Benin: The Ouidah Voodoo Festival

Situated on the Atlantic coast, Ouidah is a town intimately connected with the slave trade. It was here that the Portuguese, French, English and Dutch built forts to help control and manage the thousands of Africans shipped to the New World. The road from the town to the beach, known as the ‘Slave Route’, ends by the ‘Gate of No Return’ and the ‘Tree of No Return’, which was circled three times by departing slaves to guarantee that their souls would return back to their homeland.

Ouidah is considered the spiritual capital of voodoo, and holds the largest celebrations on 10 January, the national voodoo day. We gathered early in the morning at the House of Dada Hounon Houna II, the Ouidah Voodoo King, as practitioners and celebrants of the religion gathered to prepare for the festival.

At an unseen signal, the crowd poured out of the house and began to tour the town, stopping to bless (and celebrate with) locals who lined the route of the procession. The crown made its way to the stadium where celebrations continued as numerous troupes of voodoo dancers paid their respects to the assembled dignitaries. The main celebrations, however, were held down near the Gate of No Return where thousands of revellers danced in celebration under the hot sun.

That evening, the streets and square were visited by many Egungun and Zangbettos, elaborately costumed men acting the role as spirits, who both thrilled and terrified the watching crowds.

These photographs were taken on 10 January 2013.