Adinkra Symbols - Onyankopon Adom Nti Biribiara Beye Yie

Guest Post - Tom Collins

When Claudia first told us she wanted to make Nyame Biribi Wo Soro part of the cover design for her book and what that symbol meant to her, I confess I had never heard of Adinkra symbols. I hate not knowing stuff, especially if it's important to my work, so I starting researching.

I discovered a number of sources online, including the official website of the Republic of Ghana. That website has been completely redesigned and the pages on Adinkra removed, but here's a link to the previous version (some of the images are missing) at the Internet Archive. The most comprehensive online resource I found was at Jean McDonald's Well-Tempered Web Design site.

Claudia, the better scholar, cites to The Adinkra Dictionary, A Visual Primer on the Language of Adinkra, by W. Bruce Willis. She offers this brief introduction that helps explain why we elected to use them throughout God Spare Life:

"Adinkra symbols are designs that originated in West Africa, in a region that is now known as the Republic of Ghana. They have been used for centuries as a form of language to relay messages. Adinkra symbols are parables that represent spiritual concepts and also honor human characteristics. Originally printed on cloths to be worn during funerals, Adinkra markings can now be found widely in fabrics and wood carvings of West Africa."

Onyankopon Adom Nti Biribiara Beye Yie is found literally throughout the book: It was chosen to appear in the page header on the left side pages, accompanying the book title, God Spare Life.

Why this one? In her Prologue, Claudia begins by describing herself as "a woman of science" and ends by reminding us, "There have been several miracles in my life that cannot be explained by science."

Next time, God spare life, the symbol that might be my personal favorite in the book, Akokonan.