Voodoo parishioners from the Guen tribe worship at the annual Epe Ekpe festival in Togo. African voodoo is the world's oldest known traditional religion and an important part of African cultural heritage.
For one week each year in September the small town of Glidji located in the Southern most region of Togo, hundreds of voodoo or vodun worshipers make a pilgrimage to the scared village. The small town spills over with people and comes alive with the celebration of the voodoo New Year. Members of the Guen tribe travel great distances and gather together for the Epe Ekpe festival to purify themselves, worship, dance, sing and offer sacrifices. The Epe Ekpe Voodoo Festival has been celebrated in the same area of Southern Togo for over 320 years.
Ekpe means stone and the climax of the festival is the unveiling of the color of the sacred stone. The scared stone is searched for by a priest within a sacred stone forest. The stone's color foretells the fortunes of the coming year, red means, danger, white or blue represents prosperity. A priest then sprinkles and blesses the voodoo followers with holy water for cleansing, protection, and blessing until the following year. Water plays a major role to the voodoo worshipers in the Epe Ekpe festival.
Not everyone who practices Voodoo does it in exactly the same way or agrees on exactly the same things. Voodoo is a religion that originated in Africa and is practiced around the world by millions of voodoo practitioners or Voodooists. Voodoo is as much a part of African heritage as Buddhism is to Asia. Voodoo is not a practice intended to hurt or control others and makes them into zombies. Voodoo isn't brutal nor is it the religious version characterized by TV and movies, voodoo is a nature based religion.
The Epe Ekpe festival has been celebrated in the same area of Togo for over 320 years and will continue to influence the lives of voodoo followers for another 300 years and beyond. It is safe to say African voodoo will not play a role in the zombie plague or zombie apocalypse. African voodoo is the world's oldest known traditional religion and an important part of African cultural heritage.
*culled from www.theafricangourmet.com
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