Adinkra-History

Hye anhye The Akan believe that the universe was created by a Supreme Being, whom they refer to variously as Oboadee (Creator), Nyame (God), Odomankoma (Infinite, Inventor), Ananse Kokuroko (The Great Spider; The Great Designer), etc. The Akan religious thought is essentially theocentric and theistic, with the Supreme Being, God at the center of it all. From this perspective, the Akan use their cultural symbols to portray their beliefs about God, their attitudes towards God and His creation, and the Akan's relation to God and His Creation. The Akan also believe that human creativity affects the universe positively or negatively. In essence, the Akan believe the universe is both a natural and social creation. Social creation is in the form of institutions and products human beings have invented. The Akan is required to safeguard the environment of the universe for a continuum of society members consisting of the dead, the living, and the yet-to-be-born. The Akan claim the Supreme Being created life and death, and death overcame the Supreme Being. However, the Supreme Being, having the antidote to the venom of death, was able to overcome death. This Supreme Being, Nyame, has eternal life. The Akan believe the Supreme Being is spiritual in form and is unburnable or indestructible (hye anhye). The Supreme Being puts part of His/Her spiritual form into human beings as the human soul (kra). This soul in the human being never perishes. That is why the Akan say Nipa wu a, na onwuee - If the human being dies, he is not dead. This soul reincarnates. When a child is born, the Akan give the child a soul name (kra din) such as Kojo (boy's name) or Adjoa (girl's name) for the child born on Monday because that is the name for day of the week the human soul appears in this physical world.

ADINKRA Adinkra is one of the highly valued hand-printed and hand-embroidered cloths. Its origin is traced to the Asante people of Ghana and the Gyaman people of Cote' d'lvoire (Ivory Coast). However, the production and use of Adinkra have come to be more associated with the Asante people than any other group of people. Around the 19th Century, the Asante people developed their unique art of adinkra printing. Adinkra cloths were made and used exclusively by the royalty and spiritual leaders for very important sacred ceremonies and rituals.  "Adinkra symbolism is a visual representation of social thought relating to the history, philosophy and religious beliefs of the Akan peoples of Ghana and Cote' d'Ivoire" defined Dr. Kwaku Ofori-Ansa.  In modern times, however, adinkra cloths are used for a wide range of social activities. In addition to its sacred usage, it is also used to make clothing for such special occasions as festivals, church-going, weddings, naming ceremonies and initiation rites. Today, designers use adinkra symbols in creating a wide range of products including clothing accessories, interior decoration, packages and book covers.  Each of the motifs that make up the corpus of adinkra symbolism has a name and meaning derived either from a proverb, a historical event, human attitude, animal behavior, plant life, forms and shapes of inanimate and man-made objects. These are graphically rendered in stylized geometric shapes. Meanings of motifs may be categorized as follows: Aesthetics, Ethics, Human  Relations and Religious concepts. In its totality, adinkra symbolism is a visual representation of social thought relating to the history, philosophy and religious beliefs of the Akan peoples of Ghana and Cote' d'lvoire.

History:  Adinkra symbols have lately been used for many business logos. Look closely at African brocade cloth; adinkras are the woven design. However, with most of us being unfamiliar with the meaning of the symbols we do not understand-the messages.  History is not exactly sure how Adinkra cloth came to be. One version starts it in the early nineteenth century. There was a war between two kings. Adinkera, king of Gyaman (now La cote d'Ivoire) , attempted to copy the designs of the sacred GOLDEN STOOL. The Golden Stool was the unifying force of the Asante Nation. This sacriligious attempt angered the Asantehene, the Ashanti king Nana Osei Bonsu-Panyin. In the war, Adinkera was defeated and killed. The cloth that King Adinkera wore in battle was taken by the Asante as a trophy. With the cloth, the Asante brought with them the art of stamping cloth.  In Africa a great deal of philosophical material is embedded in the proverbs, myth, and folk-tales, folksongs, rituals, beliefs, customs, and traditions of the people.  Adinkra means goodbye. Originally, the cloth was worn only by the royalty and spiritual leaders for mourning during funeral services. It can now be worn by anyone for any occasion. The symbols and their meanings are still used to convey a message.  Adinkera aduru (Adinkera medicine) is the stuff used in the stamping process. It is prepared by boiling the bark of Badie together with iron slag. Originally the printing was done on a cotton piece lying on the ground. Today, raised platforms with sack coverings act as the printing table. The designs, cut on pieces of calabash with pieces of wood attached for handling, are dipped into the Adinkera aduru, then stamped onto the cloth. Adinkera cloth is not meant to be washed.