Discover · Spiritual · Ouidah, Benin
The ancestor never truly leaves. In the Yoruba tradition of Ouidah, he returns, dressed in cloth, to speak to those who remain.
The Egungun, sometimes called Egoun, embodies in the Yoruba tradition present in Ouidah the return of ancestors among the living. Covered in colored fabrics and materials that entirely mask any trace of the person animating it, it does not symbolically represent the ancestor: in the belief that carries it, it is the ancestor.
Those who know how to read what the Egungun expresses, through its movements, its transformed voice, the objects it carries, receive messages, warnings, blessings from it. For an uninitiated visitor, the deeper meaning of the exchange remains largely invisible without a guide able to translate it.
Egoun processions are among the strongest sacred outings of the Vodun Days, alongside the Zangbeto. The two traditions sometimes cross in the same streets, without ever blending.
Visit duration
Occasional encounter, part of the sacred outings
Access
Streets of historic Ouidah, especially during the Vodun Days.
Coordinates
6.3605, 2.0880
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