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 Culturally, Dassa is said to be comprised of 42 hills, which is an
auspicious number. The town winds around the lower slopes of many of
the hills.
Culturally it is the furthest north clan (Royal Authority of Dassa-Zoumé) connected
to Dahomey, but there are separate origin stories; in Dassa the origin story
starts in Yorubaland (present day Nigeria) and in Abomey the origin story
starts Tado (in present day Togo). The local Idaca language is in the
Yoruboid-Edekiri group. The Yoruboid-Edekeri languages of Ife, Kombole
and Mokole are spoken in Togo. But the language of Dahomey was Fon-Gbe,
of the Gbe cluster, which is very different from Yoruboid languages.
On the other hand there are some close correspondence in the Tado and
Yoruba pantheons:
- The creator / supreme deity; Mawu (in the Fon-Gbe language) or
Olodumare (in Yoruba)
- The god of the earth and smallpox; Sakpata or Cankpana
- The god of thunder; Xevioso or Shango
- The god of war, iron and fire; Gu or Ogun
The King of Dassa-Zoumé still rule in some
civil law case and has other limited powers.
 Most
tourist to Dassa visit a grotto along the highway where the Virgin Mary is
said to have appeared. We never got there but we spent several hours
in the afternoon learning about traditional practices in Dassa. This
involve a much less convenient hike to the top of a hill. The trek
also offered more panoramic views of the town and surrounding countryside.
  After
we left the residential area on the lower slopes we started to encountered
shrines and ceremonial sites before we even reached the top of the ridge and
hill. This were spiritual transition space prior to reaching the more
sacred space further ahead.
 At
the top of the ridge are a number of building -- ceremonial houses for the
ancestors -- which make up the family shrine.
Incidentally, or coincidentally, the image of the Virgin Mary was
seen lower down on this same hill.
  One
of ceremonies performed
in this area are the funerals for important members of the family. We
were talked through the entire
 process, including
the initial sacrifice of an animal; the wake; the cleaning of the body; the
mourning; etc. All over the area the were a variety of ceremonial and ritual
items and spaces set up for ceremonial purposes. It was beautiful,
fascinating and sometimes ghoulish.
Almost lost in the vegetation is a collection of royal symbols.
  Overlooking
the valley, on a promontory there is and area used to prepare the ceremonial
banquet food. At the edge of the granite cliff we stood on a large
rock covered with dozens of deep, man-made grooves carved from generations of
families grinding their food (such as peppers, etc.) with stones. The
wouldn't have been up on the hill even weekly to prepare for a ceremony, so
with infrequent use each furrow must have taken dozens of years to create.
Collectively, the grooves must represented centuries of occupation of the hill.
 
Perhaps the most curious object on the hill is the naturally created "fish rock."
Appropriately it overlooks the cooking area.
 Despite the dominance of a strong traditional community and belief system, the Virgin Mary
is said to have appeared in La Grotte Marial Notre Dame d'Arigbo (Our Lady
of Peace) (in 1954 or before). (For additional perspective see
Mary Throughout the World.)
 The
grotto is at the
base of a hill on the outskirts of Dassa near a spring, which in the past
used to inspire terror because the sodden ground used to swallow up the
unfortunate. The hill above was and still is
 used for traditional
rituals. Since the vision a basilica, containing several shrines, has been
built around the grotto. There is a major pilgrimage to the shine every
August. Pope John-Paul came to Benin in 1982 and 1993, but it is not
clear from his online travel documents whether he visited Dassa.
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