Adaptability of the Fon:
ANCESTRAL ASEN Chaya M. Krimmer
[email protected]
The Fon, nestled on the Gold Coast of West Africa, are the largest ethnic group in Benin (formally Dahomey) and parts of Togo. The Fon are a highly adaptable people that have been profoundly affected by the cultures they have interacted with, from the Yoruba, their West African neighbors, to European slave traders, colonists and missionaries. We will look at the adaptability of the Fon through the lens of a ritual object known to the Fon as the ancestral asen. While the term asen is a generic word for a type of moveable metal object able to hold or affix spiritual entities, 1 the asen we will concentrate on this paper is the ancestral asen, the asen made specifically to honor the dead. In this paper, we will see how the asen originated with the influence of the Yoruba medicine staff, the Opa Osanyin, and how utilization of the asen changed from solely the domain of the kingly families to the vast range of Fon society, including the common Fon palm oil farmers, with the colonization of Benin by the French in the late eighteen hundreds. Finally we will see how the asen is currently falling out of disuse with the influence of Beninese Christians and missionaries who shun the traditional ancestral worship of the Fon. Structurally, the ancestral asen is made up of an iron pole or stake that is either carried by worshipers or planted firmly in the floor of a sacred prayer house or on an altar, a round tableau decorated with a cast of characters, animals, and vignettes, and a reverse conical base with hanging pendants. There are two main types of asen based on the construction of the reverse conical base—the asen aladsen and the asen gbadota. 2
1
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 1. 2 Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 2
The asen aladsen, the more traditional of the two, has a closed conical base while the asen gbadota has metal umbrella-like spokes attaching the iron stake to the tableau. See photographs on pages 19 and 20. The iconography on the tableau of the asen are similar to the imagery on a headstone or cairn and, like a headstone, often it is only the immediate family of the deceased and the blacksmith who who made the asen who can wholly understand the significance of its images. 3 For Westerners to understand the asen as best we can, we must take the imagery of the asen and place it within the complexity of Fon culture, which we will attempt to do shortly. Firstly, however, we will describe the technique through which the asen is made called cire perdue or lost wax-casting. First beeswax must be melted down, shaped, and then left to harden. Next a mixture of soil, sand, and ground palm nuts is layered over the beeswax. After the clay mold dries, it is brought to the firing room where the beeswax is melted out of the cast and liquid metal is poured inside. The technique is called lost-wax because the original mold is broken ensuring a one of a kind work of art. 4 After the tableau is cast, wood or iron is used for the reverse conical base, which can be in either the aladasen or gbadota style, and then metal pins are used to attach the characters to the tableau. Various shapes can be used for the pendants which hang off the edges of the
University of Illinois Press, 2008, 3. 3
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 9.
4
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 28.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 3
tableau. Frequently these shapes speak to the maker of the family. A clan of the famed Houndtondji family, for example, uses a unique bean shape for these pendants. 5 See photograph on page 21. Cooling the asen is the final process and is particularly important because Gu, the god of iron, is thought to inhabit the asen prior to its consecration to the deceased. See photograph of metal statue of Gu on page 26. When the asen is consecrated, the spirit of Gu must depart the asen before the deceased can alight upon it. In order to cajole Gu to leave the asen, the donor offers gin, money, nuts, and pepper to Gu along with a calabash of water and leaves sacred to Gu. After this small ceremony the asen is ready to be consecrated to the spirit of the deceased. 6 Visually the asen is created with one of three different foci. 7 The characters and images either face the viewer like actors on a stage, face each other in a circular pattern, or are randomly placed around the tableau. There may be one coherent theme with several characters on the asen or there may be several themes acting upon each other. Made of iron, brass, wood, shells, or similar materials, the tableau may depict the deceased doing an activity he was known for in life, something important to him, or it may simply honor his memory. Likewise it may show images of animals, plants, places, or celestial objects and it can also depict the donor, the one who commissions the making
5
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 29.
