3rd generation gods Fon

Gou (Fire)

The God Gou personifies justice, cosmic harmony, absolute law. He therefore controls the evolution and destiny of all creation. Gou represents duality; positive and negative, good and bad, life and death. It ensures the transformation from one extreme to the other. Gou is thus the master of alchemy allowing the preparation of the philosopher's stone, the God of the arts and in particular that of blacksmiths. His name "gou" (phallus, iron) symbolizes combativeness, virility, power and sovereignty.

Selon la tradition, Lisa apporta Gou sur terre sous la forme d’un sabre « basa » ou « goubasa ». Gou, est le fils de Lisa, c’est-à-dire, sa manifestation sur terre. Le sabre, outil de puissance souveraine donc de justice, de créativité, assurant la transformation de la nature, la conversion des forces, peut devenir objet de violence, de passions et de colère, d’où la polarité de ce dieu Gou apparaît alors en dieu de l’agriculture et de la guerre.Le Dieu Gou correspond au Dieu Greek Cronos de la famille des Titans, qui est ainsi qu’Apollon dieu des arts et archer. Comme Apollon, le Dieu Gou a pour attribut animal, le coq.

SO (Fire)

Hêvioso designates the best known aspect of the God So which designates the sum of all power in the universe, omnipotence, the primordial fire within all creation. It is the will, the strength, the active power of the spirit. So is identified with the Basa de Gou sword, which symbolizes omnipotence. Zo manifests the virtue of fire and So, its power, its force. As for its Hêvioso aspect, it represents the manifestation of lightning, storms, divine majesty. The term Hêvioso breaks down into “hê” (bird) “vi” (vomit) “so” (lightning), a bird of fire. Hêvioso is also represented by a ram carrying an ax in its mouth.

So seems to be a fon form of Zeus, So's sacred tree is the iroko, the king of trees in tropical environments, while the oak represents Zeus. feu fon, hêvioso. The pantheon of So is very rich in secondary gods or god-sons. Among the males we find Sogbo, Djakata; Gbadê, Accrombé. Among the females, there are: Agbé, Avlékété; saho; Naete; Addin; Keli.

DJI (Air)

Elle personnifie le principe de gestation « dji » et représente la Déesse-Mère, la Mère des Dieux. Son nom signifie Ciel, Pluie et elle a pour frère, le Dieu Agé De leur union naît la multitude des dieux du panthéon voodoo.La legend raconte qu’au début de la création, le Ciel Dji, et la Terre Agé, se touchaient presque et étaient deux « nonvi » (frère et sœur). Ils avaient l’habitude de chasser ensemble et se partageaient le gibier. Un jour, Terre l’aîné, tua un rongeur « gbédja » qu’ ils divisèrent en deux parts. Restait la tête, « ta », sur laquelle ils n’arrivaient pas à s’entendre, car chacun la voulait.

Over these arguments, Ciel grew angry and walked away from Earth. The latter for lack became arid. The seeds stopped growing and the women could no longer give birth ("dji"). To reconcile with Ciel, Terre again killed another “gbédja” whom he decided to send entirely to Ciel. Only “aklasou” (the vulture) among the birds, could carry out this task. Aklasou carried out this transport in exchange for the promise that had been made to him: the construction of a house on Earth. So the rain started to fall again.

However, the promise made to Aklasou was not kept. With its wings, it was able to protect itself from the rain, which is why it does not hide when it rains. "Nout" the Sky, which swallows the sun "Rê" Sê each evening and gives birth to it "dji en fon" each morning.

KPAN (Air)

Kpan designates the god of the flute, in the mythology fund. The myth connects the God Kpan to the God Awêsou, master of the earth, whose glories and splendors he sings, like the Greek God Pan, who cheers up the gods of Olympus. The god "Kpan" (frog) embodies the law in the same way as Pan the god of the Greek flute.

This myth will be at the origin of the function of Kpan-lin-gan, instituted by the God-king Hwegbadja, founder of the kingdom of Abomey, which consists in reciting the litanies in honor of the deceased God-kings and the glories of the living God-King, with a view to maintaining the balance, the harmony of the cosmic forces for the well-being of humanity and the prosperity of the kingdom of Abomey, the center of creation. The word Kpanlingan breaks down into “kpan” (frog) “lin” (think, vibrate) “gan” (rhythm, metal). Kpan is therefore the god of breath, of melody, of the flute.

SUN (Water)

The Moon-God Sun personifies the periodicity of phenomena, that is to say, their evolution in a cycle, in a loop. It thus measures time, represents the number 30, evoking the duration of 30 days that counts the month fon. It governs the quality of the blood in man, the vitality. Sun controls the movement of all beings, men and animals, on the surface of the earth. This god whose name means to connect, announces the end of time, the end of creation, of which he will connect the two extremities thus removing the space created, and will again generate the initial chaos from which the universe emerged.

It is the return to the point of origin of creation, to the birth of being, for which the God Soun is responsible, which constitutes a danger for man. For it implies the return of human consciousness to an infantile state, of immaturity. Because of what precedes, the tradition instituted the rite called “Soun – Ki-Ko” that is to say “remove the cyclic duration” of the being. This rite is administered to the individual from childhood, generally three months after birth. It consists, among other rituals, of whistling the moon. The whistle stops an action in progress. The objective is to stop the action of "sun" (moon) on the being, since the period of gestation.

TO (WATER)

He governs the seabed and the rivers. Master of the water domain, he appears as a primordial god like So. Like So whose anger causes lightning and flooding, To's anger manifests floods, tidal waves, storms. In his association with the God Dan, or To – Dan, he causes earthquakes. These attributes define a relationship between the two gods, So and ToThe God To has the same division in his expression as So.

Aussi distingue-t-on les principes Tosou = To – mâle, ou sa manifestation virile et positive, et Tobosi = To – femelle, ou sa manifestation douce et négative. Tosou désigne ainsi le nom générique des fils de To et, Tobosi, celui de ses filles. Tosa désigne un autre aspect de To. Le culte de To se confond, à Abomey, au culte royal des Tohosou ou enfants handicapés de la famille royale : Tohosou = To-souverain. Ils sont considérés comme des incarnations du Dieu To. Leur adoration fait partie du culte généralement connu sous le nom de « Ninsouhwé » ou « Linsouhwé » .To correspond à Toth, dieu lunaire égyptien.

To semble être aussi une forme fon de Poséidon, dieu de l’océan dans la mythologie Greek qui a engendré des monstres tels que Polyphème, Antée, Procuste et Triton, d’un côté, et de l’autre, le cheval sauvage et Pégase. Le cheval sauvage de Poséidon rejoint celui rapporté au Dieu To et appelé Toso = To-cheval, désigné généralement par cheval des marais ou antilope cheval. 

AGE (Earth)

Its name means emerged land, dry land, out of the water or shore. Also he represents the primordial earth, the initial matter, on which Ayidohwêdo will stand to create light, day and night, diurnal and nocturnal rhythms. The meaning of Agé, emerged land, shows that the creative act due to the couple Lisa / Maou, consisted in the separation of the primordial waters with the created world; in other words these waters are rejected at the periphery of the organized universe. They then form the world of chaos from which creation originated.

This primordial ocean not being created, it escapes the end of creation and remains eternal with the creator, which is why its name Dan is inseparable from that of Ayidohwêdo. As in Egypt, land has a masculine value in the Fon tradition. Finally, note that Age corresponds to the Greek goddess Gea (Gaia) to the Egyptian god Aker, an aspect of Geb. This last name (Geb) is similar to that of the god fon "Ge" (Earth) from which is derived the noun Ge-vi attributed to the Abomeans.