A Ghanaian-Japanese Priest preserves African spirituality

“Until the Lion learns to tell its story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter”-An African Proverb

Sena and Pele Voncujovi about to take a herbal bath (left), Sena and Christopher Voncujovi doing an Afa ritual (middle), Christopher Voncujovi, Sena’s father, (right)

My name is Sena Voncujovi and I was born into a family of West African Vodu priests. The word “Vodu” comes from the Ewe and Fon languages and simply means “spirit” or “free the community”. It is a set of ancient West African spiritual practices that consist of spirit reverence, ancestor worship, and herbal remedies. The West has portrayed Vodu and other African spiritual traditions as primitive, superstitious, and backward — sentiments that, over time, Africans themselves have internalized. According to the World Factbook, Eight out of ten Ghanaians today are either Christian or Muslim, and given the current dominance of these religions, practitioners of Vodu are often stigmatized in contemporary Ghanaian society. Throughout my life, I was often labeled a “devil worshipper” by my peers and even teachers. As you can see, the legacy of colonialism can so wholly and intimately affect a society, even decades or centuries after the departure of the Colonialists.

With the number of practitioners dwindling by the generation, this ancient practice is…