Happy New Year! Celebrating Benin's Vodoun Festival
Author: Abla
The start of a new calendar year is always a time for reflection, renewal and looking ahead to the future with hope. In the Vodoun traditions of Benin, West Africa, the new year is celebrated with an especially meaningful festival that helps us prepare spiritually for the energies of the year to come.
The Vodoun festival is held in Quidah and falls around January 10th each year. This Festival has deep spiritual significance in Vodoun religion and culture. It marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. The festival is a moment to strengthen bonds within our community. We come together to share meals, dance, drum and make offerings giving thanks for the past year and guidance for what's to come. Rituals are performed to cleanse and ensure blessings for prosperity, protection, and guidance for the coming year
The Vodoun Festival also commemorates Ouidah's history as a major slave trading port. Rituals honor the spirits of the enslaved Africans who made the Middle Passage and pay homage to their struggles and resilience. The festival spiritually reconnects the people of Ouidah to their ancestors and honors the city's roots. It renews the bonds between the living and the dead. The Vodoun Festival serves to pay spiritual respects, seek blessings, honor sacred deities, and reconnect people to their history, culture and ancestors in Vodoun traditions. In the new year, we will face challenges but having the support of our community makes us stronger.
Even though you may not be in Benin, I invite you to join us this year as we ring in the new calendar cycle. Participate in your own purifying cleansing rituals by incorporating spiritual baths into your own spiritual self care routine. This is a time to purge ourselves of any lingering negativity from the past year through spiritual purification. We perform purification baths using sacred herbs and other natural ingredients blessed by our vodoun priests and priestesses in Benin. The spiritual purification baths wash away any blockages or unwanted energies clinging to our aura so we can start fresh.
Take some time to reflect. Think about what you want to work on spiritually within this year. What are the energies or attributes you want to cultivate more of? Set intentions for growth and create the plan that will continuously move you to that goal.
Then get out there and connect with your community. As Priestess Haneera mentions “this is our year”. The year for the healers, misfits, those with special abilities, creatives. It's the year where your gifts and contributions to the community will come to the forefront. The leaders of this new age are being formed. So that business you wanted to start - do it. If there is a community initiative you want to implement - do it. If you are called to holistic practices - go full steam ahead.
Our patreon group offers weekly workshops and teachings to help you walk your spiritual path in alignment with the energies of this year. Subscribe today to gain exclusive access to the archived video, lessons, and pilgrimages to Benin in 2024. Wishing you a blessed new year filled with light, love and prosperity. This is your year to shine and we are here to support you. 
Naziafah Spiritual Institute
