Case file · Folklore / legend
Bosman describes the sacred snakes of Whydah
In 1704 the Dutch trader Willem Bosman described how the people of Fida (Ouidah) venerated pythons as divine and how killing one, even by accident, was gravely punished.
1704 CE · 6.36, 2.09 · status: account
The account
The python, Dangbe, is still honoured at the Temple of Pythons opposite Ouidah's basilica, where the snakes roam free. Bosman's book was translated across Europe and shaped European ideas of 'fetish' religion.
The sceptical view
Bosman wrote as a hostile outsider; his account is valuable as a dated record but not as an explanation of Vodun.