6
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 29.
7
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 9. Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 4
of the asen. When the donor is present on the asen, the deceased is pictured sitting, a sign of age and authority, while the donor kneels in supplication or holds a calabash, one of the most complex symbol for the Fon. See photograph on page 21. Because of its centrality to Fon cosmovision, the calabash is the first symbol used frequently on the ancestral asen that we will discuss. The calabash, particularly the closed calabash, is germane to the Fon worldview because it is understood to be shaped in the likeness of the universe. The calabash is divided into two equal part with the top half representing male energy as well as the sky, the heavens, and the realm of the invisible spirits. The bottom half of the calabash represents female energy and the primeval waters from which the physical world was created. 8 The calabash is also a symbol of both offering and sacrifice to the Fon. Open calabash gourds are used to offer food and drink to both the living and the dead and, in fact, the calabash is the only vessel used for ceremonial matters by the Fon. 9 In an area of the world where resources are scarce, accepting food and drink is considered a sign of trust to the Fon. 10 When visitors enter a home they are immediately given a calabash of water from which both the giver and the receiver drink. Until this ritual is complete, no business or socializing takes place. The calabash is also a symbol of equality because all drink from the same gourd, be they 8
9
Lawal, Babatunde. Ejiwapo: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture. African Arts. Spring 2008: 25. Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 12.
10
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 12. Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 5
honored or simple men. Similarly, open gourds are used to feed the dead food and drink, where they are left on the floor of the prayer house for the deceased to consume. While the calabash is one of the most popular symbols on the ancestral asen, the braided cord, a wooden pillar called kpanzon, the rainbow serpent, the cross, and the chameleon are also popular images. 11 The braided cord, a symbol of the continuity of lineage, is typically portrayed in the hands of the deceased or with the deceased handing the braided cord to his children. This demonstrates the hope and promise that the children will continue on in the ways of their ancestors, that they will continue to braid the sacred cord. 12 The braided cord can also be displayed standing alone with a small bone attached to it. The Fon word for bone is often used in an expression for something that requires great strength or effort. For this reason, a braided cord with a bone is a prayer that the children will expend great effort to follow in the footsteps of their fathers and mothers. A kpanzon is a small wooden pillar with a forked top seen on many familiar ancestral asen. See photograph on page 25. The kpanzon, a symbol of protection and support, thanks the deceased for their prayers and blessings from the underworld. 13 The rainbow serpent represents the Vodun spirit Dan Ayido Weido, who is both
11
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 15.
12
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 15.
13
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 17.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 6
male and female. Dan Weido is the male counterpart and is always depicted with horns, while Dan Ayido is the female counterpart. Dan is responsible for transmitting souls to and from the heavens and it is Dan who allows the Fon to “'braid the cord' of family continuity” (Bay, 1985, 18). Dan is sometimes visualized as a snake swallowing his tail, which represents Dan perpetuating the act of creation by holding the universe together. 14 Dan is also associated with the navel, the umbilical cord which attaches mother to child, and the veins of the body. 15 Although the Fon have had contact with Christians since the sixteenth century, the cross on the asen, until perhaps recently, has not been used as a symbol of the Christian faith. The cross can represent several different things to the Fon. Firstly the cross can symbolize animals sacrificed in honor of the ancestors. It is not uncommon, to the chagrin of Beninese Christians, for the asen to display crocodiles, cats, and hawks hanging from crosses. Secondly, the cross can be understood as representing the four times of day—morning, afternoon, evening, and night—as well as the four cardinal directions. 16 Thirdly, the cross can represent the Fon deity Mawu, the female aspect of the twin creator couple. 17 Mawu is thought to rule the night and is associated with the moon
14
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 19.
15
Blier, Suzanne. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995, 201.
16
17
Ben Amos, Paula. Art, Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999, 64.
