Crocodile of Madagascar : from legend to cult by Hotel ★★★ Gourmet restaurant Coco Lodge Majunga.
Crocodile of Madagascar : from legend to worship
The crocodile is the source of many legends in Madagascar …
Among others, one of these legends is that the Malagasy tribe of Zafindravoay considers him an ancestor.
It is said that a woman was trapped in a river and lived with a crocodile, she then went back to earth to give birth to two sons and stayed there. We can still see today that the people of this tribe cross the river to crocodiles without any fear. The same is true of the Antanosy Antavaratra tribe, which chose it as its protector and worshipped them like no other..
This crocodile craze is also present in several Malagasy tribes, Antakara, North of the country, regularly worshipped them and the Maroseranana to name but the most well-known.
The cult of crocodiles is the same for all the tribes that are dedicated to it.
The aim is to periodically gather at a specific location where the "sacred crocodiles" remain, to sacrifice a zebu and give him everything inside, they then share the meat. All this is done in a traditional festive atmosphere, ritual dances, traditional music and especially the prayers that involve asking for favors such as having a child, succeed in a specific area, etc.
Madagascar has a large number of sacred lakes that are home to crocodiles, the sacred lake of Antsiranana in the north of the country, Lake Ampijoroa, Komakoma Lake in the west and of course on the sacred lake next to Antsanitia Resort in Mahajanga.
For these worshippers, it is forbidden to kill one of these beasts because they are for them the reincarnation of their ancestors.
Hôtel★★★ Restaurant gourmand Coco Lodge Majunga.
