From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
Adinkra symbols
Ghanaian symbols representing concepts or aphorisms
Ghanaian symbols representing concepts or aphorisms
the [[Akan people
Adinkra are symbols from the Akan people of Ghana that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adinkra are used extensively in fabrics, logos and pottery. They are incorporated into walls and other architectural features. Adinkra symbols appear on some traditional Akan goldweights. The symbols are also carved on stools for domestic and ritual use. Tourism has led to new departures in the use of the symbols on items such as T-shirts and jewellery.
Adinka symbols have a decorative function but also represent objects that encapsulate evocative messages conveying traditional wisdom, aspects of life, or the environment. There are many symbols with distinct meanings, often linked with proverbs. In the words of philosopher and writer Kwame Anthony Appiah, they were one of the means for "supporting the transmission of a complex and nuanced body of practice and belief".
History
One oral tradition states that Adinkra symbols were originally created by the Bono people of Gyaman. The Gyaman king, Nana Kwadwo Agyemang Adinkra, originally created or designed these symbols, naming it after himself. The Adinkra symbols were largely used on pottery, stools etc. by the people of Gyaman. Adinkra cloth was worn by the king of Gyaman, and its usage spread from Gyaman to Asante and other Akan kingdoms following its defeat. It is said that the guild designers who designed this cloth for the Kings were forced to teach the Asantes the craft. Gyaman king Nana Kwadwo Agyemang Adinkra's first son, Apau, who was said to be well versed in the Adinkra craft, was forced to teach more about Adinkra cloths. Oral accounts have attested to the fact that Adinkra Apau taught the process to a man named Kwaku Dwaku in a town near Kumasi. Over time, all Akan people, including the Fante, Akuapem and Akyem, made Adinkra symbols a major part of their culture.
This oral tradition of a Gyaman origin for Adinkra, however, has been directly disproven, as the Gyaman-Asante war in which tradition recounts the Asante learning Adinkra symbols from Gyaman started in 1818 and the campaign ended in 1819. Two years before this, in 1817, Thomas Bowdich visited Kumasi and had personally seen and written about Adinkra cloth being produced in the Asante capital. He also brought back from Kumasi a physical example of Adinkra cloth, which is still in the British Museum. The cloth being named Adinkra is explained by an informant from Asokwa who related to Kojo Arthur that King Adinkra's body was found in a pile of dead people and when it was retrieved, his body was found to be covered in Ntiamu Ntoma (stamped cloth). From then on, Ntiamu Ntoma became known as Adinkra cloth. This suggests that the cloth was known before 1818 and became associated with Adinkra after the war. In the Asokwa and Ntonso areas, Adinkra cloth is still referred to as Ntiamu Ntoma.
There are other hypothesis and oral traditions for the origin of Adinkra cloth and its name, such as it originating in Denkyira, though these have not been disproven they all have their respective issues and the exact origin of Adinkra cloth is not something that is clear.
The oldest surviving adinkra cloth was made in 1817. The cloth features 15 stamped symbols, including nsroma (stars), dono ntoasuo (double Dono drums), and diamonds. The patterns were printed using carved calabash stamps and a vegetable-based dye. It has resided in the British Museum since 1818, when it was donated by Thomas E. Bowdich.
The next oldest piece of adinkra textile was sent in 1825 from Elmina Castle to the royal cabinet of curiosities in The Hague, in response to an assignment from Major Friedrich Last, who was appointed temporary Commander of Dutch Gold Coast. He had the cloth commissioned from the Fante paramount chief of Elmina for William I of the Netherlands, which would explain why the coat of arms of the Netherlands is in the centre. The other motifs are typical of the older adinkras. It is now on display in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
In November 2020, a school board in York, Pennsylvania, United States, banned "a children's colouring book that featured African Adrinkra [sic] symbols found in fabrics, logos and pottery". The decision was subsequently overturned.
''Adinkra'' cloth
In Akan (Twi), the term adinkra refers not to symbols but to a particular type of cloth. Adinkra cloths were traditionally only worn by royalty and spiritual leaders for funerals and other very special occasions. In the past, they were hand-printed on undyed, red, dark brown or black hand-woven natural cotton fabric, depending on the occasion and the wearer's role; nowadays they are frequently mass-produced on brighter coloured fabrics.
The present centre of traditional production of adinkra cloth is Ghana, Ntɔnso, 20 km northwest of Kumasi and in Ivory Coast. Dark Adinkra aduro pigment for the stamping is made there, by soaking, pulverizing, and boiling the inner bark and roots of the badie tree (Bridelia ferruginea) in water over a wood fire. Once the dark colour is released, the mixture is strained, and then boiled for several more hours until it thickens. The stamps are carved out of the bottom of a calabash piece. They measure between five and eight centimetres square. They have a handle on the back, and the stamp itself is slightly curved so that the dye can be put on with a rocking motion.
