Adventures with Kingsley Holgate

VOODOO PYTHONS

We're at the Temple Des Pythons in Ouidah. A royal python curling around his arm - one of nearly 100 pythons that inhabit the temple - 26-year old Emmanuel Sandou tells us, "Voodoo is more than a belief system: it is a complete way of life, including culture, philosophy, language, art, dance, music and medicine." Emmanuel is an initiate of Dagbe - the Python God and has agreed to be our guide to the Voodoo Festival, the very reason why we have travelled all this way.

Royal pythons are worshiped in Benin, especially in Ouidah and followers of this particular cult even tattoo their faces with marks that imitate the head of a python. These sacred reptiles are accepted in Beninese households where they are fed when the doors of the temple are opened at night, the locals welcoming them into their living rooms like honoured guests. Emmanuel tells us that if you kill one by mistake - for example, riding over it on your moped - you're in trouble. The driver has to bring the dead body back to the temple and be purified by a priest; the snake is then buried in the python graveyard.

An ancient, sacred Iroko tree stands in the temple courtyard; a fetish at its base made of white cloth and splashed with the now familiar palm nut oil. A curious upside-down clay pot draws our attention. "That's Zengbe - very important to Voodoo culture," says Emmanuel. "It is over 300 years old and its presence wards off evil spirits from the town. Every seven years, Voodoo priests gather and the pot is turned upright. 41 (a magical Voodoo number) virgins are selected from Ouidah and given the important task of going down to the river to collect water, which the priests pour into Zengbe, bless and add Iroko leaves. They sprinkle this holy water on houses and other important structures as a blessing and to protect the town. But it's difficult these days," he continues, "It's the 21st century and virgins are hard to find.so the priests now have to choose post-menopausal women."

We find it strange that just a few metres away from the temple, towers an imposing Catholic Basilica. According to Emmanuel, when Christian missionaries first arrived in Ouidah in 1861, the cult priests from the Temple Des Pythons agreed to give them land to build a church, on the understanding that both would respect each other's religions and participate in important ceremonies. "That still happens; Catholic priests come here and we attend Sunday church services. I'm engaged to an Islamic girl from the north of Benin and so I embrace all three - Voodoo, Christianity and Islam. It's not uncommonI suppose it's a bit of an insurance policy," says Emmanuel with a wry smile.

It's late afternoon and still the humidity bears downred dust is everywhere. We take shelter under a fig tree next to Fort São João Baptista de Ajudá, an old Portuguese slave trading fort dating back to the 17thcentury, and mingle with a crowd gathering to watch a Voodoo dance ceremony.

We're warned not to take photographs: Emmanuel explains that we need to get a 'badge' that will allow us to photograph the largest Voodoo Festival in Africa, as we prepare to follow the route taken by tens of thousands of slaves down to the Gate of No Return on the Atlantic coast, where the festival will take place. Will keep you posted