• Sika dwa kofi
• wood
• Ashante peoples in modern day Ghana
• 1700 CE

Asante Peoples

• matrilineal society
  • trace ancestors through female links
• Asante chiefdom is aggregate of villages
  • villages are composed of lineages
  • lineages are represented on a council by a headman
    • chosen from adult men and women of the lineage
  • chief is chosen from the council
• ancestors
  • Asantes are always connected with ancestors
    • libations (offerings) given daily
    • success is crucial on favor of ancestors

Black Stools

• shrine of each lineage is blackened stool
  • offerings are made to stool for blessings
  • chiefs are initiated on stools to obtain sacredness
  • black stools are representations of physical bodies of ancestors
• Kumasi Stool House
  • holds ten black stools representing ten ancestors
  • holds a golden bell representing the famous Golden Stool of Asante
• blackening a stool
  • made when honoring a lineage head’s death
  • chosen as the stool which was used throughout life
    • one used for bathing because the soul penetrates the wood
  • blackened as symbol of death
  • prevents decomposition of wood
  • symbolic ingredients
    • broken eggs
    • soot
    • sheep’s blood
• taboos around the stool
  • no white man should enter
  • no menstruating woman should enter
  • kept on dais with kuduo (brass vessel of golden dust) is placed beneath
• usage
  • used for negative and positive rituals
  • used to bring good luck
  • infuriating ancestors could bring more vigor to the spirits

Golden Stool

• wooden stool covered in gold
• represents the soul of the Asante nation
  • historical importance of generations
  • social importance for patriotism

• stolen by European colonials in order to remove ideas of power and independence
  • Asante peoples revolted by the Queen mother
• buried for protection and later desecrated
  • reworked from remaining pieces
• it is fed regularly
• can not touch the ground
• nobody but the king can touch it

Legend of Sika Dwa Kofi

• brought from the sky by the first king’s priest
• would represent the authority of the king
  • Osei Tutu became first ruler
• bring prosperity and prevent adversity
• descended from the sky onto the king’s lap with thunder and lightening

Symbolism

• gold symbolizes the sun and life’s vital force “kra”
  • also symbolizes endurance
• created a new national identity
• added brass bells and fetters
  • bells for contacting the dead
    • also for signaling danger
  • fetters for victory
    • also keeping nation secure
  • hollow human-formed bells represent vanquished enemies
    • other kings were removed in order for Asante peoples to control trade
• symbolic equivalent of dynastic tree