On 10 January every year, in the ancient town of Ouidah – a former slave trading port in Southern Benin – Beninese faithful gather to celebrate a religion that is often maligned elsewhere: Vodún, sometimes referred to as Voodoo. Thousands of locals and foreigners are drawn to the annual spectacle in Ouidah to dance and take part in religious ceremonies and elaborate banquets.
The Vodún festival opened in 1996 after Benin’s government overturned a decades-long ban on practicing Vodún. It is now the country’s official religion and about half of the population follows it. Vodún is rooted in animism, the belief that all things have a spirit, and combines West African beliefs and Catholicism.
Spirit dance: An Egungun, a visible manifestation of departed ancestors who periodically revisit the human community for remembrance, celebration, and blessings dances in Ouidah. Photo: Olympia De Maismont/AFP
Whirled wide: A Kokou initiate – a devotee of the warrior god in the Vodún religion – dances in the Ouidah forest. Photos: Olympia De Maismont/AFP
Parlay Vodún: A celebrant in Egungun vestments leads a procession on the sandy festival ground in Ouidah. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP
Princely sons: Family members of King Kpodégbé Lanmanfan Toyi Djigla, the 16th king of the Fon State of Allada in central Benin, head to an engagment in the Royal Palace. Photo: Olympia De Maismont/AFP
Shrouded in mystery: Two celebrants in spirit garb leave a convent in Ouidah, on their way to a traditional Vodún ceremony nearby. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP
Tonic: A Kokou initiate, his body already covered in vegetable red oil mixed with maize flour, sits in a trance as he is drizzled with gin during a Vodún ceremony in Ouidah’s sacred forest. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP
Water: A devotee at the Mami Wata Temple in Ouidah. Mami Wata is a feared and revered water spirit or goddess across western, eastern and southern Africa. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP
