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Fon

West Africa

The Fon are the largest ethnic group in southern Benin, numbering around 3.5 million and speaking a Gbe language. Their ancestors founded the Kingdom of Dahomey at Abomey in the early 17th century, which grew into one of West Africa’s most powerful states before French conquest in the late 19th century.

Did you know?

In Fon belief, a person carries two souls: gbe, the mortal life force that animates the body, and xonu, the immortal spiritual essence believed to survive death.

Proverbs (4)

The green snake said, "Watching a person is better than biting."
Even a snake capable of striking chooses, in this proverb, to watch and wait instead. It's counsel toward restraint: understanding a person, or a situation, before reacting to it does more good than an immediate show of force.
The tortoise is friends with the snail: those with shells keep their shells close together.
The tortoise and the snail have little in common except the shells they each carry. This proverb suggests that shared circumstance, not sameness, is often what draws people together and keeps them close.
Anyone who plants a tree before they die has not lived in vain.
A tree planted today won't give its full shade to the person who planted it; that comes later, to whoever's still there. This proverb measures a life by what it leaves standing for others, not by what it collects for itself.
Blacksmiths and woodworkers will never suffer from poverty.
A trade, once learned, can't be taken away the way money or land can. This proverb puts its trust in skilled work itself as the most durable kind of security a person can have.

Names (2)

First names
Agoli-agbo
A historically documented Fon name meaning "the dynasty has not fallen", given to a Dahomey prince who became the kingdom's final king after French conquest.
Dosu
A traditional Fon name for the first son born after a set of twins. Independently attested both as a given name (borne by King Agaja before he took the throne) and as "Dossou", one of the single most common surnames in Benin today.
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