Good Friday #582: For the Culture (Friday, February 23)

I can't speak for other cultures, but as black people, most of us are conditioned to be private; to not share our secrets and experiences.

Sometimes it hurts us because a lot of our history disappears that way. We don't ask; and our forebears don't think to tell.

So here's another great part of sharing your story: you help to document your family history, and also leave something behind for your children and the generations to come.

The lineage of some our ancestors is from Dahomey Amazons. Dahomey Amazons were an all female military regiment in the 19th century. These all female warriors were a source of inspiration for the Black Panther’s all female army in the film. I knew there was a reason my twin sister @ciprianaquann and I were the tallest girls in kindergarten. 😉 Such a cool feeling discovering a find in your ancestry that makes you want to know more.

“The Sun published an article regarding ‘Black Panther’ film in which the all woman army; the 'Dora Milaje' warriors, are inspired from The Ahosi of Dahomey, or the ‘Dahomey Amazons’. The reason why I am so excited 😁 is because when my twin @tk_wonder and I did our ancestry DNA last year, we discovered some of our ancestor's lineage is from the Dahomey Amazons.

***Excerpt from @thesun article The all-female military regiment, created by King Houegbadja in the 19th century, were chosen for their incredible ability to fight men. •••

Often recruited as virgin teenagers, the fierce women would live in the royal palace in what was then the kingdom of Dahomey – now known as the modern day Republic of Benin. •••

They dedicated their efforts to weapons training, protecting the king and wars of conquest, according to a Unesco project about the warriors. •••

The women made up different units, each with its own battle songs, and were allegedly equipped with Danish guns and their own uniform. •••

Dahomey women were trained to be strong, fast, ruthless and fought to the death, according to reports. •••

Training exercises resembled a form of gymnastics, including jumping over walls covered with thorny acacia branches and being sent on 10-day “Hunger Games-style” expeditions in the jungle with only a machete. •••

They also learnt survival skills and insensitivity training, with one initiation test involving seeing whether the women were merciless enough to throw bound human prisoners of war to their deaths from a fatal height. -The Sun #blackpanther •••

A post shared by Tk Wonder (@tk_wonder) on Feb 20, 2018 at 6:29am PST