Lomé: Sanguera Voodoo Ceremony

Our tour today was for a voodoo ceremony in Sanguera.

This particular ceremony was billed as the real thing … as opposed to a show put on for tourists. I’d read that this was the thing to do in Lomé. Alrighty then.

Even though the duration was only three hours, and two of them would be spent getting to Sanguera and back, I went ahead and booked the ship’s tour. At least the drive to/from the village gave us a glimpse of daily life in Togo. Quite similar in many ways to what we’ve been seeing in the other West African nations we’ve already visited.

During the bus ride to Sanguera, our guide explained a bit about voodoo, saying that it is a religion in which people believe in multiple gods. He named several and told us the purpose of each, but I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t retain much of the information. I do recall that he mentioned that there are eight main gods, however. The ceremony we would be witnessing was for the purpose of celebrants putting themselves in a trance to communicate with these gods.

When asked what percentage of the population believes in voodoo, he said it was hard to quantify … for the simple reason that even those who are Christian or Muslim may also practice voodoo. That said, ⅓rd of the population claim voodoo as their only religion. The guide was also asked about the use of voodoo dolls and pins, but he glossed over that. From photos I’ve seen of fetish markets in Togo, I know that the pin-stick-dolls do exist and are used … for both good and bad voodoo.

Upon arrival at the village, we were greeted by the chief and elders with a libation ceremony designed to welcome us. The ceremony consisted of the chief mixing up a batch of libations using maize and alcohol. I was happy to see that the libations were poured on the ground as I’d been dreading the idea that we’d have to drink the concoction. We were then led to benches and offered beverages … soda or beer.

There were already a couple of celebrants dancing to the strong, rhythmic beat of the drums … some already in a trance … others trying to achieve that state. Once the chief and the elders took their seats, more dancers joined the fray. Off to one side was a group of drummers who were hidden behind a group of villagers who stood en masse, chanting and singing to the beat. One woman had an adorable baby in a sling on her back.

The ritualistic dancing was very much free-form. Swirling all over the place, there were occasional stumbles and near-faintings that brought out members of the village to help the celebrant. From what I gather, the stumbling and fainting is because the trance the celebrants put themselves in is very draining.

As they continued to dance, celebrants would come over to us in the audience and shake our hands. Every once in a while, one of them would throw him/herself at the feet of the chief asking for a blessing. They also dug into bowls of maize powder, which they proceeded to rub on their faces and in their hair. On a few occasions, the chief took a mouthful of libation, which he then sprayed over the celebrant.

We were at the ceremony for about an hour when our guide used his megaphone to say that it was time to leave. As we returned to the bus, it certainly looked like the festivities would be continuing … possibly through the weekend. Sweet-faced kids came over to where the buses were parked to bid us farewell.

The tour was short, but interesting. I’m glad we went.Read more