Make a wish...
On route to Djougou, we stopped at the revered fetish site of Dankoli. Initially, it didn’t look anything special with makeshift camps around it for the local people who work at the site, and mounds of what appears to be rubbish stacked up on the side of the road. But look a little closer and you see some stakes placed inside the mounds, ominously dripping with blood.
This is one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in Benin for those who follow the Voodoo religion, and it is here that they come to appeal directly to the spirits for their message to be passed on to the higher powers, for a secret wish to be granted. The process, once you are ready, begins with placing a stake in the mound given by a vodoun or priest, anointing it with palm oil and then spitting some local rum over the stake, and of course, you then need to make a donation in order to complete your request.
Some locals will bring chickens or goats to be sacrificed at the site and their blood is dripped over their stakes. You then need to pay your respects to Legba, one of the main revered gods, symbolised by a big mound with a large mock phallus sticking out of it. He is considered one of the omnipresent forces in the Voodoo religion.
The belief here is so strong that whatever secret wish you request, it will be granted. The understanding is that when your wish, however big or small, comes true, then you need to return to the Dankoli Fetish within a year and make an offering and sacrifice to the Gods as a mark of your thanks and respect for your wish being granted.
