Spirit Ministers: A 20-year-old photographer exploring voodoo in Haiti

The photographer Les Stone, when he first saw the voodoo ceremony in Haiti, was delighted. What happened so fascinated him that since then he has returned here more than 100 times, devoting photographs of the official religion of Haiti for 20 years.

This Afro-Haitian religion, which is professed by over 8 million inhabitants, is based on faith in spirits: they are prayed for and various rituals are performed for them. According to Haitian beliefs, people exist to serve spirits.

In their rituals, voodooists very often fall into a trance, and animal sacrifices are the traditional practice of making offerings to spirits.

Every year, a festival is held in the village of Suvenance in Haiti every Easter, the goal of which is to attract thousands of spirits.

The Haitian city hosts the voodoo festival of the Board du Mer.

One of the three standard Spirit Ceremonies held annually in the northern region of Haiti. The dancers enter the sacred river, where the priest douses them with clarin, a very strong local moonshine. Sometimes ritual dances last until dawn.

And this ceremony is held in Sucre every evening and is accompanied by an intoxicating drum beat.

The Miracle of Golgotha is an annual Voodoo and Catholic pilgrimage during which believers rise to the top of the hill above the city, not far from the border with the Dominican Republic.