Join us for our next Sacred Traditions program, a CCCADI series dedicated to advocating for the education and preservation of African-based spirituality.
For our upcoming virtual event, we have partnered with The BEAUCOUP HOODOO ATRs Book Club to present a special screening of Voices of the Gods (1985) followed by a Q&A with the Brooklyn-based filmmaker Al Santana, Okomfo Dr. Adwoa Tano, a priest in the Akan tradition and Iya Mandisa Mchawi, Osun Priest and Alásè in the Lucumi tradition. The discussion will be moderated by Iya Shantrelle P. Lewis, founder of ATRs BOOK CLUB and Sango Priest in the Lucumi tradition.
Voices of the Gods documents the rich legacy of ancient African religions practiced today in the United States. It provides rare insights into the practices and beliefs of the Akan and Yoruba religions and illustrates how mass media has been used to denigrate these belief systems. The film also includes an intimate and respectful study of an Egungun ancestral communion ceremony and daily life in the Yoruba village of Oyotunji in Sheldon, South Carolina, the only traditional African village of its kind in the U.S. today.
You can join this live screening and Q&A by tuning into this page on February 17th at 7 p.m. (EST). To participate in the discussion, view the program on our CCCADI Facebook or Youtube to utilize the chat features. A recording of this program will not be available on-demand.
To receive a prompt one hour prior to the start of the program, please register:
Guest Speakers:
Al Santana
Al Santana is a visual artist, independent filmmaker, cinematographer, and still photographer. His credits over the past 40 years includes work on numerous award winning documentaries, public affairs films and videos that have aired on both network and public television. 2012, Salty Dog Blues, produced by Al Santana and Denise Belén Santiago takes a look a little-known history of people of color in the U.S. merchant marines. Salty Dog Blues won first prize in the 2013 Workers Unite International Film Festival. One People (2007) a hybrid doc/fiction film focuses on two sisters and their quest to discover a politicized Lorraine Hansberry. Blues People (2007) documented Mississippi blues musicians for an interactive web series titled “Blues People” which aired WGBO Boston. Military Option (2005) co-produced with Rico Speight and Third World Newsreel, takes a critical look at military recruiting practices within communities of color. Military Option screened at The National Gallery of Art, BAM Rose Cinemas, The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives and at various colleges and universities. In The Spirit of Peace (2002) In response to the events of 9/11, Al Santana’s documentary short screened at the Brooklyn Arts Council, Museum of Modern Art, BAM Rose Cinemas and aired on WNET Channel 13’s Reel New York. Voices of The Gods (1985) looks at two ancient West African religions practiced in the United States today. The feature documentary premiered at the 1985 Margaret Mead International Film Festival and went on to screen at festivals in France, Italy, Burkina Faso, Canada, and is currently housed in the permanent collection of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture and numerous colleges, universities and museums. Al holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the CUNY BA program in Sociology and Film, a Master of Fine Arts degree from National University in Digital Cinema.
Okomfo Dr. Adwoa Tano (Angela McMillan)
Okomfo Dr. Adwoa Tano is a priest of 15 years to the ancient Akan obosom, Asuo Tano. She lives in Washington, DC and travels to Ghana for continued study. She is a member of the Taa Kora, Asuo Tano shrine in Ghana, and the Spirit Central Akan house in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. in World History, a M. Ed. in Elementary Curriculum & Instruction, and a PhD in African Public Policy, Development, and World Affairs from Howard University. She is 20+ year veteran educator and a life long community organizer. She is a member of a host of organizations, including IKG, founded by renowned author and historian, Anthony Browder, where she is the coordinator of the Wisdom Wednesday monthly lecture series & an Egypt on the Potomac Field Trip facilitator; The African Traditional Spiritual Coalition; and a board member of Akom Kese, Inc. and Nsumankwaa Fie, Inc. As an independent researcher, she endeavors to use her expertise to further the ideals and implementation of Pan-Africanism and practical spirituality towards continual global African development.
Iya Mandisa Mchawi
Born into the Yoruba/Lucumi tradition and initiated in 1985 by Olusunmi, ibae (Lloyd Weaver) and Adeleti, Ibae (Wambui Mills) Iya Mandisa Mchawi, Osun Moremi has been running Ocha kitchens for 30 plus years. Apprenticing with her ojubona since age 9, Iya Mandisa contends that the kitchen is the heart and soul of the igbodu and has participated in thousands of initiations and ceremonies. Iya Mandisa has worked in youth development for over 25 years and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Iya Shantrelle P. Lewis
New Orleans native and Howard University alumnus, Shantrelle P. Lewis, a United Nations Programme for People of African Descent Fellow, is a multi-hyphen creative and scholar who accesses multiple disciplines to help elucidate African Diasporic history, aesthetics, culture and spirituality. After premiering at BlackStar Film Festival, her critically acclaimed directorial debut, IN OUR MOTHERS' GARDENS, was released on Netflix via Ava Duvernay's ARRAY. Her book, Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style, was published by Aperture in 2017. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, NPR, BBC, Washington Post, Slate, The New Yorker and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She co-founded SHOPPE BLACK with her husband and fellow Howard alum, Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson. Shantrelle is an initiated Lukumi Sango Priest. Also, a self-identifying Hoodooist, she can be found waxing poetics about all things African spirituality online at Beaucoup Hoodoo. She is the founder of the ATRs BOOK CLUB, a growing community of bibliophiles interested in learning more about African Traditional Religions.
About BEAUCOUP HOODOO
Founded by Shantrelle P. Lewis, initiated Lukumi Sango Priest and Hoodooist from New Orleans, BEAUCOUP HOODOO is a safe gathering space for practitioners, scholars and newbies of African Traditional Religions (ATRs). We host an ATRs Book Club where we host conversations, film screenings, workshops and discussions rooted in various critical texts that explore ATRs across the African Diaspora. On Instagram as: @beaucouphoodoo