THE VOODOO MARKET OF TOGO

The Akodessawa Fetish Market in Lomé, Togo has to be seen to be believed.  Here on display is a vast array of animal parts — heads, skulls, bones, horns, skins et al – for sale to the adherents of Togo’s official religion of Voodoo.  They are used to communicate with and pray to the huge variety of spirits and deities they believe in.

What you see here is a very small fraction of the market – there are thousands of animal parts here from entire elephant skulls to small mummified rodents.  Behind the displays are stalls where voodoo priests cater to devotees for healing potions or being an interlocutor to the spirits.  This is not sticking pins in dolls of enemies. The people of Togo and neighboring Benin believe deeply in their religion.  Togo in West Africa is the size of New Jersey and has over 130 fetish markets in the country, with the largest here.  This is an experience you never forget.

(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #273 photo ©Jack Wheeler)