Home The vodun pantheon
The vodun pantheon
The great powers of Beninese vodun at a glance, from the creative power to the vodun of the elements. The four elements follow Benin’s presentation of vodun to UNESCO. This diagram offers a simple reading: traditions vary between houses, families and lineages, and each vodun goes beyond the role that sums it up here.
The origin
- Nana BulukuThe primordial figure, mother of Mawu and Lisa in some traditions
- Mawu-LisaThe creative power: Mawu, the moon and the night; Lisa, the sun and the day
The vodun of the four elements
Passage and destiny
Other great powers
- GouIron, work and technique
- Mami WataA figure of the waters, from another tradition
- AgassouThe leopard ancestor of the royal lineages
- ThronThe vodun of the kola, from the Ghanaian area