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 7
and cool air. In addition, a chameleon on the asen represents Mawu’s consort Lisa, the male aspect of the twin creator deity. In the analogy of the closed calabash, the bottom of the calabash represents Mawu as well as female, night, coolness, water, fertility, and motherhood, while the top half of the calabash represents Lisa, male, day, heat, fire, fatherhood, and virility. 18 Mawu-Lisa are both high gods and sometimes they are seen as one hermaphroditic god. Mawu-Lisa are twin children of Nana Baluku, the Supreme Fon Deity, who is considered too high and exalted to be formally worshiped. 19 Mawu-Lisa, themselves, gave birth to seven set of twins, the primary Vodun spirits, including Heviosso, Gu, Fa, and Legba to name a few. Mawu-Lisa creates through a life force known as gla to the Fon or ashe to the Yoruba. Gla is extended to the Creator to the created and, in this way, all created beings are able to use gla to, themselves, create. This extends to humans. 20 Another symbol frequently portrayed on the asen is the double-bladed ax. The double-bladed ax is sacred to Heviosso, the deity of thunder, fire, and power. Heviosso has always had a particularly strong following by both the Fon and the Yoruba. He is
and Archeology, 1985, 17. 18
Lawal, Babatunde. Ejiwapo: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture. African Arts. Spring 2008: 27.
19
Deren, Maya. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. New York: McPherson & Company, 2004.
20
Faseyin, Awotunde. Iwakeri: The Quest for Afrikan Spirituality. Damballah Ancestral Order Publishing, 2005: 27. Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 8
believed to have one been a legendary king of Oyo, the ancient capital city of the Yoruba. Heviosso works for justice and is swift with punishment of offenders. He is also a symbol of vitality and dance. An iron sword, representing the Vodun Gu, the god of metal, politics, and war, is also a popular image on the asen. Gu has a special connection to the asen because the asen, itself, is made of metal, which Gu rules over. Gu is sacred to blacksmiths and toolmakers. Puns, proverbs, and phrases with double meaning are also commonly found on the ancestral asen. An awa, a carpenter's tool with a sharp metal blade, for example, is often depicted. 21 In this case it does not demonstrate that the deceased was a carpenter or handy man but alludes to the Fon expression n wa, which translates to "I have come". 22 The affirmation “I have come” is a pledge to the deceased that his children have and will come to honor him. Another popular pun is depicted with a bird sitting on a shaft of millet. See photograph on page 25. The bird depicted is the gbejihe, which is known for its destructive behaviors and its tendency to not leave even one single grain of millet in its wake untouched. Of the gbejihe, the Fon say, “If only one bird remains, he will find millet and eat”. 23 In terms of the asen, however, the bird is looked on as an inspiration, implying that if even one child is left alive, that child will honor the memory of his
21
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 20.
22
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 20.
23
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 21. Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 9
ancestors. Similarly, objects are often put on the ancestral asen that hint at the last name of the deceased. To use a Western corollary, ceramic bowls might be placed on an asen to hint that the last name of the deceased was Potter. A foot next to a yam and a dog with a fish in his mouth are also popular images. Taken together, the Fon words for food and yam form the expression “I am wholly upright” or “I am wholly sincere”. 24 The foot and yam, see photograph on page25, demonstrate that the living are willing and able to serve the dead. The dog with a fish, or similar objects, in his mouth represents the Fon proverb that “the dog that traps an animal takes it to show his owner”. 25 This image is a promise that the children will share their blessings with the dead. Pigs, frogs, bulls, and lions are also frequently used. Both the bull and lion symbolize kingship and are used by the Beninese royal family to display their status. The asen displayed on page 22, for example, was made to honor King Tegbesu. A snake consuming a frog is based on the proverb that “a snake will be saved by an invisible hand—unseen powers are available to protect us”. 26 Images of pigs also represent a proverb which says “as long as the pig is free, no grass will grow in front of my father's house”. 27 This demonstrates personal responsibility and promises that the
24
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 21.
