Voodoo adepts participate in worshipping ceremonies during during the voodoo festival in Ouidah on 10 January. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin, and the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of voodoo. Ouidah was also one of the most notorious slave ports in Africa. From here, voodoo rituals and spirits traveled to the Americas together with thousands of West Africans who were forcefully sent to European colonies on the other side of the Atlantic.

Voodoo adepts participate in worshipping ceremonies during during the voodoo festival in Ouidah on 10 January. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin, and the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of voodoo. Ouidah was also one of the most notorious slave ports in Africa. From here, voodoo rituals and spirits traveled to the Americas together with thousands of West Africans who were forcefully sent to European colonies on the other side of the Atlantic.

Daagbo Hounon Houna II, one of voodoo's highest religious authorities, walks under the monument of the Gate of No-Return, which commemorates the thousands of slaves that were shipped from here to the Americas, in Ouidah during the voodoo festival. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin, and the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of this system of beliefs, and it was one of the most important slave ports in West Africa.

Religious authorities sacrifice a goat as an offering to the gods during the voodoo festival in Ouidah. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin; the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of voodoo. It was also one of the most important slave ports in West Africa.

People gather at sunset to attend a voodoo ritual known as Fête des Revenants, or the "ceremony of the revenants", during which the spirits of dead ancestors are invoked. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin, and the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of this system of beliefs, and it was one of the most important slave ports in West Africa.

A voodoo ritual known as Fête des Revenants, or the "ceremony of the revenants", during which the spirits of dead ancestors are invoked, takes place on the streets of Ouidah, during the voodoo festival on 10 January. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin, and the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of this system of beliefs, and it was one of the most important slave ports in West Africa.

A voodoo ritual known as Fête des Revenants, or the "ceremony of the revenants", during which the spirits of dead ancestors are invoked, takes place on the streets of Ouidah, during the voodoo festival on 10 January. Voodoo is the official religion in Benin, and the small coastal city of Ouidah is considered a main stronghold of this system of beliefs, and it was one of the most important slave ports in West Africa.

A voodoo adept prepares for a ceremony to honour voodoo Pope Daagbo Hounon Houna II.

Trance.

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Songs and prayers for the ancestors and Pope Daagbo Hounon Houna II

Trance at the Pope's camp.

A voodoo priestess guards the entrance of a sanctuary in the village of Ganvie.

Dancing for the ancestors

Abiku ceremonies. Calling back to earth the spirits of children who have passed away.

Abiku ceremonies. Calling back to earth the spirits of children who have passed away.