Sacred forests shrink in Voodoo’s birthplace

Voodoo worshippers listen to Gilbert Kakpo, a Voodoo priest who says countless people have been helped through the spirits’ powers at the Bohouezoun sacred forest in Benin. ‘Our divinity is the protector of women,’ he says. ‘If you’re a woman who’s had miscarriages or has given birth to stillborn children and you come here for rituals, you’ll never endure those hardships again ... I can’t count the number of people who have been healed or treated here.’ — AP

FOR many people in Benin, the forests empowered them before they were born, or in the first months of their lives.

Barren women performed Voodoo rituals by sacred trees to get pregnant. Others were brought as newborns by parents seeking to ward off evil spirits. Some entered at a crossroads as adults, asking for guidance.