What the adinkra symbols mean

Adinkra symbols come from the Asante and Gyaman peoples of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Each one stands for a proverb, and the proverb is the point: the symbol is shorthand the way a word is shorthand.

Sankofa

A bird turning its head to take an egg from its own back. Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi — it is not wrong to go back for what you have forgotten. It is the most-printed symbol we sell and the most misread: it is about retrieval, not nostalgia.

Nkyinkyim

A zigzag. Twisting, changing, adapting — a life that does not run straight. Weavers use it to edge a cloth because it survives being cut at any point and still reads as itself.

Gye Nyame

"Except for God." The supremacy of God, and by extension the limits of what a person controls. It is the symbol most often set alone in the centre of a panel rather than repeated.

Duafe

A wooden comb. Care, cleanliness, and the patience of looking after something — which is why it turns up on cloth given at a wedding.

Adinkra was originally stamped with calabash blocks and a black dye made from badie bark, on cloth worn for mourning. The colours came later. Most adinkra sold today is screen-printed, and we say so on the listing when it is.