Paganism

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Paganism

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JAPAN. Tokyo. 2000. White doves are kept at the Yasukuni Shinto shrine, dedicated to military personnel killed during Japan's wars. They are regarded as spirits of the departed. | License

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RUSSIA. Siberia. Republic of Tuva. An ovaa (shamanic altar) on the road to lake Tere Khol. | License

ABA2000003W00060/18

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JAPAN. 2000. JAPAN. Izumo. Oyashimo Shinto shrine. Visitors inscribe an oracle on paper and after having read it, stick it to the ground with an arrow, under a sacred tree. The shrine is devoted to the "kami" (deity), representing family and love. | License

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CUBA. Havana. 1997. Blood and feathers from sacrificed animals are offered to the African gods during a Santeria ritual requested by a Spanish tourist suffering from psychological disorders. His face cannot be photographed for three months after the ceremony. | License

ABA2001013W00095/25

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RUSSIA. 2001. RUSSIA. Siberia. Republic of Tuva. Kyzyl. Birds become spirits over the ovaa (altar) of the Tos Deer (Nine Skies) shaman association. | License

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RUSSIA. Siberia. Republic of Tuva. Village of Sukpak. 2001. At sunset, a shaman prays to the spirits of the Yenessi river. | License

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RUSSIA. Moscow. 2001. Russian shaman Vera SAZHINA rids a patient of evil spirits using her "dungur", a flat drum. She performs the ritual in a small forest. | License

ABA2001013W00066/34

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RUSSIA. 2001. RUSSIA. Siberia. Republic of Tuva. Village of Belder. Nomad's yurt and cattle on the edge of the taiga. | License

ABA2001013W00106/27A

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RUSSIA. 2001. RUSSIA. Siberia. Republic of Tuva. Kyzyl. Shaman AY CHUREK, founder of the Tos Deer (Nine Skies) Shaman association. | License

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JAPAN. Izumo. 2000. The Oyashimo Shinto shrine. Devoted to the deity of family and love, this shrine caters to many pigeons who symbolize roaming spirits. | License

MALI. Mopti. 2002. City dwellers by the river Niger at dawn.

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MALI. Mopti. 2002. City dwellers by the river Niger at dawn. | License

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HAITI. Seau d'Eau. 2000. Pilgrims from all over the country as well as the diaspora come to this sacred waterfall to take a luck bath. With medicinal herbs and perfumes, they ask their Voodoo loas (personal or family spirits) to fortify them. They discard their old underclothes. | License

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HAITI. Sukri. 2000. Hounsis (ladies dressed in white) go in trance when they are " mounted " by a loa (spirit). They jump into the river, to carry on voodoo rituals dedicated to the loas of Africa. | License

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HAITI. Plaine du Nord. 2000. At Bassin Saint Jacques, a bull is sacrificed to the voodoo loa (spirit) Ogoun. Beast and executioners are covered with the mud of the sacred pond. | License

ABA2000009W00056/36

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HAITI. 2000. HAITI. Plaine du Nord. At Bassin Saint Jacques, a goat is about to be sacrificed to the loa (spirit) Ogoun. Both beast and voodoo executioner are covered with the mud of the sacred pond. | License

ABA2002010W00024-15

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VENEZUELA. Bari Indians. 2002. VENEZUELA. Saimadodyi village. Fish caught by Bari Indians with the help of a "kirora" dam of stones and palm leaves which entraps fish in pools and so increases the catch. | License

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MALI. Indelu village. 1996. Communal houses, where Dogon animist women retire during their menstrual periods, are adorned with phallic symbols of fertility. | License

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MALI. Dogon Country. Segue village. 2002. An altar where animals are sacrificed to feed the spirits of deceased ancestors. | License

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MALI. Dogon Country. Nionghono village. 2002. The village boast an architecture, unique to Dogon country. Traces of animist culture are plenty in this village whose inhabitants are all Muslims. | License

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SENEGAL. Etome. The Diolas of the Casamance region are mostly animists. Every twenty years each village holds an initiation ceremony, during which all the males born during that period have to enter the "sacred forest" at night, to celebrate a pagan rite of passage into manhood. Their heads are shaved, and they wrap themselves in indigo clothes. Many of these young men are high school or University students in Dakar. | License

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MALI. Village of Senedongo. 1996. A Dogon Christian boy prepares a fowl for cooking. Animal sacrifices are part of Dogon animist rituals. | License

ABA2002010W00020-13A

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VENEZUELA. Bari Indians. 2002. VENEZUELA. Saimadodyi village. The carcass of a monkey hunted in the jungle, then burned to clean it before cooking, in hanging on the wall of a hut. | License

ABA2002005W00026/15A

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MALI. 2002. MALI. Dogon Country. Segue village. The village blacksmith in front of a granary wall decorated with a monkey's skull and other animals' furs used in animist rituals. In Dogon culture, blacksmiths are believed to have special spiritual and magical powers. | License

ABA2002005W00050-09

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MALI. 2002. MALI. Dogon Country. Vedie village. The blood of a rooster is fed to the spirits of a couple represented by wooden statues. | License

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CUBA. Havana. 1997. A "santera" performing an African pagan ritual in a courtyard. | License

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CUBA. Santiago. 1997. A goat is sacrified during an African Santeria ritual. Its blood is fed to African gods, while its meat feeds the worshippers. | License

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        When the year 2000 approached, so did the end of my journey in Christianity. Fascinated, as always, by religion lived as a cultural phenomenon more than once, I asked myself what new religion should I look at after Islam and Christianity?

        Judaism as a third part of the Abrahamic religions? But is it not written that the first will be the last? Moses will wait. Buddhism, spread by the Tibetan monks in exile? It is indeed a major religious fact of our time, but philosophy more than religion, Buddhism does not challenge me.

        Rather, my curiosity led me towards the polytheists, that the religions of the Book deal with, at best, with condescension and, at worst, with contempt, which has always perplexed me; in what way is the belief in a single god morally superior to the cult of multiple gods? Aren’t Judaism, Christianity and Islam themselves imbued with belief and animistic rituals?

        One day I discovered on a trip by plane, in one of the thick journals distributed there, a photo essay on voodoo that survives not only in Africa and Latin America, but the followers practice worship in New York itself. In our world which has been profoundly transformed by science and technology, why this return of the irrational?

        On that day…

        God… Gods

        The collection