Voodoo Festival

Every September in the community of Glidji, Togo, this festival honors indigenous beliefs and the beginning of the new year. The festival's centerpiece is a sacred stone whose color foretells the future year's fortunes. Blue denotes rich harvests, red denotes a year of conflict, black denotes starvation and floods, and white denotes a year of good fortune. The festival, which takes place 30 kilometers from Lome, is a time of year when many families come together.

Voodoo arose on the coast of Benin and expanded throughout the Americas through the slave trade. Voodoo cults have been passed down the generations and are still practiced with zeal. Voodoo is a sophisticated religion as well as a sort of black magic. Today, there are an estimated 70 million Voodoo practitioners worldwide, mostly in Africa and the Americas.

When: in September

Where: village of Glidji