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Ghezo,
Gheso, Gezo, Geso
- König
(Explosion 321) von Dahomey
1818-1858 (Ferretti: 1818-1959) aus der Aladahonu-Dynastie,
sein Symbol: der Büffel (Museu Afro-Brasileiro), erscheint als Heiliger
Sebastian, Xapanna oder Omolu;
Sohn Agotimes, s. dort; von Mãe
Esperanza
angerufen; (vgl. u.a. Mina 74f., Explosion 473, 498); "Gezo was a small boy
when his father died, and the kingship went to an older brother, the Adanzan
we have just mentioned. The
father, before his death, had, however, predicted that Gezo would become king.
Adanzan was enraged when he learned of this and proceeded to sell Gezo's
mother and sixty-three of
her supporters into slavery. They were taken by the Portuguese and were sent to
Brazil. There, the story goes, they found many Dahomeans. Gezo's mother and
eleven others were sent to America, and because she was sad and no longer
younger she was sold many times. She spent twenty-four years in all in America,
and founded the cult of her Dahomean god there. / When Gezo became king he was
not happy. He said, »I am a king. I can do anything I like, yet my mother is a
slave.« He went to his Portuguese friend Da Souza, and Da Souza went across the
seas and searched everywhere until he found her. She came back with six other
Dahomeans, and from them Gezo heard what happened to Dahomeans in America.
That is how we know. / This woman returned eighteen years before the death of
Gezo, a time which dates her restoration to her people at about 1840. And the
new name she received in honor of her return was »Knife-without-a-handle-came-back-from-white-man's-land-and-fell-into-a-dish-of-good-stew.«"
(Herskovits
II 88f.); "Rei de Abomey, que reinou entre 1818 e 1859; filho da rainha Nã
Agotimé, que teria trazido para o Maranhão os fundamentos da Casa das
Minas" (Ferretti 297).
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