- With the stools, the stool is also a symbol of status,
is a symbol of hereditary and I'll explain that.
The stool again is also a symbol of power. Different types of stools, they
carve them in different ways that speak, they use symbols.
Now, the stool, see when you sit down,
now you sit down you expect the chair to hold you,
so a stool is a form of power, strength and so, the king,
not, see we have stools in the house and in the homes,
but they are different from the special stools,
(laughs) that is used in traditional ceremonies.
And for example among the chiefs and the kings
you find that among the all the Asante kings
that have passed on, they all have their stool
that they sat on while they were kings. Now in the olden days,
when a king died, the Asante King, when he died it was a
very very serious issue. (laughs)
And so they would take his stool. So the stool embodies the
spirit of the dead king. So by smearing blood on it,
it's a symbol of preserving the life of that king
so all the kings, their spirits are preserved.
So the belief is that in the stool, the spirit of that king is still there.
So when they go to, if there is a ceremony and they pour libation,
well they expect the spirit of the king in that stool,
to be there, to be present because Asante's don't believe
that there is a heaven, no. They believe that the
spiritual world is around us. So when they pour libation,
they know that the spirits are present with them.
And a very very strong belief. So these, each of the Asante
kings, their stools are there, and during certain ceremonies
they bring all the stools out. - [Elyan] I think my
last question for you, 'cause you've given us
a lot of information is, what do you think of when you
think of African Brilliance? - Okay, I thought brilliance immediately,
I thought of drumming, you know, and African drumming and dancing and yeah.
But I think the Brilliance also conveys it's like an umbrella that
brings everything together. So the goldweights, because for example,
the goldweights, it takes a lot of skill for the gold-smiths to come up
with all those pieces of art. They would not see it as art.
No, they will see it as their craft, their craftsmanship.
But they would not quite see it as art form, and art, no.
But to them is their skill and they are very proud of it.
In fact they guard it as a secret. But gold and the stools
very, very important and they are important mostly
to the kings, the chiefs and even some heads of
households do have stools. So if there is a meeting of the family
well then they bring the stool, yeah. And then the head of the
family will sit on it. And when they die, the
person that inherits them inherits that stool,
so it becomes like a-- - [Elyan] Like a throne.
- Sorry - Almost like a throne?
- Yes, yeah, but is also becomes like a symbol,
the spirit of the family, everybody is rallied around it.
So it becomes like the soul of the family.