Vodon. Vodon (known as Voodoo in the African Diaspora) is the most important religious tradition among the West African Fon. Although the independence of this religion from that of the Yoruba is discernible, the remarkable similarities of the two religions in terms of metaphysical structures, overlapping of deities, and the affinities in cults make it possible to discuss the Fon and Yoruba religions together. The Fon, who migrated from Togo to Benin in the seventeenth century, and the Yoruba, one of the three major ethnic groups of Nigeria, have the same ethnic and cultural origins even though their geographic dispersal has located them in different modern states.

Yoruba Religions. Because of their large numbers in West Africa and their wide dispersal through slavery in the Americas, the Yoruba are probably the best-known West African ethnic culture in the...