Voodoo temples and palaces for kings in Abomey, Benin

Voodoo is part of Benins past and the palaces of its kings are full of symbols of power and protection in the town of Abomey. The whole place is unesco world heritage and rightly so. 

Join us to the palace where a door show that the heads of enemies were brought here. I somehow believe that also serve to protect the palace by intimidation of possible intruders. 

It has the tomb of some of the kings with oxes around it in the shape of those round pyramids you use for food in ex Morocco. 

Another temple 🛕 for voodoo is shaped as a CAMELEON – yes, the animal that takes the color of the tree 🌴 it’s in. This like a church ⛪️ inside as the rich and powerful leader of all voodoo priests at the time wishes to have a place to gather as the Christian’s and Muslims do in churches and mosques 🕌. 

That one crazy building. A concrete cameleon. 

Just opposite to the cameleon is another voodoo temple 🛕 with another man with a huge penis. Very virile and not very discrete or modest. 🤣😇 

A door here is the open mouth of a jaguar.🐆 that’s also a really cool feature. 

Imagine a town where it’s possible to walk / drive between temples like this on the streets of red dust in the burning sun. 

I truly enjoyed and entrance to a holy & secret & forbidden forrest too. One the left was two you boys – the statues had the size and age of the boys when the entered the forrest to get their training to become warriors and just grown men. 

On the other side, there was a young man, a prince, at the age where he was now ready to leave the Forrest and training and start life as a prince / grown man. 

Imagine the trip down the street when a large group of people demonstrated me or dance down the street and you realise the main person is having a coffin on his head and that he is swinging it around by turning around by himself while they dance around him.

And imaging seeing the German cross in a small memorial as well for the 30 years they had colonial rule here.