25
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 21.
26
27
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 99.
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 10
children will be industrious and maintain responsibility in family affairs. The ancestral asen, in effect, acts as a living memory of the ancestors and is a place for the dead to rest and be honored. The dead, however, do not sit idly. In some ways they become even more powerful in the afterlife. Author Maya Deren explains that through ceremony and rituals used to memorialize the dead, ancestors effectively reach the status of gods. She writes, “What was once believed, is now believed in. He who was once respected is now revered. Where once the parent inspired filial devotion, the deity now exacts dedication. The ancestor has been transfigured into a god”. 28 Like the living, in order for the ancestors to continue to thrive and to shower blessings on their progeny, they must be fed, and they are fed in the deho. The deho, a one-room building with wide doorways, is a sacred space where ancestors are remembered and where the living commune with the dead. It is the place where the ancestors are consulted on both family and business matters. Sparse with furnishings, the centerpiece of the deho is the ancestral asen, which are made and displayed for every deceased family member—both male and female. Scattered between, and in front of, the many asen are the open calabash gourds, as mentioned before, filled with water, strong drink, libations, even blood and bowls of rice, legumes, and the favorite foods of the ancestors. The Fon approach the deho in times of family change
University of Illinois Press, 2008, 99. 28
Deren, Maya. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. New York: McPherson & Company, 2004, 29.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 11
such as births and marriages, when family members are undergoing new business or educational enterprises, and when the family is suffering misfortune such as infertility, illness, or troubling dreams. Ancestors, unbound by physical bodies, are as strong as the deities, the Vodun, and can intercede on behalf of their children. The holy dead in the deho are approached during established times of the year, and it is incumbent on every individual member of a family to visit the deho at least once annually. 29 As Fon tradition proscribes, entrance to the deho is a solemn and puissant occasion. Those who bring food and drink for the ancestors bow their heads and approach the deho respectfully. Men uncover their chests and women bare their shoulders in humility as all of the family kneels except for the eldest woman in the family lineage, the tassinon or tansinon, who leads the ceremony and is trained to channel the spirits of the Queen Mothers of Benin and to offer praise to the deceased kings. Dipping a calabash of water, a tansinon greets the dead in a manner paralleling everyday Fon hospitality, pouring water at the bases of the asen. With the water, she calls the dead, inviting their presence to receive the offerings of the living and to participate in the life of the family. Next, she serves alcoholic beverages, again by pouring them at the base of the asen or by splashing them over the asen tops. The blood of sacrificed animals is offered next....Finally, offerings of food are placed before the asen, the small calabashes containing as a minimum the beans favored by the dead. As the assembled family kneels, heads lowered in respect, the spirits of the ancestors sup, silently and invisibly absorbing the essence of the proffered foods. 30 When the ancestors have finished their feast, celebrants take turns eating spoonfuls of 29
30
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 34.
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 34 Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 12
food out of open calabashes, according to their positions within the family.
Yoruba Opa Osanyin: Precursor of the Asen The Fon and their western neighbors, the Yoruba, share many cultural beliefs and attributes. Both cultures, for example, view the calabash as a symbol of the cosmos. Both cultures practice ancestor worship and serve the spirits, which the Fon call the Vodun, as we have previously mentioned, and the Yoruba call the Orisha. These two peoples have had close contact due to geographic locality and have had considerable influence on each other. They, in fact, may come from a common ancestor who established both the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Yoruba holy city of Ife. 31 It is with this encounter between the Yoruba and the Fon from which the asen was formed. The precursor of the asen is the Yoruba medicine staff, the Opa Osanyin, sacred to the Yoruba Orisha Osanyin, the spirit of medicine, healing, and herbalism and known to the Fon as Asen. The Opa Osanyin is an iron pole or stand with either a single or multiple birds on its apex, which looks similar in form to the ancestral asen. 32 See photograph on page 23. Bay (2008) writes: The name asen and the distinct conical form of Fon ancestral asen were adopted from the Yoruba culture…. In Yoruba-speaking areas, the name and form are associated with the orisha of medicine, Osanyin, whose knowledge of the healing 31
Ryder, A. A Reconsideration of the Ife-Benin Relationship. The Journal of African History 6/1 (1965): 25.
