles that have been passed down from days of old. A king once might have 'ruled' an area of a few kilometers each. The 11Th and last official king of Benin, then known as Dahomey, was Behanzin who died in 1894. Interestingly enough, the Dahomey kingdom was one of the largest slave trading nations, if not the largest. Some say Ghana's slave trade was bigger. To his credit though, Behanzin was the king that told his people that slave trading was bad, thus abolishing it.
Enough history! Every village does have it's own king and Garisseur though, and a group of elders. The label of 'king' does not entitle them to the voluptuous lifestyle you might think it would. In truth, most of the kings I've met live very humbly, usually in mud brick buildings with a layer of cement on top. Yes, they do where very nice clothes and cary staffs, but the title does not include servants and piles of gold and giant palaces like Hollywood would like.
I feel like I could spend all day describing the lifestyle of the people here, but I think something more worth while is their typical personality characteristics. I hate bordering on stereotypes, but I guess anything is better than the 'starving, fly-in-the-eye, Africa' stereotype that already exists. Anyway, I think that what I have to say is pretty typical for most of West Africa.
First of all, the people here are not sad and unhappy all of the time. I'm not saying their life is easy, but if you are pitying them then I pity you. The thing that has become the most obvious to me here is that people manage, no matter their situation, and they don't really think of themselves as being without until you pity them to their faces, or show them how great life could be by giving them a one-time lump of money. In fact, I would say that these people should be an example of the world on how to deal with things. If there is no food, you go visit your neighbor for dinner. If there is no money for the rent, you borrow it, and then you help out others when they are in need. I have to say though, there does seem to be quite a few people who don't really have much interest in finding real work. I think it's because so many people aren't working, and if you're that one person with a real job than everyone comes to you for money (and you have to give it to them), but then you resent it because it cost you all that work just to give the money away, which leaves people wanting the money without the work. I understand it, and I hope that made enough sense for you guys. I'm not saying Africans are lazy. Not at all. When you think about it, all the work here is manual labor - in the heat. There is nothing easy about that.
I love the Beninese for their quirks. Some things that I find interesting: People here can NEVER say they are sorry. They'll admit that something was their fault, but that is the closest you get to an apology. Je suis desolee was not introduced to me till I finally asked about 6 months into service. Also, the Beninese LOVE to argue. They could argue anything all day. The annoying thing is that they usually have no real points to argue, they are just arguing. I once heard a friend and his boss arguing for hours over whether or not a wife is like a servant to a husband, or whether she just helps the husband be a better man. FYI: WOMEN DO EVERYTHING HERE!!!... and they get no credit. Beninese also love jokes, but they like the Dick Van Dyke type of thing; tripping and falling is hilarious, along with speaking their local languages and making funny sounds. Sarcasm does not exist here, and neither does anger. If you get angry at someone, it has to be a controlled, powerful anger. It cannot be a crying, screaming cat-fight type. They will laugh at you for that. Also, people never cry here. Crying is for children and animals. Also, animals are the most lowly creatures in the world. They are even below children on the social scale. If a dog is near you, you throw rocks at it till it goes away. A lot of that stems from the rabies threat and things like that, but you would never see someone carrying a dog or cat around, and they would definitely never talk to them.
Well, I'm all cultured out. That's all for today. Any more questions? Post them as a comment, and if I know you leave a name! There is no joining required to leave a comment.
See you guys soon! I'll be home in less than 3 weeks!!!
Sarah
posted by sarah at 12:05 PM
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