The Temple of Pythons is a site of historical and modern symbolism and spiritual practice in Ouidah, Benin. The snakes are worshipped by followers of Vodun, a religion practised by groups of people within West and Central African nations such as Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
Vodun is as well the inspiration for other religions such as Louisiana Voodoo and Haitian Vodou. Snakes are important religious symbols and are highly respected by adherents.
The serpents play a large role in the spirituality of Ouidah. According to local legend, the king of Ouidah took refuge in a forest from those seeking to kill him during a war in the 1700s.
When he was in hiding, pythons emerged from the forest and prevented him from being captured. To commemorate their role in his protection, he ordered the creation of three monuments.
Ouidah’s Temple of Pythons is a concrete building topped with a clay roof. Inside, there’s a pit filled with dozens of snakes from a species known as the Royal python either slinking around or tangled together. It is reported that approximately sixty pythons make this temple their home.
The snakes aren’t fed, though they are let out about once a week to prey upon chickens and mice. They occasionally make their way into local homes, where they’re treated as ordinary guests before being returned to the temple.
The snakes are harmless and visitors are permitted to hold them and even take pictures. However, it is completely forbidden to kill a python in Ouidah.
If you do, you have to bring the body back to the temple for a series of cleansing ceremonies to be performed and the burial of the python in the temple graveyard. If you leave without these rites, it is said that something bad will happen to you.
It is also forbidden to enter the shrine in the temple which is hundreds of years old and is only accessible to the priest and devotees (the initiated). Entering the graveyard is as well completely forbidden for visitors. Only devotees and priests are allowed.
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