Abidjan - Komian Trance Dance - Abanguru

Breakfast

After yesterday’s rubbery eggs at breakfast, we make a point of going down to the restaurant some ten minutes before the booked time to ensure the food doesn’t sit around in the kitchen. It works, the omelette is nowhere near as stale as yesterday’s fried eggs.

Today we are heading north-east, away from Abidjan to the town of Abenguru.

Along the way we see a number of roadside stalls selling plantain. Apparently it is the season for them now, and this area is well known for growing them. While part of the same family, plantains differ from bananas in that they are not eaten raw, and are generally used as a side dish to savoury meals.

Komian Trance Dance

When we arrive in the small village of Aniassue near Abenguru, A group of young men are already playing the tam-tams, traditional African drums made from a single piece of wood and covered with animal skin.

They use sticks or their hands, or both, to create a hypnotic rhythm.

They are soon joined by children playing the shekere, a percussion instrument consisting of a dried gourd with beads or cowries woven into a net covering the shell. They sound vaguely similar to castanets.

The adult musicians are all male, and only members of the ‘secret society’ of initiated men are permitted to play the drums at the Komian Dance.

We are offered seats on the ‘stage’ alongside the musicians so that we are facing the dancers.

A circle is created from powdered kaolin, inside which the dances take place. The kaolin also assists in chasing away bad spirits.

For the Anyi people (a subgroup of the Akan tribe), Komian refers to ‘trance’ but is also used to describe the initiated women who play an important part in society: they are trained traditional healers, midwives, and soothsayers, have intimate knowledge of medicinal plants, can communicate with the spirits, create spells and predict the future. People come to them for advice on marriage problems, family disputes, and health issues. Even the king will consult the Komians before making major decisions.

Ladies from the Anyi tribe.

Their rituals are performed on a variety of occasions, such as consultations as I described above, the enthronement of tribal chiefs, or visiting tourists. The place we are visiting today is a Komian school, where they train around 20 ladies each year to become ‘priestesses’. It takes up to seven years to become initiated in the study of family disputes, medicinal plants and traditional dances.

The official Komian school was set up in 1992 and relies on donations for its survival

A fully initiated Komian, as indicated by her attire: a red hat and white dress adorned with bells

Trainee Komians

After also covering themselves with kaolin for purification, the ladies dance to the rhythm of the tam-tams, initially just a slow, gentle sway, then with a big build-up from the men on the drums, the children shaking the gourd rattles and the women singing, the Komians twirl around and around until they enter a state of trance and a spiritual possession.

Incongruously, a seemingly oblivious man dressed in just a towel and carrying a bucket, walks across the courtyard behind the dancers, on his way to do his daily ablutions.

Girls are primed at a very young age, with her mum being an imitated priestess, she is already in training to become a Komian. Mathias explains how the girl will have no choice but to dance in the future, even if she moves away, as the mystical powers will never leave her and the spirits will force her to continue.

One of the ladies is thought to be possessed by the spirit of madness and can be seen writhing on the ground.

Another of the dancers becomes possessed by the spirit of a hair dresser!

Mathias tells us the story of when he last came here, with a female colleague from the tour agency. After entering a trance, the Komian came right up to his colleague, with some wise words from the spirits. The colleague immediately started to cry, and later told Mathias that the priestess was spot on with her advice, admitting that were family problems at home.

One of the ladies sprinkles water on the dancers (I don’t quite catch the significance behind this, as a blessing maybe?), and also us. She puts a cloth on my lap and beckons me to dance. No chance. I have two left feet and no rhythm, so NEVER get up for audience participation dances. Yet…. the vibrations of the drums, the hypnotic sound, the mystery hanging in the air… like the girl trained as a child, I feel compelled to dance, drawn to the courtyard by an invisible magnet. I can’t explain it, I just HAD TO dance, almost like I was in a trance. If you can call it a dance – more like an awkward shuffle.

Mathias later tells me he totally understands what I felt.

At the end of the dancing, we are invited into the their holy shrine, which is full of sacred fetishes.

The girls are only tiny!

Lunch

According to Mathias, there are not many options for lunch here in Abenguru, so he suggests eating at the Hotel Royaume, where we are staying tonight. Mathias rang them earlier and got them to send him the menu so that we could pre-order to save some time.

