Our Tribal Scars?

Today we’ll continue with Tasha’s research. If we are descendants of the Pedah or Wxedah group, you should note that this tribe has distinguished tribal scars: 10 scars - 2 on each cheek, 2 on the forehead and 2 on each temple. We found no mention of Abojevi having any tribal scars. But found one record of his wife, Dovi, which stated that “her face was marked in the genuine African way.” Anyone willing to get their tribal scars?

Another Interpretation of Abojevi Zahwenu’s name

Thanks to Tasha’s research, here’s another interpretation of Abojevi Zahwenu’s name. It should be AGBODJEVI ZANWXENOU and is a greeting typical of an ethnic group called Pedah or Wxédah. The whole praise is "Dèdon Agbodjèvi Zanwxènou" and it was an expression of respect and honour. DEDON AGBODJEVI means the one who has the power of saying prayers (in other words priest or priestess) to the deity Agbo.  ZANXWENOU means a person from Zanwhe, a small village in Ouidah. We can translate the phrase as “the priest of the deity AGBO from Zanwhe” adding support to the theory that our ancestor was from the ‘priestly’ class.

Emancipation 2012 Outfit?

Looking at the Emancipation photos, it’s obvious that participants wear African outfits. We are able to trace our roots back to Dahomey (now Benin). Dahomeans were once described as “all lean and lank, and all supremely hideous. They wear nose and ear rings of metal and as little clothing as decency permits.”  Next year Emancipation Day will be right in the middle of our family reunion and we should attend the procession wearing as little as possible. Who’s with us?

circa 1900

Amazon Warriors (see April 8th post).  Photo taken before 1900.

Photo taken in 1893

Emancipation 2011 Photos

We asked for a volunteer to get us Emancipation photos and here are cousin Leeba’s pics.

Click here to enjoy!

Happy Birthday Uncle Clifford!

Happy birthday Uncle Clifford aka Cocky! Wishing you all the very best on your 93rd birthday on Saturday. Uncle Clifford currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife Evelyn. Here’s this branch of the family tree: Abojevi Zahwenu/Robert Antoine → Louisa Antoine→ Anthony Baptiste (photo posted on March 18)→ Clifford Baptiste

August Ceremony, Drums

Our ceremonies are usually 2 days long, starting on Thursday, a sacred day for us, and continuing on Friday. Yesterday we focussed on the food at the August ceremony. Today, we’ll briefly discuss the drumming. The drums in the morning begin around 6 and finish at 8 am. The evening drums typically start at 7 and end at 10 pm. But let the drums speak for themselves.

August Ceremony

In the good old days we would be celebrating the August ceremony on the first Thursday of August – and this year that is August 4^th. No one remembers the African name for this ceremony but it used to be quite grand and was an anniversary for all the vodunsis/dancers. As expected the vodunsis had a prominent role. In the morning they were dressed in white while the animals were sacrificed. The animals sacrificed would include a calf, goats. mocoys (land turtles) and fowls (chickens). The Rada never scarified nor ate sheep and pigs. Refer to the April 26 ad 27 post for more information on the drumming, dancing and singing which usually stops around 9 am. Today we’ll focus on the food.  

The breakfast is called abobow and includes accra (ground black eyes peas, balled and deep fried), stewed black eye peas, rice and bread, all drizzled with olive oil.  The midday meal is called amewa and we enjoy a dish called herre (cock and hen boiled separately, broth used to make cookoo, flatten cookoo on plate with chicken on top), regular cookoo and the meat from the sacrificed animals.  Dinner is callaloo, meat and rice. Yum, yum!