File:Adinkra cloth.JPG|1817 Adinkra mourning cloth File:Adinkra 1825.jpg|1825 Adinkra cloth File:NtonsoAdinkraComb.jpg|Anthony Boakye uses a comb to mark parallel lines on an adinkra cloth in Ntonso, Ghana.|alt= File:NtonsoAdinkra.jpg|Anthony Boakye prints an adinkra cloth with a calabash stamp in Ntonso, Ghana.|alt=
Sample of symbols listed
Recorded sample of 53 adinkra symbols and their meanings.
| Number | Symbol name | Literal meaning | Further details | Related symbols | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aban | A two-storied house, a castle | last=Rattray | first=Robert Sutherland | date=1958 | title=Religion and Art in Ashanti | url=https://archive.org/details/religionartinash0000ratt_p4f9/page/n389/mode/2up | url-access=registration | via=the Internet Archive}} | ||
| 4 | Adinkira 'hene | The Adinkira king | last=Rattray | first=R. S. (Robert Sutherland) | date=1969 | title=Religion and Art in Ashanti | url=https://archive.org/details/religionartinash0000ratt_p4f9/mode/2up?view=theater | location=London | publisher=Oxford University Press | via=the Internet Archive}} | |
| 8 | Agyindawuru | The agyin tree's gong | p=266}} | ||||||||
| Akam | An edible plant, possibly a yam | p=266}} | |||||||||
| 9 | Akoben | The war-horn | |||||||||
| 12 | Akoko nan tia "ba, na nkum 'ba'" | A hen treads upon chickens but does not kill them | p=268}} | ||||||||
| 13 | Akoma | A heart, sometimes with a cross in the centre | p=267}} | ||||||||
| [None listed] | No. 13 | ||||||||||
| 14 | AKOMA NTOSO | The joined hearts | |||||||||
| 18 | Aya | The fern | The word also means "I am not afraid of you", "I am independent of you", and the wearer may imply this by wearing it | ||||||||
| 20 | BI NKA BI | No one should bite the other | |||||||||
| 23 | DAME-DAME | Name of a board game | Symbol of intelligence and ingenuity | ||||||||
| 25 | Dono | The dono drum | p=268}} | ||||||||
| 26 | Dono ntoasuo | The double dono drums | p=266}} | ||||||||
| 27 | Duafe | The wooden comb | |||||||||
| 28 | Dwenini aben | The ram's horns | p=266}} | ||||||||
| 30 | Epa | Handcuffs | |||||||||
| 34 | Fihankra | The circular house | p=266}} | ||||||||
| 35 | Se die fofoo pe, ne se gyinantwi abo bedie | What the yellow-flowered fofoo plant wants is that the gyinantwi seeds should turn black | p=266}} | ||||||||
| 37 | Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu | Siamese crocodiles | They share one stomach yet they fight over food | ||||||||
| 38 | Gyawu Atiko | The back of Gyawu's head | Gyawu was a sub-chief of Bantama who at the Odwira ceremony is said to have had his hair shaved in this fashion | ||||||||
| 39 | Gye Nyame | "Except God" or "Only God" | p=267}} | ||||||||
| 41 | Hye wo nhye | He who would burn you be not burned | p=266}} | ||||||||
| 44 | Kojo Biaden | ||||||||||
| 47 | Papani amma yenhu Kramo | The (large number of) people who do good prevents us knowing who really are Mohammedans | p=266}} | ||||||||
| 49 | Kuntinkantan | Bent and spread out | Nkuntinkantan is used in the sense of "do not boast, do not be arrogant" | ||||||||
| 50 | Obohemaa | Queen of stones | copied from Europeans adopted by Akans to define Gold Coast's diamond mining, which began in 1919 | ||||||||
| Non listed | Kwatakye atiko | At the back of Kwatakye's head | p=267}} | ||||||||
| Non listed | Mmrafo ani ase | The keloids on a Hausa man | |||||||||
| 55 | Mmra Krado | The Hausa man's lock | |||||||||
| 56 | Musuyidie | Something to remove evil | A cloth with this design stamped upon it lay beside the sleeping couch of the King of Asante, and every morning when he rose he placed his left foot upon it three times | ||||||||
| 58 | Mpuannum | Five tufts (of hair) | |||||||||
| 62 | Nkonsonkonson | Links of a chain | |||||||||
| 63 | Nkotimsefuopua | Certain attendants on the Queen Mother who dressed their hair in this fashion. Variation of a swastika. | |||||||||
| 64 | Nkuruma kese | Dried okras | |||||||||
| 66 | Nkyimkyim | The twisted pattern | |||||||||
