The vibrant cultural event celebrates ancestral spirits, heritage, and traditional identity.

Porto-Novo

The annual mask festival in Porto-Novo, Benin, attracted thousands of attendees who gathered to witness performances that celebrate and preserve the country’s cultural heritage. The event featured elaborate wooden masks and costumes, each with unique stories and spiritual significance, as performers reenacted traditional tales.

Organizers and attendees emphasized the importance of the festival in reinforcing Benin’s identity and promoting tourism. The festival is part of a broader initiative to position Benin as a cultural destination, with events like Voodoo Days and the mask festival scheduled throughout the year. The vibrant celebration, accompanied by music and dance, draws visitors from across the region and beyond.

Thousand attend annual Mask Festival in Benin's capital

The annual mask festival, showcasing Benin's rich cultural heritage. Thousands gathered in streets across the capital, Porto Novo, over the weekend to see performers reenact age-old stories passed down through the generations. It's because this represents our culture. It's what defines us as the people of Benin. We're perhaps one of the few African countries that are proud to keep our culture. Compared to other countries that think that Benin is just about sorcery, this is our identity and that's why we're here. And we're proud to come and show the world that this is part of us. And we're proud to be Beninese. Worn by performers, they're many different kinds of elaborate wooden masks and costumes, each with their own story, role and spiritual significance. It's sure that the mask festival reinforces Benin's touristic appeal because the president, in his vision, wants to make tourism an economic driver for the country. He wanted different cultural events to be staggered over the year. So we have Voodoo Days in January and we have the mask festival during the summer holidays. The mask festival aims to reposition Benin for tourism. But as this is a unique cultural event, the mask festival is not just for Benin, but in fact it's for all of Africa. It's very, very important because it's our identity and it's our identity that is in the process of being forgotten. Accompanied by singing, drumming and dancing, it's a colourful and vibrant festival, drawing visitors from the region and beyond.

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