Glidji is a small town a few kilometres inland from Aného on the coast of Togo, and it is the spiritual centre of the Guin (Mina) people. For most of the year, Glidji is a quiet farming settlement of compounds, mango trees and a handful of dusty streets. For one weekend each September, however, it is the centre of the Togolese religious calendar: the Epe-Ekpe festival, the Guin New Year and one of West Africa's most distinctive traditional ceremonies, draws tens of thousands of pilgrims to the sacred forest on the town's edge.
The Guin migrated here from the Ghanaian coast in the late 17th century, fleeing the wars of the Akwamu, and established Glidji as their religious capital while founding the trading town of Aného on the sea. The town's complex of shrines, priestly compounds and the sacred forest of Kpessosso has been the seat of Guin spiritual authority ever since. Vodun is woven through everything: most compounds have private shrines, the streets are dotted with public ones, and the senior priesthood — drawn from a small number of families — retains real authority.
Outside the festival window, Glidji is a quick, unhurried half-day from Aného. Pilgrims and serious students of Vodun can ask in town for an introduction to a priest, and a modest gift will usually buy a guided visit to one of the more accessible shrines. The festival itself, however — with the divining of the sacred stone and the all-night drumming and dancing — is the moment Glidji becomes nationally important and worth planning a trip around.