Several hundred Vodou practitioners gathered at a public plaza in downtown Port-au-Prince Sunday to bid farewell to the souls of victims of the Jan. 12th quake that claimed more than 200,000 lives.
Typically held in private temples, the service sought to serve as a reminder of the influence Vodou wields in the Caribbean nation. Scores of men and women donning white outfits and colorful beads beat drums, prayed, sang, and danced in honor of the dead.
"Without Vodou, Haiti cannot advance," said Loudy Fils-Aime, 30, who lost his house to the quake.
The ceremony — led by Haiti's supreme leader of Vodou, Max Beauvoir — came several weeks after an angry crowd of Evangelicals crashed a similar service when they started throwing rocks at Vodou practitioners in Cite Soleil, a sprawling seaside slum in Port-au-Prince.
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