Gye Nyame
"Except God" — the supremacy of God. The symbol you will see most often in Ghana, from shop signs to tyre workshops.
Ghana-Net.com · Ashanti Region · Craft Villages
Kente is the cloth of celebration. Adinkra was the cloth of farewell. In Ntonso, north of Kumasi, it is still made the old way: symbols carved into pieces of calabash, dipped in a black dye boiled down from tree bark, and stamped by hand onto cloth, row by row. Each symbol is a proverb. Together they are one of the most recognisable visual languages in Africa.
Adinkra is both a cloth and a set of symbols. The cloth was traditionally worn at funerals and in mourning — the word is often explained as meaning "farewell" or "goodbye". Dark grounds, deep brown or brick red, were stamped with black symbols, each carrying a proverb or an idea about life, death, God and conduct.
Today adinkra symbols are everywhere in Ghana: on buildings, logos, jewellery, gates and banknotes. The cloth is worn on many occasions, not only funerals. But Ntonso is one of the few places where you can still see it made by hand from start to finish.
The symbols in depth: Adinkra — the language woven into cloth. This page is about the village and the craft.
The best-known story links the cloth to Nana Kofi Adinkra, ruler of Gyaman, a kingdom to the north-west in what is now the border area with Côte d'Ivoire. In the early nineteenth century he fell out with the Asante king — by most accounts over a copy he had made of the Golden Stool — and was defeated in war under Asantehene Osei Bonsu.
Tradition says the Asante took the art of the stamped cloth, and its name, from Gyaman. Other accounts suggest stamped cloth was known in Asante earlier. As with kente, the origin story matters less than what the Asante made of it: a cloth that let people speak through what they wore.
Try it yourself. Most workshops in Ntonso let you stamp your own piece of cloth for a small fee. It is the best souvenir you can take away: you made it, and you know what it says.
"Except God" — the supremacy of God. The symbol you will see most often in Ghana, from shop signs to tyre workshops.
"Go back and fetch it" — learn from the past. Adopted across the African diaspora as the symbol of return.
The ram's horns: strong, yet humble. The ram fights fiercely but submits to slaughter.
Twisting — the tortuous path of life, and the ability to adapt. It gave its name to the Nkyinkyim Museum.
Two crocodiles sharing one stomach — they fight over food that feeds them both.
Concentric circles — greatness and leadership. Said to be the pattern from which the others grew.
Meanings are proverbs, and proverbs have more than one reading. Ask the printer what each symbol means to him — and see our collection of Ghanaian proverbs.
Factory-printed "adinkra" fabric is sold everywhere. Hand-stamped cloth shows small irregularities: slightly uneven lines, symbols not perfectly aligned, the texture of the dye sitting on the cloth. Perfect repetition means a machine.
Traditional adinkra dye is not fully colourfast. Hand-stamped cloth was never meant for the washing machine — ask how to care for it before you buy.
Agree the fee for a demonstration or for stamping your own cloth before you start. Buying is optional; a polite no is fine.
Dark adinkra cloth is still worn at funerals. Wearing it casually is fine; mocking it is not.
North on the Kumasi–Mampong road, roughly 15 to 20 kilometres. Ahwiaa, the woodcarving village, is on the same road, closer to the city.
Trotros heading north towards Mampong pass through. Ask to be dropped at Ntonso and ask for the adinkra workshops or the visitor centre.
Mornings on dry days — the cloth dries in the sun, and printing stops in the rain.
Ask first. Printers are used to cameras, but a small purchase or a tip is the fair way to say thanks.
A day that works: Bonwire for kente, Ntonso for adinkra, and Ahwiaa for woodcarving on the way back into Kumasi. Hotels on ghanahotels.biz.
Kumasi craft-village tours usually combine Ntonso with Bonwire and Ahwiaa. Check whether stamping your own cloth is included.
Bookings through this widget earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. No operator has paid to appear on this page.
The object behind the quarrel with Gyaman that, by tradition, brought adinkra to Asante.
Ntonso is smaller and quieter than Bonwire, and for many visitors more rewarding. You can watch the whole process, from bark to finished cloth, and stamp a piece yourself. Take home something you printed, learn what the symbols on it say, and you will see Ghana differently for the rest of your trip — because those symbols are everywhere.
Verified: 26 September 2026. The adinkra process, the Gyaman tradition associated with Nana Kofi Adinkra and Asantehene Osei Bonsu, and the symbol meanings follow standard accounts of Asante adinkra; meanings vary between printers. Travel distances are approximate. Corrections welcome and will be published in full.