Voodoo everywhere

The head chief being fanned while watching the festivities

I'm on a row here.  Second post on the same day.  This is a record for me.  Anyway, same day as the photo exhibit, there was also a festival, "Festival des Divinités Noires" or Festival of Black Divinities.  It's a celebration of voodoo.  Now normally this stuff would freak me out; however, people were so excited about it that I couldn't help but be intrigued.  I decided to be an amateur photographer and take in the activities of the day. The festival was in this huge open field with stadium style seats.  As I sat down I noticed everyone bowing down to great a man dressed in white.  Wasn't sure who he was at first because the chiefs were sitting in the front row with their crowns.  But this man was sitting in a nicer chair and had two women fanning him.  So apparently he was someone of importance.  However, all I could think about was that I would hate to be one of those chicks fanning him.  I mean they were doing that for hours...must be tiring.  Nonetheless, I asked my homologue who the mystery man was.  Apparently, he's the chief of all chiefs...well he's the chief of most of the villages along Lake Togo (and there are several), so he's a big deal.  

The magic show

Anyway, first there was a bit of a magic show where a dancer got his costume to move without him in it.  That was pretty cool.  There was so much going on at the time that I couldn't get a clear picture...you know I am an amateur.

After the magic show there was a series of performers.  A few stood out to me.  First one that stood out was this group of male dancers.  The head dancer was this older man that looked to be between 65 - 70 years old.  This man was awesome, he moved better then the rest.  I was very impressed.  

      
There was also some Swiss and French (I think) dancers.  I was a bit surprise to see them perform.  I thought it was only going to be local performers. Either way they were entertaining to watch.  I must say they were pretty brave to perform along with the Togolese.  And the last group of performers that stood out was the group of young girls.  They were performing holding these calabashes.  Apparently, all these girls are virgins, while dancing if someone dropped a calabash then they weren't really a virgin.  I'm not sure if anything would happen if a girl dropped it but that's the myth.  I didn't take many pictures of the girls performing because...well...it started to feel like child porn to me.  There was a lot of gyrating going on.  I'm not a prude but these chicks are young and you could hear guys whistling.  It was a bit much for me.  However, the story behind the dancing was interesting. Anyway, I enjoyed the festival THOROUGHLY and will definitely be
 going back tomorrow for the continuation.  Can't wait.