I have this little drawstring bag that I bought on clearance at the end of the Folklife Festival a few years ago. I never gave much thought to the design on it until a few days ago, when suddenly I thought about it again and wondered if it meant anything.
I did some internet searching, and the good news: why yes, it does. The bad news? I have no idea what. It is, apparently, an Adinkra symbol – Adinkra being a symbol system native to Ghana that originally started out as meaningful embellishment for clothing, and now is used on all sorts of things. Each of the symbols has a very specific meaning, often a proverb. A description of one of the published books about the art says there are over 800 of these symbols.
This particular symbol is, unfortunately, not listed on any of the websites about Adinkra, so it will remain a mystery until I find the opportunity to hassle a librarian to get one of these books on loan. (That could be a while.)
More about Adinkra: Adinkra Symbols of West Africa, History of Adinkra.
3 Comments
Interesting that I just read this. I have a friend in Ghana. I will send him this photo and ask him what it means!
That would be soooo cool if he knows. Thanks!
I’ve sent it off, so I’m just waiting to hear from him.