ADINKRA SYMBOLS
Most of the time, the word “adinkra” is linked to a variety of symbols, but it is more accurately used to mean a symbolic message given to souls who are moving on or who have died. The term “di” means “to make use of” or “to employ,” and the term “nkra” means “message.”
Literally, then, adinkra means “to make use of a message,” but when spoken together, the term is understood to mean “to leave one another” or “to say goodbye.” Also, because the word “nkra” comes from the word “kra,” which means “life force” or “soul,” adinkra is also thought of as a message that a soul takes with it when it returns to Nyame. Thus, Adinkra is a type of language. Even though it is clear that the Akan have been using adinkra for a very long time, there has been a lot of debate in academia about where the symbols came from.
The most commonly accepted legend comes from the stampers (those who create/produce adinkra). Legend has it that the symbols gained their name from Nana Kofi Adinkra, the famous 19th-century king of Gyaman, located in neighboring Cote d’Ivoire. King Adinkra was said to have challenged the authority of the then Asantehene, Nana Osei Bonsu Panyin, by making a replica of the Sika Dwa (golden stool). Because of this spiritual intrusion on the Asante people, the Asante-Gyamn War happened, and the Gyamans lost.
People say that the Asantehene liked how the replica Sika Dwa, which had different symbols on it, was made so much that he made the defeated Gyaman craftsmen copy the symbols and teach the Asante craftsmen how to make them themselves. This is how the Adinkra Symbols of the Akan started out. The Akan believe that the whole world is made up of two realms: the living and the nonliving (spirit). In their view of the universe, there isn’t a clear line between the physical and spiritual worlds. Instead, they work together and sometimes overlap.
The physical is directed by the power of the spiritual—Nyame, the Abosom (deities/divinities), and the Nsamanfo (ancestors). Through the Akan life cycle, each person moves between these two worlds: birth, puberty, marriage, death, and rebirth. So, the Akan don’t think of physical death as the end of life. Instead, they see it as the transition from life on Earth to life in the spirit world. Each person must go through this change in order to reach the spiritual world and keep living as Nsamanfo. Instead, physical death makes family ties last forever, and the rituals done by the living Abusua (family) emphasize the unbreakable ties between the people on Earth, the sunsum (spirit) of the dead person, and Nsamanfo.
People on Earth are responsible for doing the Ayie so that the sunsum can move on to the Asamando (ancestral world). If they don’t, the sunsum will turn into a restless and evil spirit and may come back to hurt the family. Thus, great satisfaction is derived from the performance of the Ayie, and the community looks down on those who do not properly bury their kin.
In Western society, friends and family usually mourn the death of a person, but in Akan society, the whole community mourns the death of a person. The bond between the living and the Nsamanfo is strengthened when the right rites are done by the whole community.
The Ayie is performed in four stages: (a) Adware (preparation of the corpse), (b) Adeda (lying in state) and Siripe (wake-keeping), (c) Asie (burial), and (d) Ndaase (thanksgiving). Most of the time, the Ayie takes place over the course of a weekend in the present day.
To show how sad they are about the death of a loved one, family members must wear black and not wear white, bright colors, jewelry, or anything else that might be seen as “flashy” until the Ayie is done. During the funeral ceremonies, the people who go show their spiritual and emotional state of mourning by wearing the right clothes. People who go to the funeral must wear colors of mourning, such as dark red, brown, black, and maroon.
If the person died at an old age, mourners may wear white. Close relatives who are in charge of the funeral may wear bright red to show how sad they are. During the first stages, close family members should wear solid black cloth, while friends and distant family members can wear cloth with hand-painted or embroidered adinkra symbols.
When people wear adinkra cloth, they send goodbye messages to the soul who is moving on or has died. They also let the rest of the community know what those who were there wanted to say. Many adinkra symbols show how the Akan people see the world.
They are symbolic pictures of Akan proverbs that show what the people believe, how they think, and how they feel about the world. Many people have their own ideas about Nyame and what he or she is like. Here are some examples of Adinkra symbols that tell something about Akan cosmology.
“Asase ye duru se po.”
The earth is heavier than the sea.
Symbol of providence and the divinity of Mother
Earth
“Abodee santan yi firi tete; obi nte ase a onim n’ahyase, na obi ntena ase nkosi n’awie, gye Nyame.”
This Great Panorama of creation dates back to time immemorial, no one lives who saw its beginning and no one will live to see its end, except Nyame. Symbol of the omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and immortality
“Burn; You do not Burn” “Because God does not burn, I will not burn.”
Symbol of permanancy
“Oba Nyankonsoroma te Nyame so na nte ne ho so.”
A child of Nyame, I do not depend on myself. My illumination is only a reflection of His.
Symbol of faith and dependency on a Supreme Being
“Nyame biribi wo soro na ma me nsa nka!”
God, there is something in the heavens, pray let it reach me! Symbol of hope and inspiration
Tree of Nyame. Symbol of the presence of Nyame and Nyame’s protection
“Nyame Nti, menwe wura.”
Since God exists, I will not feed on leaves [like an animal or beast]. symbol of faith and trust in Nyame
“I Live not when Nyame is not!”
Symbol of the perpetual existence of the human spirit
“The Spirit”
Symbol of spirituality, spiritual purity and the cleanliness of the spirit
Also Read: King Osei Tutu and Founding of The Great Asante Kingom
