Benin: The Allada Voodoo Festival

Allada is a royal city, with origins dating back to the 13th Century. Its descendants continue to rule the area today as well as kingdoms at the more famous locations of Abomey and Porto Novo.

Allada lies less than forty kilometres from Ouidah, at the head of the ‘slave road’ along which captives were transported to the coast. Allada’s fortunes have declined since the early 18th century when the slave trade was at its peak, but voodoo is practised strongly here, and the area is known as the ‘town of a thousand fetishes’.

The day before the more famous festival at nearby Ouidah, Allada stages its own voodoo festival, with ritual dancing conducted in a dusty square outside the Royal Palace in the presence of the king. A much smaller affair than Ouidah’s, it is nevertheless attended by key voodoo leaders from Oudiah as well as Allada’s own royal and religious leaders.

These photographs were taken on 9 January 2013.