Batammariba · deity · Batammariba traditional religion; continuing · deity
Kupon is the divinity of divination among the Batammariba (Batammaliba) of Togo and Benin. It belongs to the class of initiation divinities that seek out their own devotees, in this case persons endowed with clairvoyance, who then serve as diviners; the diviner is called upon in Ditammari. Rudolph Blier's study of Batammaliba divination shows the diviner acting as a health consultant and annunciator, tracing sickness and misfortune to their unseen sources, while Suzanne Preston Blier situates Kupon among the household divinities whose altars are integrated into the tower-house beneath the great cosmological gods.
Domains
divination
Powers
to reveal the hidden causes of illness and misfortune through its diviners
to choose persons with the gift of clairvoyance as its worshippers
Blier, Suzanne Preston. The Anatomy of Architecture: Ontology and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Blier, Rudolph W. 'Diviners as Alienists and Annunciators among the Batammaliba of Togo.' In Philip M. Peek (ed.), African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.