AJIDO, Nigeria (AP) — Excitement grows in the crowd as the Zangbeto Voodoo festival reaches a climax, with colorful palm-frond figures representing the traditional guardian of the night.

The festival in Nigeria's Ajido Kingdom is a major event in the local religious calendar. With crime on the rise in the country, some say such traditional institutions should be revived.

The performance in coastal Nigeria over the weekend helped to create "fear and reverence," the chairman of its organizing committee, Sehude Adeyinka Amosu, told The Associated Press. Every religion has some hold on the people, he said. "The people needed to see that the Zangbeto is not just a toy."