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.

According to tradition, Lisa brought Gou to earth in the form of a “basa” or “goubasa” sword. Gou, is Lisa's son, that is to say, her manifestation on earth. The sword, a tool of sovereign power and therefore of justice, of creativity, ensuring the transformation of nature, the conversion of forces, can become an object of violence, passions and anger, hence the polarity of this god Gou then appears in god of agriculture and war. The God Gou corresponds to the God Greek Kronos of the Titan family, who is as well as Apollo god of the arts and archer. Like Apollo, the God Gou has the animal attribute, the rooster.

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)

She personifies the principle of gestation “dji” and represents the Mother Goddess, the Mother of the Gods. Her name means Sky, Rain and her brother is the Elder God. From their union is born the multitude of gods of the pantheon. voodoo.There legend tells that at the beginning of creation, Heaven Dji, and the Old Earth, almost touched each other and were two “nonvi” (brother and sister). They used to hunt together and shared the game. One day, Terre the elder, killed a rodent “gbédja” which they divided into two parts. There remained the head, “ta”, on which they could not agree, because everyone wanted it.

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.

We also distinguish the principles Tosou = To – male, or its virile and positive manifestation, and Tobosi = To – female, or its gentle and negative manifestation. Tosou thus designates the generic name of To's sons and, Tobosi, that of his daughters. Tosa designates another aspect of To. The cult of To is confused, Abomey, to the royal cult of the Tohosou or disabled children of the royal family: Tohosou = To-sovereign. They are considered incarnations of the God To. Their worship is part of the cult generally known as “Ninsouhwé” or “Linsouhwé”. To corresponds to Toth, the Egyptian lunar god.

To also appears to be a deep form of Poseidon, god of the ocean in mythology Greek which gave rise to monsters such as Polyphemus, Antaeus, Procrustes and Triton, on the one hand, and on the other, the wild horse and Pegasus. Poseidon's wild horse joins that reported to the God To and called Toso = To-horse, generally referred to as marsh horse or antelope horse. 

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.