The
Fon people, or
Fon nu, are a major West African ethnic and linguistic group in the country of
BeninBenin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, and southwest
NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, made up of more than 3,500,000 people. The
Fon languageFon is part of the Gbe language cluster and belongs to the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo languages. Fon is spoken mainly in Benin by approximately 1.7 million speakers, by the Fon people...
is the main language spoken in Southern Benin, and is a member of the
Gbe languageThe Gbe languages form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe , followed by Fon...
group. The Fon are said to originate from
TadoTado is a village in south east Togo, near the border with Benin.Tradition states that Tado was the birthplace of the Aja people at some point in the 12th or 13th century. Today the Aja populate the south part of Togo and Benin...
, a village in south east
TogoTogo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
, near the border with Benin.
The culture is patrilineal and allows
polygamyPolygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
and
divorceDivorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
. Funerals (and anniversaries of deaths) are among the most important cultural events, with mourning activities including drumming and dancing often lasting for days. The Fon believe that part of the person dies and part is
reincarnatedReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
.
Most Fon today live in villages and small towns in mud houses with corrugated iron gable roofs. Cities built by the Fon include
AbomeyWhen UNESCO designated the royal palaces of Abomey as a World Heritage Site in 1985 it statedFrom 1993, 50 of the 56 bas-reliefs that formerly decorated the walls of King Glèlè have been located and replaced on the rebuilt structure...
, the historical capital city of Dahomey, and
OuidahOuidah , also Whydah or Juda, is a city on the Atlantic coast of Benin.The commune covers an area of 364 square kilometres and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555 people.-History:...
on the
Slave CoastThe Slave Coast is the name of the coastal areas of present Togo, Benin and western Nigeria, a fertile region of coastal Western Africa along the Bight of Benin. In pre-colonial time it was one of the most densely populated parts of the African continent...
. These cities were major commercial centres for the slave trade.
Fon religion
While many Fon identify as Christian, the majority practice Benin's national religion Vodun. The Fon name for a
godA deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
or spirit is "Vodu". Practise can involve drumming to induce possession by one of these gods or spirits. Fon
religionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
is
polytheisticPolytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
, with a supreme (but not omnipotent) deity known as
Nana BulukuNana Buluku is the Supreme Deity of the Fon from Dahomey.In Dahomey mythology, Nana Buluku is an androgynous deity creator of the Universe and all that exists in it...
.
Fon influence in the New World
Many descendants of the Fon now live in the Americas as a result of the
Atlantic slave tradeThe Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
. Together with other cultural groups from the Fon homeland region such as the
YorubaThe Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
and Bantu, Fon culture merged with French, Portuguese or Spanish to produce distinct religions (Voodoo,
Mami WataMami Wata is venerated in West, Central, Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Caribbean and parts of North and South America. Mami Wata spirits are usually female, but are sometimes male.-Appearance:...
,
CandombléCandomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practised chiefly in Brazil by the "povo de santo" . It originated in the cities of Salvador, the capital of Bahia and Cachoeira, at the time one of the main commercial crossroads for the distribution of products and slave trade to...
and
SanteríaSantería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
), dance and musical styles (
AraráArará is a minority group in Cuba , Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean who descend from Fon, Ewe, Popo, Mahi and other ethnic groups in Dahomey...
, Yan Valu).