32
Farris Thompson, Robert. Icons of the Mind: Yoruba Herbalism Arts in Atlantic Perspective. African Arts 80/3 (Spring 1975): 52.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 13
properties of leaves and herbs offers humankind relief from physical suffering…An Opa Osanyin typically consists of an iron stake surmounted by a circular form or an inverted cone that is topped with birds. Alternate forms may include miniature representations of forged metal tools arranged in conical form (30). The Fon appropriated the form and the name of the Opa Osanyin and were able to adapt its usage in way uniquely their own. 33
History of the Asen The kings and queen mothers of the Kingdom of Dahomey, which the Benin monarchy was called, were known for their proliferation of the arts and in its first incarnation the ancestral asen, patterned after the Opa Osanyin, was commissioned and used exclusively by the ruling class. Because worship of the Vodun was so strong among the Fon common people in the late eighteen hundreds, turning kingly ancestors into gods, as Maya Deren asserts, was partly a political move by the monarchy. Not only did the ancestral asen lift the ancestors on par with the Vodun, it also spoke to those in the royal family vying for kingship. The true political arena was the chiefs and members of the kingly family in that the power of the ancestors, and their blessings, were harnessed as a social control method by the monarchy. 34 If the ancestors were pleased, how could brothers of the king usurp him? This may have worked in theory but seldom acted as a 33
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 9.
34
Ben Amos, Paula. Art, Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999, 6.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 14
true deterrent. A Beninese king, in fact, was more likely to be attacked by brothers and fellow chiefs in his party than by outside forces. Benin flourished in size and wealth under King Gezo, the ninth king of the empire during the years 1818-1858. Gezo waged wars and the captives were sold into slavery or were forced to work on European-owned palm oil plantations. It was during his reign that the legendary Hountondji family migrated to Benin from what is now Togo. The Hountondji family, distant relatives of the king, took up residence in Abomey in an area which abutted the palace of the old kings and is still known as the Hountondji Quarter. 35 Because the Beninese monarchy encouraged the production of arts, the Hountondji family was provided with grants, wives, slaves, and land. Fon myth purports that the Hountondji family were always blacksmiths and that they brought Gu with them to Benin. 36 The Hountondji family made a name for themselves through the production of asen. They were celebrated by their ability to mimic and incorporate the technology of others into their own and through their innovation in both iron and silver work. 37 Daa Hountondji, however, stood out even among the Hountondji clam both in his manner of dress and his unique skill with metalwork. He wore European clothing, even wearing the
35
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 27.
36
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 60.
37
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 64.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 15
lion of England on his garments. His nickname was "yovo" meaning white person because he was able to create anything the Europeans could make whether in weaponry or art.
38
The Hountondji family held a monopoly on the production of asen until the
disposition of the Beninese monarchy. While King Gezo had welcomed the Hountondji family, they continued to flourish under his son and successor, King Glele (1858-1889). Glele was a strong ruler like his father but his reign was strongly affected by the end of the international slave trade. The slave trade, lasting from the beginning of the seventeen hundreds through the end of the eighteen hundreds, very much shaped the people of the Slave Coast. Over a period of just under two hundred years more than a million slaves were exported out of West Africa by the English and other European nations. The economy of the Kingdom of Dahomey was upheld primarily through annual raids and military expeditions, which provided a surplus of men, women, and children who could be sold into slavery. 39 The men and women captured in wars, frequently against the neighboring Yoruba kingdoms, were either sold to Europeans and Americans for oversees transport or were forced to work on Europeanowned palm oil plantations, one of the main resources of Benin. It was during King Glele’s reign that the first accounts of asen were written about by Westerners. King Glele commissioned British entomologist J.A. Skertchly, against his
38
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 64.
