Vodun in Benin and Togo, the religion behind the word voodoo

Few words have travelled as far, or been as badly treated, as vodun. In the languages of the old kingdom of Dahomey, in what is now southern Benin, it means something like spirit, or the sacred; carried across the Atlantic by enslaved people from this coast, it became the root of Haitian Vodou and, eventually, of the Hollywood "voodoo" of pins, dolls and zombies. Very little of that has anything to do with the religion as it is practised today in Benin and Togo, where it is followed openly by a large part of the population, often alongside Christianity or Islam.

To travel here is to see it as it is: a religion of many spirits, the vodun, each with its own shrines, priests, colours and dances; of ancestors who remain part of the family; and of ceremonies that are public, noisy, musical and often joyful.

What Vodun is

At the heart of Vodun is the idea that the world is full of spiritual forces, some linked to nature, such as the sea, thunder or the earth, some to particular places, families or ancestors. People honour them with offerings, prayers, songs and dances at shrines, and ask for their help with the matters of everyday life: health, harvest, children, journeys. Priests and priestesses look after the shrines and lead the ceremonies, and the Egungun, masked figures in great swirling costumes of cloth, represent the returning dead.

In 1996 Benin recognised Vodun as an official religion, and 10 January is a national holiday in its honour.

Ouidah

The centre of it all is Ouidah, a small, quiet town near the coast west of Cotonou. Its best-known shrine is the Python Temple, a simple courtyard and building across the square from the town's Catholic basilica, where royal pythons, sacred to one of the town's vodun, are kept and honoured. Visitors are welcome, and the pythons are docile.

Ouidah was also a major slave port on the west African coast, and its history is not easy. A road leads from the town to the beach, past memorials, to the Door of No Return, an arch built beside the sea in memory of the people who were forced onto the slave ships there and never came home. It is a moving place, made more so by the quiet of the beach around it.

Every year around 10 January, Ouidah fills for the Vodun celebrations. Since 2024 the national day has grown into the Vodun Days, a festival of usually three days around the 10th, with ceremonies at the shrines and convents of the town, processions, music, masked dancers and a crowd from all over the country and beyond. The dates for 2027 had not been announced when this was written, but the pattern is to build them around 10 January, so check them before you book.

Beyond Ouidah

Southern Benin has much more. Ganvié, on Lake Nokoué near Cotonou, is a whole town built on stilts over the water, often described as the largest lake village in Africa; its people fled there from slave raiders, and they still go about by canoe. Inland, Abomey was the capital of the kingdom of Dahomey, and its royal palaces, with their bas-reliefs of the kings' deeds, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In Togo, next door, the capital Lomé has a famous fetish market, where the ingredients of traditional medicine and ritual are sold, and the north has its own peoples and traditions in the hills around Kara.

How to go

Explore's thirteen-night Benin and Togo Voodoo Discovery begins in Lomé, crosses Togo by way of Kpalimé, Sokodé, Atakpamé and Kara, then enters Benin for Dassa, Abomey, Covè, Ganvié, Cotonou, Ouidah and Grand-Popo. It departs in February, March, October, November and December.

G Adventures' fifteen-night Ghana, Togo, & Benin: Castles, Coastlines and Voodoo Discoveries starts in Ghana, with Cape Coast, Elmina, Kakum National Park, Ankasa Village and Accra, then crosses into Togo for Lomé, Kara and Bafilo, and into Benin for Natitingou, Dassa, Ouidah and Cotonou. It departs in December, January and February, so a January departure is the one to check against the Ouidah festival.

Vodun ceremonies are religious events, and the rule for a visitor is the one you would follow in any place of worship: ask before taking photographs, accept that some shrines and moments are not for outsiders, and follow your guide's lead about where to stand and when to leave. A small offering or donation is often expected at shrines. In return, you will be welcomed into a living religion with very deep roots, and you will never think about the word voodoo in the same way again.