Today is National Vodou Day. A holiday which takes place each year since 1996. Every year, thousands of adepts "vodounsi" gather in several locations. In Comè, a small town about a hundred kilometers west of Cotonou, hundreds of vodou adepts gathered to sing, dance and offer prayers and sacrifices to gods and ancestors. In the country of Benin, His Excellency Houngué Towakon Guédéhoungué II, president of the vodou in Benin, leads the ceremonies. Of Benin's seven million citizens, 65% believe in Vodou.
Followers acknowledge the existence of both a supreme being and many smaller gods which can intercede with the supreme being on behalf of humans. Vodou followers believe that all life is driven by spiritual forces of natural phenomena such as water, fire, earth and air and that these should be honoured through rituals like animal sacrifices.
But fortunately not all vodou practitioners believe in using animals in sacrifices.
In her book, Vodou Visions, Vodou mambo, Sallie Ann Glassman, discusses a cruelty-free alternative way of practicing this religion. Glassman, who is a vegan, does not believe in animal sacrifices. She explains in wonderful detail of how one is able to be a genuine practitioner of Vodou but still practice a cruelty-free life.
