In Asante, we have stools. We have ahenya, King or chief’s stools. We have amaga, women’s stools. When for example a king is installed and enstooled, he is made a stool, seseja. When he passes away, if he is qualified to be in the rank of a great chief, the stool will be blackened with soot from the chimney, gold, dust, egg, and blood and then placed in the stool house.

This stool is in the form of a circular rainbow called kontonkorowi in Asante Twi. The circular rainbow illustrates the proverb that the rainbow is around the neck of every nation.... this is a reference to the power of the Asante confederacy to control and unite all other peoples. It’s also the halo which surrounds everybody. This is also said in relation to death which is certain, and to which everybody will succumb.

Now when you sit on the stool and you leave the stool, it must be placed on its side, you don’t want any other spirits to come and sit on it. So stools are very sacred objects in our culture.

Koo Nimo speaks about the importance of stools to the Asante