Art, Travel

Benin Celebrates West African Voodoo

Image

The International Festival of Porto-Novo is the capital’s annual celebration of Benin’s cultural diversity. The theme of this year’s festival is Ogoun, one of the spiritual entities of the voodoo religion

Devotees dressed as Egouns (ghosts) parade on the main road
One of the costumes at the festival, which lures visitors to the capital and underscores voodoo’s comeback
One of the costumes being paraded along the road
An intricate costume in the tradition of voodoo – in west Africa more often called ‘vodun’
One of the costumes
Devotees dressed as Zangbeto, guardians of the night
Devotees dressed as Zangbeto

  • A participant dressed as an Egoun

    A participant dressed as an Egoun (ghost)

  • Practitioners of voodoo account for 11% of Benin’s population, according to figures from 2013

    A crowd scene at the festival

  • Another Egoun parades along the road

    A voodoo devotee dressed as an Egoun

  • The feet of parade participants. Voodoo was demonised by Catholic missionaries when Benin was under French colonisation

    In Benin itself, voodoo suffered under French colonisation, when it was demonised by Catholic missionaries. A dozen years after Benin gained independence, voodoo was banned by Mathieu Kerekou, a Marxist-Leninist who came to power in a military coup.