Asen

An asen is an iron altar honoring a dead person in the Fon culture of West Africa. The family of the deceased would periodically place food offerings upon it or pour libations over it.

This asen was made in the coastal city of Ouidah, infamous as a slave port for France, Britain, Holland, and Portugal. However, by the end of the slave trade in the 19th century its most important inhabitants were Afro-Brazilians, freed slaves returning from the Portuguese plantations of Brazil.

The Brazilian influence is seen in the tableau of objects upon the platform. The commemorated person sits on an ornate chair instead of an African stool, wearing a European stovepipe hat (a status symbol indicating the wealth and standing of the deceased). Christian crosses suggest a familiarity with Portuguese Catholicism which now coexists alongside older Fon beliefs shown here as symbolic messages. For example, the banana tree, which dies after producing fruit, but is then replaced by a new shoot, suggests the continuity of the family. The lion is a symbol of the king of Dahomey and the chameleon atop the tree signifies transformation. The tethered goat is a sacrificial animal whose blood will "feed" the vodun spirits. The asen thus functions as a ritual object for the veneration of ancestors within the family.