Cultures & Traditions

Asante women have a strong leadership role rooted in the passage of ruling power through the female line. Every Asante individual belongs to their mother’s clan; therefore fathers have more to do with their sister’s children than with their own.

Kente from Ghana is undoubtedly the best-known African textile in the world. Kente gained worldwide attention in 1957 when Kwame Nkrumah, then president of Ghana, the first independent country in sub-Saharan Africa, wore it for his official portraits during an official visit to the United States.

The increasing accessibility of European firearms reduced the need for Asante swords to function as weapons. State swords are second only to state stools in terms of their importance. The largest state sword is an Mponponsuo (responsibility) sword. During his inauguration, the Asantehene (king) swears on the Mponponuso that he will serve and protect the Golden Stool.

Among the Asante and other Akan peoples, stools play an important role in each person’s life milestones. When children learn to crawl, they receive stools as their first gift from their father. For young women, puberty rites entail sitting on their stools. A husband presents his wife with a stool when they marry. A deceased person is bathed on a stool before burial.

By the 17th century, Akan and Asante goldsmiths cast goldweights in the forms of humans, animals, plants, and various man-made objects. Like some of the earlier geometric weights, representational goldweights were connected to proverbs and maxims. For older figurative weights, many of their original associations have been forgotten. Others have new meanings, as familiar proverbs differed among generations and geographic locations.

Goldweights are counterweights used for measuring amounts of gold dust with a balance scale. They were made to match the weight standards of Akan trading partners. The shapes of goldweights evolved from geometric to figurative. The earliest goldweights were made of stone, copper, iron, or basalt. As the trans-Saharan trade routes became more established, the Akan learned the technique of brass casting from their North African trading partners, which allowed them to create figurative goldweights.

Dwarfism and kyphosis (hunched back) are some of the most common types of physical disabilities represented in the art and archaeology of many societies around the world. A number of historical documents and a diverse folklore describe individuals with dwarfism and kyphosis in cultures from Alaska, Africa, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hawaii, Ireland, Iceland, India, Korea, Lithuania, the Netherlands, North America, Norway, Scandinavia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Tea was a popular beverage in the Momoyama period. Freshly whisked tea (served in simple ceramic bowls) was sold as a refreshment at tea stalls in front of shrines and temples and by itinerant tea vendors at famous scenic spots, such as Mount Takao. No ceremony was involved and the utensils were ordinary and inexpensive.

Processional crosses play a fundamental role in Ethiopian Orthodox worship services. During the liturgy, deacons use processional crosses, mounted on poles, to bless the congregation, baptismal water, sacraments, and the four corners of the earth. As they are often cast in bronze or silver, the processional crosses reflect light, drawing further attention to their elaborate geometric designs. 

The structure of the Ethiopian Christian liturgy dates back to the 15th century. The priests celebrate mass in a veiled sanctuary, so that the rites of Eucharist are not visible to the worshippers. Further, mass is delivered in Ge'ez, an ancient language which is mostly unintelligible to the community (despite it sharing a common root with some contemporary Ethiopian languages).