Human Sacrifice |
Human sacrifices, especially at the yearly Customs, was the major cultural event of the season.[1] The number of people sacrificed represented the success of the kingdom that year and the king used that display to prove to his subjects that he had a victorious year. It was due to this strong connection the people of Dahomey had with human sacrifice, that when England was pressuring Dahomey to stop the slave trade and sacrifices in 1853, King Gelele considered the request an impossibility.[2] He reportedly told the British that he would do whatever they wanted, except get out of the business of the slave trade. "The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth…the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery…"[3] It was a custom the Dahomeans couldn’t imagine living without. In addition, the income derived from exporting slaves for the Atlantic Slave Trade led to a lifestyle that many refused to give up.[4] The wealth it brought into the kingdom was highly sought after and the work to stop this lucrative business met great resistance from within Dahomey.[5]
[1] Frederick E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans: being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey and residence at his capital in the years 1849 and 1850 (London: Longman, 1851), 19-21, https://archive.org/details/dahomeydahomansb00forb.
[2] Burton, Gelele, xii.
[3] "The Story of Africa| BBC World Service." BBC News. Accessed July 01, 2017. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter2.shtml.
[4] Ibid, xii.
[5] Frederick E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans: being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey and residence at his capital in the years 1849 and 1850 (London: Longman, 1851), vii, https://archive.org/details/dahomeydahomansb00forb.
[1] Frederick E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans: being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey and residence at his capital in the years 1849 and 1850 (London: Longman, 1851), 19-21, https://archive.org/details/dahomeydahomansb00forb.
[2] Burton, Gelele, xii.
[3] "The Story of Africa| BBC World Service." BBC News. Accessed July 01, 2017. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter2.shtml.
[4] Ibid, xii.
[5] Frederick E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans: being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey and residence at his capital in the years 1849 and 1850 (London: Longman, 1851), vii, https://archive.org/details/dahomeydahomansb00forb.