Credit: painting by Jah Marco, courtesy Ute Fendler

DESCRIPTION

According to legend and oral tradition, the villagers were fleeing slave traders and raids. In response, King Agbogdobé called upon his Vodoun powers, transforming into a hawk to search for refuge across the waters. Once he found a suitable place, the island of Ganvié (close to Cotonou), he turned into a crocodile to carry his people safely to their new home.

LITERARY EXCERPT: La Saison de l'ombre, 2013, by Léonora Miano

The capture was in full swing. Like many others, the Mulongo had been caught up in something far beyond their grasp. On the night of the great fire, when the Bwélé cast their nets over twelve men from their community, the captives had no inkling that their misfortune was but one episode among countless others in a vast and intricate history. How many men, women, and children, from how many different peoples, would also be torn from their own, thrown onto unfamiliar paths, only to end up here, at the edge of Wase? (p. 188)