The Dragon Stone

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Location:
Benin (Dahomey), West Africa

Description:
Aido Hwedo is the rainbow serpent from Dahomey mythology. During the creation of the universe, Mawu was carried by Aido Hwedo. When the world was finished it was too heavy, and risked toppling over. Mawu asked Aido Hwedo to coil up beneath the world to hold it in place. When he did this, she made sea around him as he was getting to hot. Aido Hwedo eats iron bars which are beneath the sea. One day, when these run out, he will eat his own tail, and the world will fall into the sea.

Aido Hwedo also survives in both Surinam and Haitian vodun beliefs, by the name Aido Wedo.

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