Colourful cultural spectacles usually come alive during the funeral of traditional rulers in Africa but the case of Benin Republic is exceptionally up-beat. Take the events of last week, for instance. The prime minister of the Abomey kingdom in southern Benin told the 300,000 people gathered to mark the death of the traditional monarch, Dah Agoli-Agbo, that “Darkness has fallen on the kingdom”.
That remark to denote the ancestral king’s life marked the beginning of, at least, three months of funeral rites, following his death and burial last month. Other rites will continue in the privacy of the royal courtyard. The royal advisers or funeral organizers would go round explaining that “fever will keep gripping the kingdom for as long as the funeral is not held, pointing out that the death of the king plunges his kingdom into darkness. No celebration may take place until the king’s funeral ceremony has ended.”
The crowd would witness the ritual sacrifice of a goat, followed by the deep ring of gongs signifying the start of the ceremony. Dignitaries, princes and courtiers from the region, bare-chested and wearing loin clothes, would sit crossed-legged in two long columns outside the palace.
Government officials and royals from around the country also make the trip to Abomey, once the capital of the 400-year-old kingdom formerly known as Dahomey. Agoli-Agbo’s ascension to the throne of Dahomey in 1989 was disputed, with some shunning his rule until 2010. A police officer by training who had 41 wives, his age was also controversial but his younger brother put it at 84.
The former kingdom of Dahomey had vied for control of the Gulf of Guinea region and was renowned for its fearsome women soldiers and rich from the slave trade. According to UNESCO, “Under the twelve kings who succeeded from 1625 to 1900, the kingdom was recognized as one of the most powerful in the western coast of Africa”