Sautéed Guineafowl

Fried Plantain

The slight sweetness of the plantain goes well with the spiciness of the sauce. Plus there is lots of rice to soak up that lovely, tasty gravy.

Mathias tries several times to call the Anyi Royal Palace to let them know we are on the way, but the phone just keeps ringing. He can’t understand it as he spoke to the custodian just before lunch.

St Theresa Child of Jesus Church

While we wait to be able to make contact with the palace, Mathias shows us a local church.

The church was built in 1928 by one of the first missionaries to arrive in Ivory Coast, who also built a nearby school.

Since then, the church has had three bishops – the first two didn’t last very long, but the third one oversaw the diocese for years until his death in 2021.

Anyi Royal Palace

Mathias finally manages to get hold of the palace custodian, and we are invited through the gates into the outer courtyard.

As soon as he spots my walking stick, the custodian (I am annoyed with myself for not making a note of his name) grabs a chair from the office for me to sit on, which he carries with him every time we move to another location within the palace.

In the outer courtyard is the Court of Justice as identified by the Scales of Justice in the background

Statues show how the Anyi people welcome visitors

Playing the drums

Carrying a light

Offering a drink

Parts of the palace were turned into a museum in 1883, to showcase the traditions and culture of the Anyi people.

Entering the museum

Photos inside are not permitted, but it is already too late by the time I am informed

The Anyi ethnographic group (also spelt Agni) has more than 1.2 million members, and are a subgroup of the Akan Nation. Originating from Ghana, they fled the Ashanti tribe to settle in Ivory Coast in the 16th century. Since then, the matrilineal society has been led by a series of kings; but they also crowned Michael Jackson as a prince during his visit to the country in 1992. After his death, he was replaced by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The list of kings past and present

Being matrilineal, the Queen Mother is the one who effectively rules – all decisions have to go through her, including those made by the king. I find it interesting that despite the descent following the female line, it is always the King who is the head of the society. The custodian goes into great detail about how the lineage works, why it has to go through the female Royal family member (if it is only the man who has royal blood, his wife could, theoretically, cheat with a non-royal and break that line by having a non-royal child). We have many laughs as we joke with him about marital relations. His English is pretty good, although his pronunciation sometimes makes him a little difficult to understand.

In the inner courtyard stands the King’s throne. It is considered taboo to step on any part of the throne, and bad luck will befall you if you do. Only if the king is there, and he expressively invites you, may you do so. During an audience with the king (he sends his apologies that he is not there to greet us today), some 1500 people can apparently fit into this courtyard. Looking around, I surmise that would be standing room only, and extremely crowded.

The Royal Throne

Symbols on the wall in the inner courtyard: the left one represents the equilibrium between heaven and earth, the middle icon is the beak of a parrot which symbolises communication, and the right hand logo shows that only God is good.

Royaume Hotel

We return to the hotel where we had lunch earlier, and check in. They don’t have any ground floor rooms, but the stairs are fairly shallow, so I have no problem walking up one floor. It’s a fairly simple room, with a low bed, albeit wide. Hotels in the Ivory Coast do not provide twin beds – our preference – so we are always pleased when we see a wider than average bed (our bed at home is essentially two single beds joined together, so we are used to plenty of space) Before leaving us for the night, Mathias checks out the room, including ensuring that the appliances in the bathroom are all fully working. Not long after Mathias leaves, David uses the toilet, to find it is broken. When Mathias comes back with some Cokes that he popped out to get for us, he reports the broken loo and it is soon fixed.

Sunset over the pool from our bedroom window

The reason for the Cokes, is to go with the Duty Free rum we brought with us.

We always enjoy a pre-dinner drink in the room

Dinner

Mathias explains that someone will bring us a menu for us to pre-order dinner. A young lady turns up, with no menu and she speaks even less English than we do French. Rather than trying to find out what is on the menu, we both order “poulet au frites”, which is available on every single menu in the entire country, it seems.

The chicken is not as skinny as some we have had, and the fries are superb. It is served with a really spicy dip.

David asks for his usual Beaufort Beer. “Only Carlsberg or Heineken”, so he chooses Heineken. She comes back – “No Heineken, Beaufort?” Beaufort it is then.

Goodnight from Abenguru, and thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this exciting adventure to the Ivory Coast.