The Temple of Pythons

The shrine of Dangbé

The people of Ouidah established, venerated and handed down Dangbé as the town’s main divinity. According to the Beninese government’s official presentation of Ouidah, three great families venerate him in the Temple of Pythons today: the Agbo Atakpaloko, the Zossoungbo and the Adjovi. They can be recognised by the scarification on their faces, two series of five marks, the same as the python’s. Besides Dangbé, they also serve other vodun, such as Gou and Hèviosso. Locally, people speak of Xweda Dangbé, the benevolent python^[2].

I would avoid a sentence like “the people of Ouidah worship snakes”. We are speaking of a particular religious relationship with Dangbé. Dangbé cannot be reduced to the animal the visitor sees, and not every snake is Dangbé: in the region there are different traditions linked to snakes, to Dan, to Dangbé and to other powers. On the vodun Dan, see Dan (in French)^[1].

Three centuries of accounts

European travellers’ accounts attest a snake cult in the Ouidah region from the end of the seventeenth century. In the Voyage du chevalier Des Marchais, published in 1730, Father Labat describes the processions to the “house of the great Serpent”, which he presents as the country’s main divinity^[3]. According to historians, the cult was first centred in Savi, the Hueda capital, before being established in Ouidah after the kingdom was conquered by Dahomey in 1727^[4].

The temple guides tell another story, that of a king saved by pythons: “for having protected the king’s life and the ancestors’ field”, the python is said to have become a divinity in Ouidah. The versions of this story, the king’s name and the dates vary from one storyteller to another: it is an oral tradition, which this entry reports without dating it. In the nineteenth century, Father Laffitte still described the temple in 1873; the present temple has been rebuilt and modernised since 1992^[5].

Facing the basilica

The temple and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1909, are separated only by a road barely ten metres wide. The Beninese government presents this face-to-face as a testimony of religious coexistence in Ouidah^[2]. Above the basilica’s door, the Fon inscription “E ni kpa Mawu, e ni kpa Maria” uses the name Mawu for the Christian God. The temple’s manager, Modeste Zinsou, and a Catholic priest, Father Fulbert Amoussou, spoke of it in the same way in the daily La Nation in January 2025^[6].

For me, this is one of the strongest images of Ouidah: two religious traditions facing each other in the same town. I do not necessarily see a provocation in it; I see part of Ouidah’s history. Beninese can know vodun and be Christian; a family can have several religious histories. I do not ask anyone to become a vodunsi to respect the Temple of Pythons; I simply ask them to understand that this place belongs to a religious tradition that deserves the same respect as other sacred places^[1].

The python on the visitor’s shoulders

This is probably the best-known image of the temple. I have nothing against a visitor having this experience when it is offered within the temple, with the agreement of those responsible. But I ask visitors not to turn it into a circus act. The python is a living animal and, in this place, it also has a religious meaning. It must be handled calmly, without sudden movements, without squeezing or provoking it. A keeper placing a python on a visitor’s shoulders does not make Dangbé a photo prop^[1].

A python in the house

When a python enters a house in Ouidah, one must not panic, and above all not kill it out of fear. First try to get it out without harming it and, if necessary, call people able to handle the animal. In a house attached to the tradition of Dangbé, the presence of a python may also have a particular meaning. And if someone kills a python by accident, I will not give on the Internet a recipe claiming to be valid for every family in Ouidah: do not hide what happened, do not invent a ritual yourself, but inform the competent people and ask what must be done. An accident and a deliberate act call for different answers^[1].

Visiting the temple

Since the first Vodun Days in 2024, the square of the Temple of Pythons has been one of the venues of the celebrations; see the Benin voodoo festival. My advice is simple: come to understand, not only to photograph^[1].

• Respect those responsible and the keepers.
• Listen to the instructions given on site.
• Do not touch objects or spaces that are not open to the public.
• Never force a photograph.
• Do not mistreat the pythons to get a good picture.
• Do not treat a rite as a show you are automatically entitled to.
• If something is forbidden to you, simply accept that limit.