AKAN COMBS AND DOLLS

AKAN CULTURAL SYMBOLS PROJECT
© G. F. Kojo Arthur and Robert Rowe - 1998-2001

WOOD CARVINGS   ADWA-STOOL   POMA-STAFF   FURNITURE AND CARVED DOOR   DOLLS/COMBS   UMBRELLA FINIALS

    Combs

      Akan wooden combs feature open work handles that may be fully sculpted heads, busts or even full human figures. Wooden combs were usually given by young men to their lovers to mark such occasions as puberty rites, weddings, births, as well as other festivals. These combs encode symbols such as the heart (akoma) and stool (adwa) to express  messages such as meware wo (I will marry you), odofo nnyera ne fie kwan (the lover knows his way home), and megye wo awo dom (I wish you to be the mother of several children). In the past, women would plait their hair and stick the comb in the hair to communicate the message encoded in the comb's visual imagery (Antiri, 1974).

Obi do obi - Someone loves someone
The full verbal expression encoded by this comb is: Obi do obi; na se obi do wo a, do no bi - Someone loves someone; and when someone loves you, love him back.

Kaeme - think of me

Megye wo awo dom - I wish you to be the mother of several children

DOLLS - AKUABA

A mother feeding her child
   Wooden dolls are used for fertility, play, religious purposes, and also to express the Akan notion of beauty. Dolls are used as fertility figures and worn by women either to induce conception or, during pregnancy, to assure the birth of a beautiful child. When a woman carries a doll on her back, she is expressing the wish of having her own children. When a pregnant woman carries a doll on her back, she is expressing the wish to have a boy or a girl depending on the shape of the head of the doll she is carrying. A flat discoid (or oval) headed doll is a girl and a flat rectangular head represents a boy.

      The doll representing a girl has a long ringed neck and may be wearing beads around the neck and waistline to emphasize beauty.

In the past, dolls were left at the outskirts of town as part of a religious ceremony to ward off evil spirits

The beautiful person has more than just physical characteristics. He or she has good character. This encoded in the Akan maxim: Ahoofe ntua ka, suban pa na hia - physical beauty does not count much, it is good character that counts.