Ashanti Unbrellas

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October 20, 2024

The Ashanti tribe of Ghana is often praised for its brilliance in the ownership of gold and the popular fabric known as kente. However, our eyes have always and only been focused on these things—if not the history of their legendary priest Anokye, then their legendary hero Yaa Asantewaa.

However, the Ashantis have a rather interesting art form that, I’d say, catches more attention than the kente cloth: the Ashanti traditional umbrella, known in their local dialect as Kyinie.

The Ashanti traditional umbrella remains an important political emblem, particularly for chiefs. Most Ashanti umbrellas are not your normal everyday umbrellas, as they’ve been specially designed for chiefs.

The umbrella is usually seven feet long, and its spread is about five to six feet wide. While some of them appear larger than this, most are decorated with colorful silk cloths.

Public festivals such as the Odwira festival, durbars, formal receptions, adjudications, oath-swearing ceremonies, and annual funeral celebrations commemorating the deaths of important lineage members always feature chiefs shielded by these traditional umbrellas.

These occasions are of political significance. The Ashanti umbrella has a great visual impact, not only because of its size but also due to its distinctive shapes and elaborate colors, designs, weaves, and sometimes embellished surfaces.

The Kyinie, or Ashanti umbrella, comes in three basic shapes: conical, horizontal, and domical, each displayed during formal occasions of varying importance. It is believed that the concept of these giant umbrellas was introduced in West Africa by Muslims during the 18th century.

However, one thing is certain: the umbrella form is associated with status and prestige. One type of umbrella used to show prestige is the horizontal umbrella, which is used with the supreme political emblem of the Asante—the golden stool.

This horizontal umbrella is known as Katamanso. The same shaped umbrella is often seen with the ceremonial stools of the Asante.

The term "state umbrella," cited in the literature of Akan art, refers to the typical large or medium-large dome-shaped umbrella called Obankyinie. It uses a wider variety of fabrics.

The shallow-shaped conical umbrella is used mostly during a chief’s oath-swearing ceremony, when he is in mourning for his predecessor, and during the annual funeral ceremony commemorating the death of a chief. This type, the conical-shaped umbrella, is rarely used publicly and is rather few in number.

All three forms of umbrellas have a wooden armature and shaft made from a special cane that is dried before construction. The domical umbrella, which is the Obankyinie, is impressively large, spanning in height from seven to nine feet and in diameter from about six to seven feet wide.

A columnar mechanism called kokopuo moves along the vertical support of the umbrella, pushing the conical configuration of auxiliary poles that in turn extend the major radial shafts.

These stretchers for the fabric are secured by a peg pushed through a hole in the vertical stick. A fixture with a flange is then placed at the top of the umbrella; this fixture is known as the gyinaie. After the umbrella craftsman constructs the skeletal structure, he attaches the various fabrics.

These umbrellas were mostly crafted by a special village within the Asante state, filled with umbrella craftsmen. However, this rather interesting concept has disappeared over time.

The Asante developed a variety of kyinie in response to the need to provide cover or canopy for their chiefs and kings. Like all objects of regalia, the various hierarchies of Akan chieftaincy have their corresponding umbrellas.

The Asantehene’s court is known to possess the largest collection of Ashanti traditional umbrellas.

The golden stool, as we already mentioned, has a total of two state umbrellas: one that provides a canopy for the chair of the king during processions within and outside the palace, and another special umbrella that shields a special traditional sword known as the Bosomuru.

The procession of the Ashanti king, or Asantehene, requires seven different umbrellas, in addition to an eighth umbrella used as a reserve. During grand processions, the reserve umbrella replaces any malfunctioning one until it is hurriedly repaired and brought back in time for the perfect formation.

After exploring the forms of Ashanti traditional umbrellas, we now uncover the two types of traditional umbrellas:

They are the Benkyinie and the Patom Kyinie.

However, Ashanti umbrellas have one interesting feature: their finials. The finial is an integral part of the umbrella displayed by important personalities. Having historical roots in western Sudan, Europeans in the 19th century surmised that these finials were clan totems. However, this has not been clearly verified, as it was mere speculation by the Europeans.

According to one of the few umbrella craftsmen, Joseph Sarpong, every traditional chief or Ohene (in Ashanti dialect) had a special symbol. For example, the Paramount Chief of the Oyoko clan had special finial forms on their umbrellas. However, it has been observed that these chiefs sometimes appear with finials that do not match their clan totems.

*Metal-covered finials of Ashanti Umbrellas*

In the early 20th century, only chiefs had the right to display metal-covered finials, a practice no longer used among the Ashantis. As is typical of traditional Ashanti regalia, the finial forms depict proverbs. Because of this, umbrella finials are cited as visible political emblems and indicators of chieftaincy.

Asante umbrellas display a great variety of textures, patterns, colors, and designs. The Ashantis use three types of unique cloth for clothing: kente cloth, Adinkra cloth, and Akunitan cloth (known as the "cloth of the great"). However, Adinkra fabrics are not used on the traditional umbrellas of the Ashantis. Instead, several warp-stripe and weft-stripe fabrics, including kente worn by chiefs, are used on these umbrellas.

Other state umbrellas are covered with early kente cloth designs, replicating the simple weft stripes of 15th-century narrow strip weavings, while some are designed with checkerboard patterns. The textiles used in the decoration of these umbrellas were not only from Africa but also from Europeans, who traded and gifted Ashanti chiefs such textiles.

Juxtapositions of umbrellas covered with one or more non-African textiles create a prismatic array of beautiful colors and patterns.

The use of silk or cotton umbrellas according to chiefly rank existed in the late 19th century and probably earlier. Paramount chiefs were allowed to use silk for their state umbrellas, but only after they had obtained permission from the Asantehene, to ensure that the umbrella patterns were not duplicated.