Then while visiting The British Museum recently, we came across a wonderful boxed set of West African symbols with rubber stamps -

Written by Mimi Robinson and designed by Nina J. Millar.
the cover is shown on the left.

The web has numerous Adinkra sites, with a wide range of symbols and their meanings many more than in Mimi's book, and much more fully covered than I possibly can here.

As a scene setter only, the origins of Adinkra are said by legend to be after an ivory coast 'King Adinkra' who for some reason made a replica of the sacred 'Golden Stool' seat of power of the Ashanti royal family.

The Ashanti people were not impressed and captured the king and beheaded him for his performing such a sacrilege. The stool was carved with many intricate patterns an symbols and after his death crafts people transferred the symbols onto fabrics to be used at special ceremonies.

Originally maybe to wrap the dead, the word adinkera means farewell, but the practice spread to general cloth decoration for any special passage ceremonies like initiation, marriage, namings and so on.

Each symbol has come to have a meaning - it is tempting to ascribe more to Adinkra symbols than was originally meant, but in a western world largely devoid of popular spiritualism and symbol the Adrinka art and symbols have become very popular.

I recommend the above activity set and the many web sites specialising in Adinkra art symbols.