Devotees honor lwa in Limonade, Haiti | PHOTOS

LIMONADE, Haiti — The voices of congregants praying, supplicating and crying out at Eglise Sainte-Anne de Limonade rose into a roar that could be heard from outside of the church.

During the second of the two-day anniversary honoring the saint on July 26, the town’s fèt chanpèt hundreds of celebrants, Catholics and Vodouists alike, pressed up against each other as they stood inside the church’s blue-and-white statue of the patron Sainte-Anne to make their demandes, ritualistic requests, and give thanks. Some held candles. Others, mostly the Vodouists, wrapped their heads in headscarves or wore folkloric clothes in blue, the saint’s color. Many laid gifts and lit candles underneath the bust.