What is "Adinkra"

Adinkra is a writing system and a type of cloth that uses symbols to convey meaning: Writing system The Akan people of Ghana use adinkra symbols to mark surfaces like walls, pottery, and fabrics. The symbols represent various concepts and thoughts of the wearer... As for me... it is a reminder of what was lost to the diaspora and a hope of what can be gained... True Knowledge of self.

The Word "Adinkra" is actually the name of the deposed king of the Gyaman people (Nana Kofi Adinkra).   King Nana Kofi Adinkra was defeated and captured in a battle with the Ashanti’s for having copied their “Golden Stool”; the golden stool was a stool made out of gold, which represented absolute power and tribal cohesion, a sacred relic of extreme importance that held the spirit of the Ashanti people. Adinkra was captured and beheaded  and his territory annexed into the kingdom of the Ashanti.

The tradition had it that Nana Adinkra wore patterned cloth, which was interpreted as a way of expressing his sorrow on being captured and taken to Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region. The Ashanti people around the 19th century then took to painting of the traditional symbols of the Gyamans unto cloth, a tradition that has been well practiced to date.

The name Adinkra means goodbye or farewell. It has therefore been the tradition of the Akan people, particularly; the Ashanti’s to wear cloths decorated with the Adinkra symbols on important occasions, especially at funerals of family relations and friends. This is to signify their sorrow and to bid farewell to the deceased.