Voodoo celebration

Thousands of people from North America, Europe and West Africa have met in Benin to celebrate the voodoo religion.

The town of Ouidah is said to be the birthplace of voodoo, which is followed by about half the country's 7.4 million population.

The country has an annual Voodoo Day after declaring it an official religion in 1996.

Followers worship spirits, or fetishes, who are thought to provide guidance.

The religion was exported from Africa to the Caribbean, particularly Haiti, during the slave trade and started about 400 years ago.

- HERALD ONLINE STAFF