In April 2009 we made a tour to Togo and Benin in West Africa. Our goal was to learn about voodoo in these two states, because this is the region where voodoo originated. We know and realized that it is something very different from what people from western countries have in mind, when they think of voodoo (magic dolls to harm someone and things like that).
Voodoo (or vodoun or vodun) is a religion, and in Benin it was formally recognized as an official religion in 1996 with a “National Voodoo Day”, a public holiday, on 10th January.
Nevertheless it is not a religion like any other. Most of the voodoo priests are healers, but they also predict things (concerning pregnancies or if people want help for difficult decisions) and sometimes they can also help to take revenge. What is also different is that the priests always sacrifice alcohol (“Schnapps”) and palm oil, which is poured over the fetishes or the images of the gods. In more complicated cases also animals are sacrificed (chickens, goats). Then the blood is poured over fetishes and gods. The priests are directly paid by the people.
Further information in German on our homepage. Click http://www.neuenhofer.de/guenter/togo_benin/togo.html
Have a full preview of my book (120 pages) Christa Neuenhofer, TOGO AND BENIN: HOMELANDS OF VOODOO (look below). The book has also been edited in German:Christa Neuenhofer, TOGO UND BENIN, DIE HEIMAT DES VOODOO (look below). And you can have a look at my book about voodoo in Ghana too: