|
|
Article: Voodoo still wins; Benin.(Voodoo in Benin)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 28, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A controversial ancestral religion still fends off foreign ones
A WOMAN in a bright dress dances round in a tight circle, the pumping artery of a headless chicken pressed to her mouth. Nearby, another woman carries a slaughtered goat on her shoulder, sucking on its red neck as she cavorts around. Benin's national day of voodoo, earlier this month, may not be how Hollywood would have portrayed it, but it comes close. "The women are not drinking the blood," a voodoo expert, Martine de Souza, explains. "The animals have been sacrificed to the spirits, and the women have been possessed by the spirits, who are accepting the sacrifice."
Since 1996, voodoo has ...