African Epe Ekpe Voodoo Festival
African Epe Ekpe Voodoo Festival
Epe Ekpe Voodoo Festival has been celebrated in the same area of Southern Togo for over 320 years.
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 Southernmost region of Togo, hundreds of voodoo or vodun worshipers make a pilgrimage to the sacred 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 sacred 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.
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.
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.
Did you know?
From Haiti to New Orleans to all over Africa, it is safe to say most Voodoo worshipers has have never seen much less used a Voodoo doll. Voodoo religion, as most religions do believe there is a seen and unseen world, and that these worlds are interwoven. The Epe Ekpe Voodoo Festival is a cultural religious African heritage.
From Haiti to New Orleans to all over Africa, it is safe to say most Voodoo worshipers has have never seen much less used a Voodoo doll. Voodoo religion, as most religions do believe there is a seen and unseen world, and that these worlds are interwoven. The Epe Ekpe Voodoo Festival is a cultural religious African heritage.
