psychology_alt Vodun

The bokonon: the Fâ diviner and his role in Benin

People go to see the bokonon the way they would see a notary, a doctor and an advisor all at once: for a marriage, an illness, a departure, a name to give a child. Here is what he actually does.

schedule 6 min
auto_awesome Culture
1
The Fâ

A system, not intuition

In Benin, Fâ is a structured divination system, with its signs, its combinations and a body of stories attached to each figure. The bokonon doesn’t “guess”: he casts a figure, identifies it, then recites and interprets what tradition associates with it.
Fâthe divination system
Bokononthe Fâ diviner
The Fâ: the ancestral Fon divination system
2
Training

Years of study, not a gift

No one becomes a bokonon overnight. The apprenticeship is long, oral, and based on memorizing a considerable body of knowledge: the figures, the stories, the taboos, the associated remedies. It is often handed down from generation to generation within the same lineage.
school

An oral memory

All of the bokonon’s knowledge lies in words learned by heart. It is one of the great oral libraries of West Africa — and it exists only in the local language.

Understand this culture in its own language: Parlons Fongbe Academy — 79 video lessons with a native speaker.Discover

3
The consultation

What people come to ask him

People consult before a decision, not only when misfortune strikes: a marriage, a journey, a building project, a birth. The bokonon indicates what should be done — a gesture, an offering, a taboo to observe — rather than a fixed future.
Ahànthe libation drink
Atínkɛincense
Tɔ́gbóthe ancestors
4
The name

When the Fâ names the child

Many Fon first names are given after a consultation: they express the circumstances of the birth, a protection sought, a debt owed to a vodun. That is why a Fon first name reads like a sentence.
The meaning of Fon first names
5
Understanding without a translator

Everything happens in Fon

A consultation takes place in the local language, and the heart of it lies in formulas that can only be translated approximately. The Parlons Fongbe Academy takes you from the first greeting to conversation in 79 video lessons, with a native speaker from Cotonou.

Knowledge, not superstition

The bokonon is the keeper of a body of knowledge learned by heart. You may not believe in it; you cannot mistake it for fortune-telling.

Danxomɛ
Language before translation
Parlons Fongbe Academy
The full course

Fon culture is understood in the Fon language.

Proverbs, Vodun, the history of Danxomɛ: all of it is said first in Fon. 79 video lessons with a native speaker, from the first greeting to conversation — so you can listen to this culture without having it translated for you.

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