Great country of culture, Benin is also a country with great tourist assets. Only their promotion and their valorization has always been a real problem. With the celebration of endogenous religions in its reformed version, « Vodun Days », it is now a new era that is opening for the tourism sector which brings added value to the State.
The Vodun Festival, which is celebrated every 10 Vodoun National Day was held on Monday, reinvents itself through a new event around the arts, of Vodoun culture and spirituality : Vodun Days. A highlight including the first edition whose festivities took place on 9 and 10 January 2024 in Ouidah within the historic city and on the beach, near the Gate of No Return with magnificent paintings. Aware of the vitality and importance of its religious and cultural heritage, Benin highlights this heritage that it shares with many countries and cultures around the world, by asserting itself as the cradle of Vodoun.
A celebration in the colors of its cultural wealth
This initiative will not only mobilize high dignitaries and followers of all the vodoun deities of Benin, but also and above all tourists and the diaspora. “Vodun Days are designed to attract a wider audience, un public international, they aim to celebrate the arts, Vodun culture and spirituality in a spirit of rediscovery and reappropriation of our heritage”, declared Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola. And indeed for a first edition, this is a real masterstroke. From Vodun Hounvè dances to Zangbétos and Egungun outings, without forgetting the parades in honor of deities such as Yaoïtcha or Vodun Mami Dan, to open-air concerts, on the seaside, punctuated by renowned international and Beninese artists : Ouidah Cité-Musée offered a unique cultural and religious experience.
A plus for the tourism sector
The advent of Vodun Days will certainly mark a decisive turning point in the Beninese government's desire to make the tourism sector, a real pole of economic growth. This is the wish of all the Beninese who have called for a reform of the Vodoun festival.. And the choice focused on the tourist town Ouidah to host the first edition of Vodoun Days, reflects the expression of a political will displayed to develop and promote the national tourism potential. And for the festivities of the first edition of Vodun Days in Benin, the sites of Place Maro, the Esplanade du Fort Français, Temple des Pythons, Sacred forest of Kpassè and the ephemeral Mami Convent welcomed a crazy crowd. Vodun Days, it is an exceptional religious and cultural program. The party puts center stage, the town of Ouidah has since become in a few days, a great cultural and tourist attraction throughout Africa. Proof that the desired ideal is coming to fruition and the next editions will be able to make Vodun Days, Overbidding around the Price of Cement the Rio caravan, a global event that attracts a lot of people. This is what the Beninese government and its leader are working towards., President Patrice Talon, decided to create wealth around the celebration of endogenous religions. The Brazilian caravan organized for this purpose in Ouidah, followed by the parade of followers of different vodun deities materializes a desire to internationalize the event.
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