Dolls and spirits: a Voodoo ceremony in Togo

In southern Togo there are villages still not marked on most maps and without a precise road to get there. Today we will try to learn more about a Voodoo ceremony, attending a real Voodoo ritual and explaining everything through photos and some videos. So, let's start from the entrance to one of these villages, where a fetish (a kind of voodoo doll representing a divinity) is covered and surrounded by offers brought by the followers of the voodoo religion, the most important faith in this part of the country.

This village in southern Togo is not far from the capital of Lome, but it is not reported on most maps. The buildings are mainly made of raw clay and have a thatched roof: they are probably among the most traditional and picturesque we encountered during our whole tour in West Africa.

Near the main square of the village, we finally come across a voodoo ceremony, for which we get the permission to attend to, from the village's chief. During the celebration, under the constant rhythm of the drums, the participants to the voodoo ceremony dance all around, while others fall into a kind of trance as soon as a voodoo spirit takes possession of the person.

The voodoo ritual takes place around a small temple where a huge Voodoo doll, actually and more properly a "fetish", represents the divinity.

The meeting with the village healer is very interesting as well. Since the Voodoo is a religion based on spirits, it is not surprising that the treatment of an illness or a sickness, starts just from the spiritual aspect, rather than from the physical one. The healer knows the power of medicinal herbs, but above of all he knows the deities with whom he intercedes to consecrate, through specific voodoo rites, dolls and amulets prepared with the most odd ingredients. His home is full of fetishes, adored and honored with food and gifts, while a large fetish of crocodile, the main healing divinity, is cared with perfumed talcum powder and with eggs placed in his mouth (his favorite food). Naturally, if voodoo rituals, voodoo dolls, fetishes, amulets and medicinal plants are not enough to heal the patient, the same village healer send him to a normal hospital.