In some vodun ceremonies, a person enters a state that the community recognises as the presence or incorporation of a vodun: possession trance. It happens to the sound of drums and songs, within a precise ritual frame, and the community knows how to recognise and accompany it. Only some vodunsi enter trance, and trance is distinct from madness, pretence and performance.
At the temple of Sakété, what I say about trance
Direct observationWêtê Agbonon, vodun priest and bokonon of the Fâ, at the temple of Sakété
Trance is a religious reality in some vodun ceremonies. In some traditions, a person can enter a state that the community interprets as the presence or incorporation of a vodun. I want to avoid a false impression, though: only some vodunsi enter trance. Religious roles differ, and so do relationships with the vodun. In some cults, the people most advanced in transmission are not necessarily those whose trance is the most spectacular. That is a point visitors rarely understand[1].
Key points
- Trance is a religious reality of some ceremonies, which the community recognises and accompanies.
- Not all vodunsi enter trance, and the most visible trance does not signal the highest rank.
- Trance is distinct from madness, pretence and performance: one respects what the person is living.
The community that knows the ceremony knows what it is watching[1].
Music and trance
The ethnomusicologist Gilbert Rouget devoted his great book of 1980, Music and Trance, to this phenomenon, based largely on what he had observed and recorded in West Africa in the early 1950s. He studies, across many cultures, the relationship between music and possession, and shows that music accompanies and frames trance without mechanically causing it[2]. In Dahomey, Rouget recorded with Pierre Verger, from 1952, songs for the vodun and for Shango, wakes for the returning dead, and songs for the signs of the Fâ[3]. For him, initiation is first the learning of a musical behaviour: in the convent, novices learn the songs and dances that will allow them, through music, to connect people and gods[4].
Initiates who learn to receive the god
The Encyclopædia Universalis describes, in Africa, forms of possession ranging from simple trance to possession in which the god present delivers a message and talks with people. For the vodun of Benin, it notes true colleges of initiates who, under the direction of the cult’s masters, become the receptacles of the gods, their “horses”. Trance and possession are integrated gradually: the initiate learns to be available to the god’s call, and the god will then come into them only during ceremonies organised by the community[5]. The same word, horse, is found across the Atlantic: in Haiti people speak of the “ride of the gods”, when divinities take over a believer’s body during trance[6]. See Vodun in the Americas.
A community that frames
A research report prepared in 2013 for the Canadian government, from interviews with anthropologists, describes the organisation of an initiatory community in Benin. Among the people around the initiates, one is responsible for the temple’s security and speaks for the initiates; another, who must be a man, is responsible for controlling the behaviour of male initiates, especially those who enter trance. The same report recalls that a vodun can choose a person through a vow at birth, through dreams, or even through illness[7].
Who enters trance?
It depends on the tradition, the vodun, the person and the ritual context. Nobody simply decides: “today I will go into trance.” And a person dancing intensely during a ceremony is not thereby possessed. The community that knows the ceremony knows what it is watching, and knows how to accompany the person; that is why trance must not become a show for visitors. In a ritual context, those present have a responsibility: to protect, to frame, to keep the order of the ceremony, and to respect the person concerned[1].
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| A person dances intensely | They may simply be dancing |
| A person enters trance | The community recognises and accompanies them, according to the rules of the ceremony |
| An advanced initiate does not go into trance | Rank in transmission is not measured by trance |
| A visitor films the scene | Trance is to be respected; ask before photographing |
Madness, pretence or performance?
I reject all three explanations when they are used automatically. Saying “he is mad” does not help understand the religious experience; saying “she is pretending” does not either; and saying “look at the show” turns a religious experience into entertainment. Cinema has done much to spread these images. Research shows that trance can be studied both as an individual experience and as a social and religious phenomenon, codified by each culture. For me, the right attitude is to respect what the person is living, and not to claim to know from outside what they feel[1][2].
For visitors
During the great public ceremonies, such as those of the vodun festival, vodunsi sometimes enter trance in front of the public. Visitors do not need to intervene: the community knows what it is doing. Keep your distance, do not photograph without permission, and do not treat the moment as an attraction[1].
What we know, and how we know it
What comes from oral tradition
The way each house recognises and accompanies trance is passed on among initiates[1].
What comes from direct observation
That only some vodunsi enter trance, and that trance is no measure of rank, come from my practice[1].
What is documented
The link between music and trance, the recordings of 1952, the colleges of initiates and the community roles are described by researchers[2][3][5][7].
What is interpretation
Rejecting automatic explanations of madness, pretence or performance is a position I defend[1].
What is still debated
How trance works, between individual experience and cultural codification, is studied by researchers[2].
Common misconceptions about trance
Frequently asked questions
What is possession trance in voodoo?
A state the community recognises as the presence of a vodun in a person, during a ceremony, to the sound of drums and songs.
Does every initiate go into trance?
No: only some vodunsi enter trance, and roles differ.
Does music cause trance?
According to Gilbert Rouget, music accompanies and frames trance without mechanically causing it.
Why are possessed people called horses?
Because the god “rides” the initiate, a word found in Benin and in Haiti.
What should a visitor do during a trance?
Keep their distance, not photograph without permission, and let the community accompany the person.
Glossary
- Horse: the initiate “ridden” by the god during possession.
- Vodunsi: an initiate devoted to a vodun.
Notes and references
[1] Direct observation and oral transmission, Wêtê Agbonon, bokonon, temple of Sakété.
[2] ROUGET Gilbert, La Musique et la transe. Esquisse d’une théorie générale des relations de la musique et de la possession, Paris, Gallimard, 1980; English translation Music and Trance, University of Chicago Press, 1985.
[3] Concertzender, « Source of Sound 52: Voodoo », on the recordings of Gilbert Rouget and Pierre Verger. See
[4] ROUGET Gilbert, Initiatique vôdoun. Images du rituel, Saint-Maur, Sépia, 2001.
[5] Encyclopædia Universalis, « Afrique noire (culture et société) : religions », part « Relations entre les hommes et les dieux ». See (in French)
[6] BERNAND Carmen, « La chevauchée des dieux : le vaudou haïtien », Clio. See (in French)
[7] Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, general information on vodun in Benin, 2013. See
Sources
- ROUGET Gilbert, Music and Trance, 1980.
- Encyclopædia Universalis, « Afrique noire : religions ».
- Direct observation and oral transmission, temple of Sakété, 1994–2026
Cite this entry
Wêtê Agbonon, « Trance and possession », dans Vodun Bénin, l’encyclopédie du vodun béninois, entry no. 029, updated on 28 October 2026. Online: https://vodunbenin.org/en/trance-and-possession/ (accessed on 1 November 2026). Licence CC BY 4.0.
- Last checked : 7 October 2026
- Reuse : free, with attribution, under the licence CC BY 4.0
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