39
Blier, Suzanne. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995, 23.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 16
will, to record the customs of the Beninese people. Skertchly witnessed Sin Kwain, the holy Water Sprinkling Ceremony, where prayers and sacrifices are offered to deceased Beninese monarchs. Skertchly observed the unveiling of many asen and blood from both animals and humans being sprinkled on asen inside the deho, filled with both human and animal skulls. Skertchly, quoted in Burton, explained that: It is no mere lust of blood or delight in torture or death that underlies the rite in these lands. The King has to perform a disagreeable task over his ancestral graves, and he does it; his subjects would deem it impious were he to curtail or to omit the performance, and suddenly it would be as if a European monarch were forcibly to abolish prayers for the dead (Burton, 1864, 176). The end of the reign of King Glele, however, was marked by increase conflict by French colonists. Glele’s son, King Behanzi, ruled Benin for five years during the First and Second Franco-Dahomean Wars before the French dismantled the monarchy in 1900. 40 Although the French abolished the kingship, they, ironically, upheld the social stratification of the Kingdom of Dahomey by appointing members of the kingly family as political chiefs in the new regime. 41 The Fon quickly adapted their cultural practices in the face of French imposition by opening up the use and production of asen to all members of society. The fall of the monarchy, effectively, brought the asen from outside the realm of kingship into the hands of the people. At first, however, some social stratification occurred in determining who would be honored with asen, and not 40
41
Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 6. Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 37.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 17
surprisingly, it was the new chiefs appointed by the French who ushered in the new age of the asen. Similarly, early on, only the wealthiest people in Fon society were able to afford the making of asen primarily because, up until that point, asen were made of only the richest of materials. By the 20th century, asen usage spread to all levels of Fon society. 42 Farmers and laborers could commission asen made of steel, discarded tin cans, bottle caps, and other kinds of scrap metal. Likewise, asen changed from a means of honoring those ancestors who had achieved significant accomplishments to a vehicle which primarily expressed family continuity and unity. Bay writes, The message of the royal ancestral asen of the precolonial period focuses on the visible world of state power, on the strengths of the kings and queen mothers of the dynasty. In contrast, the decorative tableaux of asen of the mid-twentiethcentury, roughly from the 1920s through the 1970s, speak intimately of relationships within families. They talk of close friends, of the dead, and the connection between the living and the dead” (Bay, 2008, 115). This change from honoring significant achievement to honoring family stability and union was not the only change in asen after French colonization. The asen of the monarchy tended to be taller, narrower, and simpler with only one or two characters on the asen—for example the simple bull on the asen commissioned for King Tegbesu. 43 In earlier history, puns and proverbs were the most popular types of iconography but in later
42
43
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 143. Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985, 42.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 18
times more literal images were used. Because people of all socioeconomic status were able to purchase asen, a new creativity in asen making emerged. Not only was asen open to all people, it was also open to all smiths. The Hountondji family, however, maintain a monopoly on the asen even today.
Christian Influence on Asen In this paper we have seen how the Yoruba Opa Osanyin sparked the creation of the asen and how colonization by the French changed both the design and the usage of the asen. In the late 20th century missionaries have influenced the decline of the asen. Roman Catholic and Methodist missionaries play an enormous role in the education of Beninese children. Likewise, Christians were more likely to be appointed to political positions by the French under their rule giving Christians an advantage in political affairs. 44 Islam too has made its way to parts of north and eastern Benin. Today, many Fon influenced by their Christian and Muslims neighbors prefer to use photographs as a substitute for asen. 45 Beninese families are also choosing decidedly Western funerary practices such as the use of urban mortuaries. Some have chosen to abandon the deho entirely, discarding the asen. 46 Others line the deho with pictures of the deceased. Can
44
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 152.
45
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008, 141.
