Historic Headgears of Asantehene and their Symbolisms: The Case of Manhyia Palace Museum

Abstract

Artifacts are immensely useful to scholars who want to learn about a culture. When an artifact is conserved to retain its current condition, it preserves the truth of the historical story for generations to come. The Manhyia Palace Museum of Kumasi Metropolis (in Ghana) is one of the places where historical artifacts of the Ashantis (also known as the Asantes) have been preserved. However, some of the names of these artifacts remain unknown to the general public. Just as many people are ignorant about the symbolic meanings of these artifacts, the users and the occasions for utilizing such artifacts have not been documented. In light of these gaps, this study seeks to unearth the historical headgears of Asantehene. Relying principally on the qualitative research methods, the ethnographic research design was employed to gather data from four (4) sub-chiefs of Kumasi and two (2) curators of the Manhyia Palace Museum, who were purposively selected. In-depth interviews and observation were used to solicit data from the respondents. The findings of the research revealed some significance of the headgear and its physical features. Based on the conclusion, recommendations such as methods of preserving such historical artefacts have been suggested.