Yéban
In the era when men were immortal, they transformed into great serpents and then into Yéban genies. The ancestor who returned in this form is the Binou, literally the one who has returned, and the stone that carries his soul (kikinu say) and nyama becomes the focus of the Binou cult. The Yéban therefore belong to a world separate from humans; contact with them is re-established through sacrifice and respect for interdictions, and is understood as a beneficial return of the ancestor.