Talismans of West Africa
Shells that once were money and printed signs that carry whole proverbs: how West African talismans speak of value, memory and belonging.
West Africa’s talismans speak of value, memory and belonging. Cowrie shells once served as money and still adorn crowns and garments, while adinkra symbols such as sankofa carry whole proverbs in a single printed sign.
Objects that carry meaning
Across West Africa, objects are often valued for what they say as much as for what they are. A pattern on cloth can express a proverb, a bead can mark status or a stage of life, and a shell can stand for wealth and the continuity of a family. Wearing such things is a way of speaking without words.
Protective objects belong to this world too. In parts of the Sahel and along the coast, people wear small leather pouches known as , which may hold written prayers or other carefully chosen contents. Islam, Christianity and the traditional religions of peoples such as the Yoruba and the Akan all shape how such objects are made and understood.
The region is vast and varied, so it is better to speak of many traditions than of one. The two talismans described here come from particular peoples and places, and they are best appreciated with that in mind.
In West Africa a single printed sign can carry a whole proverb.
Materials and craft
West African craft traditions are among the most accomplished in the world. Akan goldsmiths and brass casters used the to make jewellery and small brass weights for measuring gold dust, many of them shaped to illustrate proverbs. Weavers created kente cloth, and Yoruba artists covered crowns, garments and sacred objects with glass beads and cowries.
Adinkra cloth from the Asante region of Ghana is printed by hand. Stamps cut from calabash gourds are dipped in a dark dye made from tree bark and pressed onto cotton in careful rows. The village of Ntonso, near Kumasi, is especially known for this work.
The cowrie shell
The cowrie shell came to West Africa from the Indian Ocean, above all from the Maldives, carried along trade routes across the Sahara and later by sea. For centuries it served as everyday money, and the traveller Ibn Battuta recorded its use in the Mali Empire in 1352. Its value made it a natural sign of wealth and good fortune, as our page about prosperity describes.
Cowries also took on spiritual and social meanings. They decorate Yoruba crowns, masks and shrines, appear on garments for important ceremonies and are used in some forms of divination. The cowrie trade was also bound up with the Atlantic slave trade, a painful history that gives the shell particular weight across the African diaspora. Today cowries are worn in West Africa and far beyond as a proud sign of heritage, and their association with life and abundance is explored on our page about life and vitality.
Sankofa and the adinkra symbols
Sankofa is one of the best-loved adinkra symbols of the Akan people of Ghana. It is drawn either as a bird looking back over its shoulder with an egg in its beak or as a stylised heart. The name is linked to a proverb teaching that it is not wrong to go back and fetch what you have forgotten.
The earliest documented adinkra cloth was collected in 1817 by the English visitor Thomas Bowdich in Kumasi, the Asante capital. Adinkra was traditionally associated with funerals and important occasions, though today it is worn far more widely. Sankofa has become an emblem of learning from the past, especially for people of African descent reconnecting with their history.
Sankofa has many companions. Gye Nyame, perhaps the most widely seen adinkra symbol, expresses the supremacy of God, while dwennimmen, the ram’s horns, stands for strength with humility. Each sign is a compact piece of philosophy, which is why sankofa features on our page about wisdom and guidance.
Wearing West African symbols today
Cowries and adinkra symbols are worn widely on jewellery, printed fabric and clothing, by people in West Africa and across the diaspora. Choosing pieces made by Ghanaian, Nigerian and other West African artisans keeps the craft and its meanings connected to the people who created them.
taliaris describes beliefs and customs; it makes no claim that a talisman has an effect.