46
Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 19
the asen be saved? It is possible considering the modern revival of the vodun system, and vodun artwork in particular, which has occurred in the past thirty years in Benin. The International Festival of Vodun Arts and Cultures, which began in 1993, is an example of this revival. This yearly arts festival, known as Ouidah 92, is the first instance of governmental support of Vodun arts since the postcolonial period. At these festival large colorful canvases depicting the vodun spirits Gu, Dan, and Heviosso hang next to modern sculptures made of scrap metal and walls painted with slaves breaking chains remembering Benin's role in the international slave trade. Ouidah 92 displays works by artists from both Benin and the African diaspora and explores the relationship between Vodun in Benin and its offshoots in the world—Santeria in Cuba and Puerto Rico, Voodoo in Haiti and New Orleans, and Candomble in Brazil. 47 Hopefully, with help from the diaspora, the Fon will continue to grow in ways that positively affect both their religious and cultural expression.
University of Illinois Press, 2008, 138. 47
Hackett, Rosalind. Art and Religion in Africa. Continuum International Publishing Group, 1998, 203. Ancestral Asen Chaya M. Krimmer 20
Photograph 1: Asen Aladasen Traditional Asen with Closed Conical Base Woman Holding a Calabash (Bay, 1985, 12)
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 21
P hotograph 2: Asen Gbadota Asen with Umbrella-like Spokes Bean-Shaped Pendants Kneeling Woman holds Calabash (Bay, 1985, 13) Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 22
Photograph 3: Asen of King Tegbesu Same as Front Cover (Bay, 1985, 40)
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 23
Photograph 4: Statue of Gu, God of Iron (Bay, 2008, 29)
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 24
Photograph 5: Kpazon. Bird on Millet. Yam and Foot. (Bay, 1985, 30)
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 25
Photograph 6: Opa Osanyin Brooklyn Museum Website Accessed 4/29/12 http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/166630
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 26
Bibliography: Adande, Joseph. Asen and Methodology in Art History. African Arts 40/3 (Autumn 2007): 7. Bay, Edna. Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008. Bay, Edna. Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. Atlanta: Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology, 1985. Bay, Edna. On Ouidah Asen. African Arts 40/1. (Spring 2007): 6-7. Ben Amos, Paula. Art, Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. Blier, Suzanne. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Burton, Richard Francis. A Mission to Gelele: King of Dahome. Volume 2. Tinsley, 1862. Deren, Maya. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. New York: McPherson & Company, 2004. Farris Thompson, Robert. Icons of the Mind: Yoruba Herbalism Arts in Atlantic Perspective. African Arts 80/3 (Spring 1975): 52-59, 89-90. Faseyin, Awotunde. Iwakeri: The Quest for Afrikan Spirituality. Damballah Ancestral Order Publishing, 2005: 27. Hackett, Rosalind. Art and Religion in Africa. Continuum International Publishing Group, 1998. Lawal, Babatunde. Ejiwapo: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture. African Arts. Spring 2008: 24-39. Neil, Norman. Powerful Pots, Humbling Holes, and Regional Ritual Processes: Towards an Archeology of Huedan Vodun,ca. 1650–1727. African Archeological Review. 2009. 26:187–218 Noret, Joel. Between Authenticity and Nostalgia: The Making of a Yoruba Tradition in Southern Benin. African Arts. (Winter 2008): 26-31. Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 27
Plankensteiner, Barbara. Benin—Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria. African Arts 40/4 (Winter 2007): 74-87. Poling, Clark. Asen: Iron Altars of the Fon People of Benin. African Arts 19/2 (Feb. 1986): 83. Rush, Dana. Contemporary Vodun Arts of Ouidah, Benin. African Arts (Winter 2001): 32-47. Ryder, A. A Reconsideration of the Ife-Benin Relationship. The Journal of African History 6/1 (1965): 25-37.
Ancestral Asen
Chaya M. Krimmer 28
