After having visited voodoo priests in Togo and Benin (cf. my galleries Voodoo in Benin and Togo, West Africa 1 and 2: https://pbase.com/neuenhofer/voodoo_in_benin_and_togo_west_africa and https://pbase.com/neuenhofer/voodoo_in_togo_and_benin_2), I went to Ghana this February. My expectations concerning voodoo rituals were rather low, because I had been told that there is not so much voodoo in Ghana. Reality looked different. There was at least one priest in nearly every village. Only – apart from the south – they were not called voodoo priests but fetish priests. And they did not pray to the gods that are popular in Togo and Benin. In Ghana the priests first address a supreme being, but then they pray to their ancestors to ask for their advice. In all the three countries fetishes are used and the rituals are very similar. For each ritual alcohol is needed (“Schnapps” and local gin) which is poured on the ground for the ancestors and over the fetishes during the ceremony (libation).
But one thing is rather special in Ghana: Several fetish priests explained that apart from their ancestors they were also guided by small spirits (dwarfs). These spirits cannot be seen by ordinary people, only by the priests who already feel the presence of these spirits even before they see them. They say that suddenly around them everything becomes very cold and they themselves begin to shiver. The spirits that are very hairy, only about 50 cm tall and who walk backwards, tell the priests e.g. what they have to do for the welfare of the community.
Have a full preview of my book GHANA, FETISH PRIESTS, WITCH CAMPS AND FUNERAL RITES (120 pages, 170 photos) in English (see below)
and in German: GHANA FETISCHPRIESTER, HEXENDÖRFER UND BEGRÄBNISRITEN (see below).
THE BOOKS ALSO EXIST IN LOW COST VERSIONS AS EBOOKS. German version: http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/313607-ghana-fetischpriester-hexendorfer-und-begrabnisriten
English version: http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/314829-ghana-fetish-priests-witch-camps-and-funeral-rites

and in German: