Source: The Times of India
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/414661.cms
On January 9, 2004 The Times of India ran an Agence France Presse article that reported, "Draped in animal skins with bones and fetish charms clattering, thousands of west Africans, Americans and Caribbean islanders are trooping into tiny Benin ahead of Saturday's annual voodoo festival in the southern town of Ouidah. Born at the end of the 16th century on the banks of the Mono river that flows between Benin and Togo, voodoo rituals have been practiced by some two-thirds of Benin's 6.7 million people for generations, according to government figures. Be they Christian or Muslim, from the Fon or Yoruba ethnic groups, devotees of the cult of 'vodouns,' or 'spirits' in the Fon language, continue to practice the spells, chants and mystic divinations of their faith...The holiday has expanded beyond the borders of the tiny west African state, welcoming voodoo-practicing Togolese, Nigerians and Ghanaians to the free-wheeling festival and traditional ceremony at Ouidah, some 40 kilometers (24 miles) west of the main Beninese city, Cotonou."