Education traditionnelle au Bénin,la place du sacré dans les rites initiatiques

The author shows how education among traditional communities in Benin is an initiatory process in which the acquisition of practical knowledge is closely interwoven with religion and custom. The stages of an individual's development may be marked by rites of passage, tests of prowess and endurance, and the acquisition of appropriate forms of knowledge such as the learning of tales and the oral traditions of the community. The aim is to prepare the individual to take his or her full place in society. The author also describes certain particular forms of education, such as the training of a shaman, which takes many years and involves learning complex divinatory processes as well as mastering traditional medicine.