Voodoo v virus

摘要

"WE DON'T DO black magic here," says Zanzan Zinho as he lifts a giant calabash adorned with goat skulls. The shrine of the Vodun (voodoo) priest is in a courtyard in Ouidah, the spiritual home of the religion, in southern Benin. All around are fetishes: dried snakes, twins made of wood and a baby-girl doll into whose mouth the priest inserts a cigarette. "To help her breathe," explains Mr Zinho. Before your correspondent has a chance to probe, he is given a dram of moonshine from the calabash, of the sort that makes one forget one's questions.