It’s difficult to go anywhere in Ghana and not notice the use of artistic symbols. They are seemingly everywhere: painted on walls, in the backs of plastic chairs, painted on signs, incorporated in cloth patterns and more.
The most ubiquitous is one that is round, kind of like if the “no” symbol, a circle with a slash through it, didn’t have the circle completed and there were bumps on the middle slash. These are adinkra, a part of the Asante culture that has spread throughout Ghana.
The Genesis of Adinkra
Legend says that the king of Gyaman was named Adinkra. The Asantes went to war with the Gyaman because they had copied the Asantes use of the golden stool. Among the Asantes, the golden stool is the king’s throne and is a symbol of their absolute power. In fact, conflicts over the golden stool lead to war with the British on several occasions. However, in this instance, the Asantes defeated the Gyaman and annexed their territory. When their king, Adinkra, as brought to Kumasi, the Asante’s capital city to be killed, he wore a cloth with symbols that represented his sorrow. Later, the Asante adopted the practice of printing symbols on cloth and created their own symbols to represent their proverbs.
Variety of Adinkra Symbols
There are dozens of different adinkra symbols, and while they were at one time the domain of the Asantes, they are now used all over Ghana and often as marketing and branding. The most common adinkra to spot out and about is the Gye Nyame, which means “except God” and is accepted to represent the supremacy of God.
The adinkra can often have very complex meanings attached to proverbs. This was traditionally a way to communicate in a society that did not have a written version of their language. Even today, many people are not literate but can tell you exactly what the adinkra mean. Proverbs range from “They share one stomach, yet fight for food,” to “The hen treads upon her chick but does not kill them.”
I really love the stories that are told by the adinkra and how one small symbol can have so much meaning imbued in it. You can check out more of the adinkra, their meanings and even some examples of them out and about at adinkra.org.