| 68 | Nsaa | From a design of this name found on nsa cloths | |||||||||
| 69 | Nsirewa | Cowries | |||||||||
| 70 | Nsoroma / Nsoromma | A child of the Sky / Child of the Heavens | p=267}} | ||||||||
| 71 | Ma te; Masie | I have heard (what you have said); I have hidden it | p=267}} | ||||||||
| Non listed | Nyame, biribi wo soro, ma no me ka me nsa | O God, everything which is above, permit my hand to touch it | The pattern was stamped on paper and hung above the lintel of a door in the palace. The King of Asante used to touch lintel, then his forehead, then his breast, repeating these words three times | ||||||||
| 74 | Nyame dua | An altar to the Sky God | |||||||||
| 76 | Nyame nwu na ma wu | May Nyame die before I die | |||||||||
| Non listed | Obi nka obie | I offend no one without a cause | p=267}} | ||||||||
| 84 | Ohene niwa | (In) the king's little eyes | p=267}} | ||||||||
| 85 | Ohen' tuo | The king's gun | p=267}} | ||||||||
| 86 | Kodie mmowerewa | The eagle's talons | p=268}} | ||||||||
| 92 | Owo Foro Adobe | The symbol of heroic deeds and accomplishing the impossible, but being quiet about it | |||||||||
| 93 | Pa gya | To strike fire (with a flint) | p=267}} | ||||||||
| 96 | Sankofa | Turn back and fetch it | |||||||||
| 97 | Sankofa | Turn back and fetch it | |||||||||
| 98 | Sepow | A knife thrust through the cheeks of a man | date=May 2025}} |
Notes
References
- Appiah, Kwame Anthony. (1993). "In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture". Oxford University Press.
- "Adinkra Ghanaian Textile is a printed traditional cloth in Ghana". ''Bellafricana''. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- DeMello, Margo. (30 May 2014). "Inked: Tattoos and Body Art around the World [2 volumes]". ABC-CLIO.
- "Adinkra Symbols {{!}} African Themed Weddings {{!}} African Wedding Ceremonies {{!}} African Wedding Traditions".
- (25 April 2015). "History and Origin of Adinkra Symbols".
- (27 August 2014). "Adinkra Symbols and the Rich Akan Culture".
- Boateng, Boatema. (2011). "The Copyright Thing Doesn't Work Here: Adinkra and Kente Cloth and Intellectual Property in Ghana". University of Minnesota Press.
- Rucker, Walter C.. (2006). "The River Flows on: Black Resistance, Culture, and Identity Formation in Early America". LSU Press.
- Arthur, Kojo. (2001). "Cloth as metaphor : (re)reading the Adinkra cloth symbols of the Akan of Ghana". Legon, Ghana : Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
- McCaskie, Tom C.. (2011). "Local Knowledge: An Akuapem Twi History of Asante". History in Africa.
- Arthur, Kojo. (2001). "Cloth as metaphor : (re)reading the Adinkra cloth symbols of the Akan of Ghana". Legon, Ghana : Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
- "Adinkra".
- (30 June 2015). "Adinkra Ghanaian Textile is a printed traditional cloth in Ghana".
- "cloth {{!}} British Museum".
- "Archived copy".
- Locurto, Tina. (2021-09-01). "'Afraid to teach': School's book ban targeted Black, Latino authors".
- Locurto, Tina. (2021-09-20). "Central York School District Reverses Diversity Ban: 'We Have Heard You'".
- Christaller, Johann Gottlieb. (1881). "A Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language Called Tshi (Chwee, Tw̌i)". The Evengelical Missionary Society.
- Kotey, Paul A.. (1998). "Twi-English/English-Twi Dictionary". Hippocrene Books.
- "Cool Planet - Oxfam Education".
- Jansen, P. C. M.. (2005). "Dyes and Tannins". PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa).
- Rattray, Robert Sutherland. (1958). "Religion and Art in Ashanti".
- Rattray, R. S. (Robert Sutherland). (1969). "Religion and Art in Ashanti". Oxford University Press.
- Ayensu, Edward S.. (1978). "Medicinal plants of West Africa". Reference Publications.
- Arthur, Kojo. (2001). "Cloth as Metaphor: (Re)Reading the Adinkra Cloth Symbols of the Akan of Ghana". Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about Adinkra symbols — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report