High Priestess Sacrifices Goat, Chicken, Rooster in Benin
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OUIDAH, Benin—Thousands gathered on a beach Tuesday to celebrate Benin’s once-banned voodoo, slaughtering animals and welcoming revelers from Brazil and the United States, including descendants of slaves who took the religion to the Americas centuries ago.
At a ceremony Tuesday, voodoo high priestess Nagbo Hounon Gbeffa sacrificed a goat, a rooster and a chicken as divine offerings.
“I’m very moved,” said Faith McDouglas, a 37-year-old nurse from Omaha, Neb., and a descendant of slaves.
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But the religion, practiced by an estimated 60 percent of Benin’s 7 million people, was impossible to suppress, and the government inaugurated National Voodoo Day in 1996, giving the religion an official place here alongside Christianity and Islam.
(Posted on January 11, 2006)