Officially declared a religion in Benin in 1996, Voodoo and the Voodoo festival attracts thousands of devotees and tourists for a day filled with ritual dances and gin drinking. [Photo/Agencies]

Nearby, a group of men daubed with soil from head to toe dance in a trance to the rhythm of the djembe hand drum and make offerings to talismans.

"Voodoo is a way of life," said Gizirbtah, a young black American who changes her name whenever she travels to the home of her ancestors.

Gizirbtah, who works for a US airline, has been traveling across West Africa for two months with a dozen or so voodoo devotees from as far away as London and Chicago.

"Every day I do ablutions, purifications, prayers. But in the US voodoo is frowned upon, people don't understand," she said.

She turned to voodoo six years ago when she began what she said was an "internal quest".

"All my life, the story of my ancestors has echoed inside me," she said.