Voodoo festival, Benin

The extraordinary Voodoo Festival which takes place in Ouidah, Benin every year on 10 January is a once seen, never forgotten experience. It’s the must attend event in the Voodoo calendar – a celebration of the voodoo religion and the cults associated with it – and draws fetish priests, voodoo adepts, traditional chiefs and onlookers from far and wide. Devotees dressed to embody gods emerge from the forest and process through the village, leaping towards any spectator who dares get too close. When they arrive in the centre of the village, they perform a dance designed to scare the crowd, which is usually greeted with roars and laughter.

Voodoo has been recognised as a religion by the Beninese government since 1996, and its cultural significance is increasingly being appreciated. The old idea that it was a practice of simple sorcery or barbarism is being replaced by the notion that it is important cultural heritage – and a massive draw for travellers.

Jim O’Brien, from our supplier Native Eye Travel, explains what you can expect at the Voodoo Festival:

“It is really quite spectacular. It’s become slightly touristy over the last few years but it’s still worth seeing. All the voodoo churches come down. People dress up as gods and they believe that they become that god during that time. So you get a particular sect of voodoo and they take on the characteristics and personality of that god. Some of the costumes are very, very elaborate; one group called the Zangbeto dresses in really colourful straw skirts which cover their entire bodies, so they actually just appear to be an entire cone of straw running around. You have another group called the Egungun. In pre-colonial times they performed the function of a police force almost, in terms of keeping things in order, because people are absolutely terrified of them – if you touch one of them then you die! It’s quite something to see.”