Religion and History in Benin

Benin is religiously diverse and often described as the spiritual homeland of Vodun, formally recognized as one of the country's major religions and practiced by a substantial share of the population, around 30 to 40 percent by some estimates, alongside Christian and Muslim majorities or near-majorities depending on the survey and how syncretic dual practice is counted, per estimates reflected in Pew Research's Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020.

The historic Kingdom of Dahomey, centered on the city of Abomey from the seventeenth century, developed elaborate Vodun religious and political institutions, including royal ancestor veneration and the famous Dahomey Amazons, an all-female military corps with its own religious dedications, and the kingdom's active participation in the transatlantic slave trade carried Vodun religious practice to the Americas, where it seeded Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomble-related currents and Cuban and Louisiana traditions among enslaved Africans and their descendants. Benin officially recognizes Vodun as a national religion and has hosted an annual national Vodun Day holiday since 1996, a distinctive step among African nations toward formal state recognition of an indigenous religion on comparable footing with Christianity and Islam rather than treating it merely as folklore.