Fakuntifa
Batammariba · deity · Batammariba traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Fakuntifa is the lizard divinity of the Batammariba (Batammaliba) of Togo and Benin, associated with the initiation of young women, the counterpart of the serpent Fawafa who presides over the men's rites. It belongs to the family of initiation divinities that choose their own devotees, principally by gender in this case, and whose cults are maintained at household altars. Dominique Sewane's ethnography of the dikuntri women's initiation among the Tamberma of Togo documents the ritual world over which this divinity presides.
Domains
- initiation
- lizards
Powers
- to preside over the initiation of young women into adulthood
Relations
- subordinate to: KuiyeFakuntifa is one of the lesser initiation divinities standing beneath the supreme solar creator Kuiye.Blier, Suzanne Preston. The Anatomy of Architecture: Ontology and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. (secondary)
Sources
- Fakuntifa is the Batammaliba lizard divinity that presides over women's initiations, complementing the serpent Fawafa of the men's initiation cycle.: Blier, Suzanne Preston. The Anatomy of Architecture: Ontology and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. (secondary); Sewane, Dominique. La Nuit des Grands Morts: L'initiée et l'épouse chez les Tamberma du Togo. Paris: Economica, 2002. (secondary)