These are some vultures attacking each other in the landfill close to Symi. They are seriously huge.
A funeral procession. But for the casket, you would think it was a picnic procession, especially with the clapping and singing. The dress code was red and black, but I don’t know if that is universal in Ghana.
The sky during a particularly beautiful sunset.
The entrance to the National Museum. It looks like a public library entrance to me.
This was Kwame Nkrumah’s official chair of state, used in his presidential inauguration.
A necklace of human teeth.
Daggers and such.
A huge wooden mask that I can’t imagine would have been easy to carry around on one’s head.
Ashanti fertility statues.
An ancient comb. If you look closely, you can see the meticulously detailed carvings in the wood.
A rack of different kinds of spoons and ladles. Apparently some spoons are symbolic but some are purely functional.
Various musical instruments. Note the prominence of drums.
And you thought only Vikings worse those!
A picture of warrior belonging to a particular kind of cult fascinated with piercings, knives, and the like.
A man with several “charmed” snakes in his mouth.
Warriors. The garments that look like patchwork are actually covered in protective amulets. While less aesthetically pleasing, I think Kevlar is probably more effective.
A rug and cushions of typical African design. I saw an almost identical set last summer in my friend Shannon’s apartment, which she was subleasing from a girl who had brought them back from her own travels in Africa. Or maybe she and the National Museum curators shop at the same IKEA...
A leopard-skin bag. Made of actual leopard skin.
A revered and powerful priestess.
Stools are very big in Ghana. The thing that holds the actual seat of the stool is almost always symbolic in some way. The elephant, for example, represents strength…I think. There was a poster in the gift shop that detailed all of the symbolism, but I was too cheap to spring for the dollar it would have cost me.
Traditional Ghanaian textiles have meaning to their patterns. Apparently, brutal truth is the motif woven in this particular cloth.
Some arrowheads and fish hooks that could be as old as 4000BC.
What African museum would be complete without the bust of Marcus Aurelius?
Mummy? This one was unlabelled.
A human jaw fossil.
The Ashanti would measure gold using weights that were formed into any number of different shapes, from plain little blocks to tiny, intricate statuettes.
A model of St. George’s castle, which I visited in Elmina, complete with moat.
Pictures from the beach at Anamabo, where I retreated to escape the horrors of no electricity.
Funny you should mention the rug in my apartment this summer, because the reason I was subletting from the girl was because she spent the summer working in Ghana! Never rule out Ikea though, they are crafty...
ReplyDelete-Shan