00:00This is Fudu Days, Benis and Noah's celebration of Fudu culture, where masquerades, priests, musicians, and worshippers gather from across
00:11the region.
00:12For someone seeing all this for the first time, what does Fudu Festival really mean?
00:18Ancestry, a powerful symbol of the affirmation of African and especially Beninese identity,
00:24and the Fudu Festival symbolizes this historical greatness.
00:30To better understand the story of Fudu Days and the people who practice this ancient tradition, I am here to
00:36meet Jean Paul.
00:37She is a Fudu priest who grew up in this religion, learning its beliefs, rituals, and the way of life
00:44from an early age.
00:45This year, the festival marks an important transition in a role within the religion.
00:50What role are you taking up?
00:51The role I am taking up now is to lead the young generation after me, to teach them about prayers,
01:00about how to make the beast for the different deities.
01:05In Fudu, prayer is not silent. People pray through shouts, offerings, and movements, speaking directly to the spirit for protection
01:15and guidance.
01:16I think the first role is to teach people about Fudu, what Fudu really is, because today we can see
01:25that many people have bad ideas about Fudu.
01:29Absolutely.
01:30So we have to let people know that Fudu is not evil. Fudu is a religion who can help us
01:36to survive.
01:37Fudu's masquerades, like Igungu, are covered in layered fabrics, kauri shells, beads, and sacred symbols.
01:48Worshippers believe that once they appear, the human disappears, and the spirit speaks through movement and rhythm.
01:58Sankbeto, the guardians of the night, are hidden in palm front and straw, spinning to protect and purify the community.
02:08You can see each deities has their colors.
02:13Because in Fudu, nothing is made for no reason. Everything has its reason.
02:20So those colors have its vibrations. As I told you, vibrations, energies, are the most important things in Fudu.
02:31So, we put energies together, we put vibrations together, and they give something, they do what they have to do.
02:40Across the Atlantic Ocean, Fudu traditions survived slavery, carried by Africans to places like Haiti, Cuba, and Brazil.
02:49The festival here started in 1993, and was created to welcome people from the African diaspora,
02:57exactly here, at the point of no return.
03:01Today, their descendants return to Ouida, not as tourists, but as spiritual descendants, reconnecting with the source of their fate.
03:11What's the relationship between Ouida, the Fudu religion, and, you know, the point of no return, having a lot of
03:18diaspora coming back home to cities?
03:20You know, Ouida was the main slave port in West Africa. And that door of no return is the symbol
03:29of what happened.
03:32When the plane was landing in Benin, I started crying. My heart began to beat faster, my body warmed up,
03:39and I realized that my place was really here.
03:43I was returning to the right place. In Brazil, we used the expression, going back home, and people use it
03:51here too, but when we say it, we don't truly understand what it means until we are actually here.
03:57Here we can understand the feeling of truly coming back home.
04:03From pain to pride, from remembrance to celebration, the excitement, the connection, and the energy of the port of no
04:12return are real.
04:13This festival lets us see more than we can see from where we live, from where we are. So when
04:24we get closer, we can see more.
04:26During this year's Fudu festival, this sacred place is being reimagined. Global music star David O and world-renowned artist
04:36Angelic Keijo will perform right here.
04:39Because Fudu is not only rituals, it's also art, dances.
04:47Here in Weda, the Fudu festival is more than a celebration. It is a powerful reminder of identity, history, and
04:55culture coming alive.
04:57From sacred rituals to music, art, and global performances, Benin is opening its door to the world and telling its
05:05own story in its own voice.
05:07D.W. Affirmus Bene Republic.
