No one is allowed to sit on it, not even the king. The Golden Stool of the Asante, known as Sika Dwa Kofi, is believed to contain the soul of the nation. It rests on its own chair and is carried under an umbrella at important ceremonies. In 1900, a British governor’s demand to sit on it led to war.
The legend and the soul of a nation
According to Asante tradition, around 1700 the priest Okomfo Anokye called the stool down from the sky. It landed on the knees of Osei Tutu, who became the first Asantehene. The stool united the Asante states into a single nation. The name means “the golden stool born on a Friday”, referring to the day it was said to have descended.
The stool is believed to hold the sunsum, or spirit, of the Asante people. Its safety is linked to the nation’s well-being.
Akan stools and the 1900 demand
Stools are important throughout Akan culture. Each person traditionally has a stool, and chiefs’ stools represent their office. When a chief is installed, he is said to be “enstooled”. In March 1900, the British governor Frederick Hodgson demanded that the Golden Stool be brought to him so he could sit on it. The demand outraged the Asante and led to the War of the Golden Stool, led by Yaa Asantewaa, the queen mother of Ejisu.
Hidden and displayed
The Asante hid the stool to protect it. It remained hidden for years. When road workers found it in 1921 and stripped some of its gold ornaments, they were tried by an Asante court. The stool appears at major ceremonies, such as the anniversaries of the Asantehene’s reign, carried with great ceremony. The stool is covered in gold and decorated with bells and ornaments, reflecting the skill of Asante goldsmiths.
The stool and the chief today
The Golden Stool remains a powerful symbol of Asante identity under Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. Chiefs in Asante are installed on stools that represent their office. When a chief dies, his stool may be blackened and kept in a stool room as a shrine to the ancestors. The British wanted to sit on the Golden Stool to show who ruled the Gold Coast. The Asante refused, and more than a century later, the stool still rests on a chair of its own.
