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TRIBES & PEOPLE GROUPS
ASHANTI:
The Ashanti live in central Ghana in western
Africa approximately 300km. away from the coast. The Ashanti are a major ethnic
group of the Akans in Ghana, a fairly new nation, barely more than 50 years
old. Ghana, previously the Gold Coast, was a British colony until 1957. It is
now politically separated into four main parts. Ashanti is in the center and
Kumasi is the capital.
To
the Ashanti, the family and the mother’s clan are most important. A child
is said to inherit the father’s soul or spirit (ntoro) and from the mother
a child receives flesh and blood (mogya). This relates them more closely to the
mother’s clan. The Ashanti live in an extended family. The family lives in
various homes or huts that are set up around a courtyard. The head of the
household is usually the oldest brother that lives there. He is chosen by the
elders. He is called either Father or Housefather and is obeyed by everyone.
Boys are trained by their fathers at the age of eight and nine. They
are taught a skill of the fathers' choice. The father is also responsible for
paying for school. Boys are taught to use the talking drums by their mothers'
brother. Talking drums are used for learning the Ashanti language and spreading
news and are also used in ceremonies. The talking drums are important to the
Ashanti and there are very important rituals involved in them. Girls are taught
cooking and housekeeping skills by their mothers. They also work the fields and
bring in necessary items, such as water, for the group.
Marriage is
very important to Ashanti communal life and it can be polygamous. Men may want
more than one wife to express their willingness to be generous and support a
large family. Women in the Ashanti culture will not marry without the consent
of their parents. Many women do not meet their husbands until they are married.
Even so, divorce is very rare in the Ashanti culture and it is a duty of
parents on both sides to keep a marriage going.
 The government of
Ashanti is shaped like a pyramid. There is one king and he heads the Ashanti
Confederacy Council, a group made of paramount chiefs. A paramount chief
presides over district chiefs. A district chief presides over a District
Council of Elders, which is made up of subchiefs. Villages are brought together
by a subchief. Within every village there is a village head council made up of
all the heads of households
The Ashanti religion is a mixture of
spiritual and supernatural powers. They believe that plants, animals, and trees
have souls. They also believe in fairies, witches, and forest monsters. There
are a variety of religious beliefs involving ancestors, higher gods, or abosom,
and ‘Nyame’, the Supreme Being of Ashanti. The Ashanti also practice
many rites for marriage, death, puberty, and birth. The golden stool is sacred
to the Ashanti. There is an elaborate legend surrounding it that is told by the
old men of Ashanti. The golden stool is very carefully protected. No one has
ever sat on it and since its arrival, it has not touched the ground. As an
Ashanti symbol, the golden stool represents the worship of ancestors,
well-being, and the nation of Ashanti.
The Ashanti have a wide variety
of arts. Bark cloth was used for clothing before weaving was introduced. With
weaving, there is cotton and silk. Women may pick cotton or spin materials into
thread, but only men are allowed to weave. There are different patterns in
weaving, each with its own name. Sometimes the pattern represents social
status, a clan, a saying, or the sex of the one wearing it. Patterns are not
always woven in the cloth. It can also be stamped on in many designs. Pottery
is a skill that is taught to a daughter by the mother. There are many stages to
making pots and there are many colors of clay available. The Ashanti also do
woodcarving and metal casting.
Written By: April West
Information kindly
provided by Emuseum
Images kindlly provided by:
Steve Garbrah -
Ashanti.com
Ashanti Art & Craft
Ashanti Stools
As A symbol of
nationhood, and because if contains the sumsum or Soul of Ashanti (Asante), the
Golden Stool is considered to be so sacred that no person whatsoever is allowed
to sit upon it. It is kept with the strictest security and precaution; and is
taken outside only on exceptionally grand occasions. Never must it come in
contact with the earth or the ground. It is always lying on its own stool or on
the skin of an animal such as the leopard. Ashantis have on many occasion made
great sacrifices to defend it when its safety had been threatened. In 1896 they
submitted to the deportation of their King, Prempeh I, rather than resort to a
war in which they feared they might suffer defeat and risk the loss of the
Golden stool. They deemed the loss of their King a small thing compared with
the loss of their Golden Stool. (read
more...)
Kente Cloth
Kente is an Asante ceremonial cloth
hand-woven on a horizontal treadle loom. Strips measuring about 4 inches wide
are sewn together into larger pieces of cloths. Cloths come in various colors,
sizes and designs and are worn during very important social and religious
occasions. In a total cultural context, kente is more important than just a
cloth. It is a visual representation of history, philosophy, ethics, oral
literature, moral values, social code of conduct, religious beliefs, political
thought and aesthetic principles. The term kente has its roots in the word
kenten which means a basket. The first kente weavers used raffia fibers to
weave cloths that looked like kenten (a basket); and thus were referred to as
kenten ntoma; meaning basket cloth. The original Asante name of the cloth was
nsaduaso or nwontoma, meaning "a cloth hand-woven on a loom" and is still used
today by Asante weavers and elders. However, the term kente is the most
popularly used today, in and outside Ghana.
Information kindly provided by
Ghana.com - read
more
Other Items
Other websites
History of the
Ashanti People
The Ashanti
(“Abusua”) or Family System
Status of Women in
Ashanti
Steve
Garbrah - Ashanti.com
detailed information about the
Ashanti
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