Indeed, when Benin people pronounce the
phrase Fétiche Sakpata, they mean, with equal
reverence, the divinity or Vodun Sakpata, also
known among the Fon people as Ayivodun.
Likewise, when they say of someone that the per-
son is an adept of Fétiche Xêviosso or Xêbiosso
(invariably spelled Heviosso or Hebiosso), also
known as Jivodun, they mean that person is
Xêviossosi, an adept or a follower of the divinity
or Vodun Xêviosso. There is another derivative of
the French wordFétiche, that is,Féticheur, which
enjoys similar respect. As a matter of fact, when
Benin people refer to a person as Grand Chef
Féticheur (a high priest of a Fetish) or Grande
Féticheuse (a high priestess of a Fetish), they are
thus referring with great admiration, sometimes
mixed with fear, to a Hounnon, Houngan,
Houngbonon, or Hounnongan. All of these
words mean paramount chief of Vodun in
Fongbe, the language of the Fon people of Benin
Republic. The Grands Féticheurs or the
Hounnongan are by a ricochet, powerful medi-
cine people, a power of curing all sorts of diseases
and/or solving different problems facing human
beings, that is actually embedded in them by the
Vodun or Fetishes they oversee.
Actually, former Benin President Nicephore
Soglo undauntedly reasserted the value of the
African traditional religion and boosted its image
in the country, making the Vodun religion a fully
recognized national religion on an equal footing
as the two major foreign religions practiced in the
country as well—Christianity and Islam. The
Vodun has regained vitality, and the words
Fétiche (Fetish) and Féticheur (Fetisher) have
gained much more respect and are no longer used
scornfully.
Upon President Soglo’s initiative and leader-
ship, a 5-day symposium of various leaders of
the Vodun religion was held in Cotonou, from
May 28 through June 1, 1991. The purpose of
the symposium was to restore the significance of
the Vodun and establish a legal recognition for
this traditional religion, which is significant in
the everyday lives of Benin people and other
people of African ancestry worldwide. Following
this historic symposium, a great International
Vodun Festival was organized and held in Benin
in 1993.
This festival, known as “Ouidah 92,” has
brought together people of African ancestry from
all other the world, particularly from the conti-
nents of Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean
Islands. Subsequently, January 10 was officially
made a National Vodun Holiday, which has been
observed in the country every year since 1993.Renewed Respect
These different events restored the Vodun reli-
gion back to its rightful place amid world reli-
gions and helped the wordsVodun andFetish
take on more positive connotations in Benin
Republic and elsewhere. When the late Pope
John Paul II visited Benin in 1993, he met with
and paid homage to two Supreme dignitaries of
the Vodun religion in Benin, Venerable Sossa
Guédéhoungué, president of the Official
National Council of the Vodun, and Daagbo
Agbessi Hounon Houna, Supreme Chief of the
Vodun in Ouidah. The Pope’s meeting with
the Vodun dignitaries was an indication that the
Church could no longer ignore the existence and
significance of the Vodun and continue to vilify
the traditional religion. Hence, Benin people,
neighboring Togolese, and other Francophone
Africans use the wordsFetishandVoduninter-
changeably today, although the use of the
authentic African wordVodunis rapidly taking
over and must be strongly encouraged.
Conversely, the two derivatives of the word
Fetish(i.e., fetishism and fetishist) have yet to gain
comparable consideration and respect. When
Benin people say that a person practices le
fétichismeor that the person isun/une fétichiste
they say it with a certain disdain and usually in
comparison to foreign monotheistic religions,
to mean that the person is not a Christian or a
Muslim. As a matter of fact, fetishism is still
used today in many parts of the world to mean
charms, sorcery, magic, occultism, or animism.
Appropriate terms for the derogatory words
fetishismand fetishistwould be Vodun religion
and follower of the Vodun religion, respectively.
In view of the positive connation that the word
Fetishhas now taken as described above, one may
list African Vodun as African Fetishes. A selected
list of Vodun or Fetishes is found in Table 1.266 Fetish