In Ouidah, Voodoo Festival 2012 is stronger

Documenting one of the world’s strongholds of Voodoo religion, OYASAF team joined the faithful and other enthusiasts in celebrating the 2012 Benin Voodoo Festival, which held in Ouidah.

The Benin Republic Voodoo Festival is an annual event that holds at the beginning of every calendar year. Benin Republic may be just a slice of land in West Africa, but it is referred to as the cradle of voodoo in the world.

Waiting for the Voodoo priest, a goat slaughtered during the festival. 
PHOTO: BY OYASAF DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER, OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

Voodoo is Benin Republic’s national religion which was decreed officially by the government as a state-religion in 1997. It is practiced by millions of Beninese.  The festival is very vibrant and colorful. Every year, about 60% of Benin’s 7.4million residents, believers and followers, flock to Ouidah, the historic center of voodoo worship, to receive blessings from the city’s voodoo priests.

The celebration usually begins with the slaughtering of a goat by voodoo chief priest to appease the Beninese ancestors and voodoo deities. This ritual is accompanied by singing , incantations, dancing, thunderous beating of drums and whirling of the barred breasts of women. Also, neck-laced men slash their bodies with knives and consume gin and schnapps while pouring them over the wounds created by such slashing.

Zangbeto masquerade, during the 2012 Voodoo Festival.
 PHOTO: BY OYASAF DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER, OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

Ouidah’s most striking memorial is a monument known as the gate of No Return. This giant gate looms at the end of the slave trail on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a sculptural relief ­- mural illustration - which depicts the pain and anguish of manacled Africans during the Trans Atlantic slave trade. It reminds of how the slaves walk into the sea, towards their future of permanent hardship. For centuries, Ouidah was the regional hub for slave trafficking, with European slave traders shipping hundreds of thousands of slaves from Ouidah to the Americas and the Caribbean Islands.

Voodoo faithful, knife-slashing during the festival. PHOTO: BY OYASAF DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER, OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO 

 During Voodoo Festival parades, some Beninese, led by the priest, march to re-enact the three kilometer trek from Ouidah’s “down town” slave auction block, to the harbor.  The marchers pause to pray at each pilgrimage points, until they reach a mermaid statue, marking the old spot of a bizarre tree called the Tree of Forgetfulness. Back in those days, the slaves were made to circle the tree, nine times, in steps, with the belief that such rite would make them forget their identity completely.

Masquerades during the Voodoo Festival 2012 in Benin Republic.
PHOTO: BY OYASAF DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER, OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

Benin Voodoo Festival is about celebration, embracing the value of peace and prosperity. The festival entails people engaged in various activities of celebration with loudspeakers blaring Yoruba, Ghana and Congolese music.

The chief priest showers blessings on followers throughout the celebration.