Editing Dahomey (section)

==Religion==
{{Traditional African religion}}
{{main|Dahomean religion}}
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| image1 = The célébration at Abomey(1908). - Dance of the Fon chiefs.jpg 
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| image2 =  The célébration at Abomey(1908). - The veteran amazones( AHOSI ) of the Fon king Béhanzin, Son of Roi Gélé.jpg
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| footer = Left: Dance of the Fon chiefs during celebrations. Right: The celebration at Abomey (1908). Veteran warriors of the Fon king [[Béhanzin]], son of king [[Glele]].
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The Kingdom of Dahomey shared many religious rituals with surrounding populations. It also developed unique ceremonies, beliefs, and religious stories. These included royal ancestor worship and [[West African Vodun]].

===Royal ancestor worship===
{{main|Annual Customs of Dahomey}}
Early kings established clear worship of royal ancestors and centralized their ceremonies in the [[Annual Customs of Dahomey]].  The spirits of the kings had an exalted position in the land of the dead and it was necessary to get their permission for many activities on earth.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" />   Ancestor worship predated the kingdom of Dahomey; under King Agaja, a cycle of ritual was created centered on first celebrating the ancestors of the king and then celebrating a family lineage.<ref name=Monroe />

The Annual Customs of Dahomey ({{transliteration|fon|xwetanu}} or {{transliteration|fon|huetanu}} in Fon) involved multiple elaborate components and some aspects may have been added in the 19th century. In general, the celebration involved distribution of gifts, [[human sacrifice]], military parades, and political councils. Its main religious aspect was to offer thanks and gain the approval for ancestors of the royal lineage.<ref name=Monroe />

Human sacrifice was an important part of the practice. During the Annual Custom, 500 prisoners would be sacrificed. In addition, when a ruler died, hundreds, to thousands of prisoners would be sacrificed. In 1727, an English trader alleged that he witness the Dahomey massacre 400 people during a [[West African Vodun|Vodun]] ceremony.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Nunoo |first=Ama |date=October 15, 2019 |title=A look at Dahomey's gory history of human sacrifices on a large scale |url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/a-look-at-dahomeys-gory-history-of-human-sacrifices-on-a-large-scale |access-date=September 21, 2022 |website=Face2Face Africa |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Solly |first2=Meilan |title=The Real Warriors Behind 'The Woman King' |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/real-warriors-woman-king-dahomey-agojie-amazons-180980750/ |access-date=September 21, 2022 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> The number is also often reported to be 4,000.<ref name="Death by government"/><ref name=":0" /> Human sacrifice was often exaggerated by contemporary [[Abolitionism|anti-abolitionist]] Western authors, who sought to justify the continued need for slavery as a means to "rescue" Africans from a worse fate in Dahomey.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sonderegger |first=Arno |date=2018 |title=Thoughts on Two 18th Century Histories of Dahomey relating to the Anti-Slavery Debate |journal=Stichproben: Vienna Journal of African Studies |issue=35 |pages=86–89}}</ref>

===Cosmology===
Dahomey had a unique form of [[West African Vodun]] that linked together preexisting animist traditions with vodun practices.  Oral history recounted that [[Hwanjile]], a wife of [[Agaja]] and mother of [[Tegbessou]], brought Vodun to the kingdom and ensured its spread.  The primary deity is the combined Mawu-Lisa (Mawu having female characteristics and Lisa having male characteristics) and it is claimed that this god took over the world that was created by their mother Nana-Buluku.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" />  Mawu-Lisa governs the sky and is the highest pantheon of gods, but other gods exist in the earth and in thunder.  Religious practice organized different priesthoods and shrines for each different god and each different pantheon (sky, earth or thunder).  Women made up a significant amount of the priest class and the chief priest was always a descendant of [[Dakodonou]].<ref name=Bay-1998 />