Ashanti People

    The Ashanti people are a very industrious people who live in the middle of Ghana, West Africa.  Originally, Ghana was known as the gold coast, and the Ashanti's are famous for their wealth of gold.  They Ashanti developed many products that we carry such as the talking drum, Kuba or bark cloth, Ashanti stools are all very popular items developed by the Ashanti's.  The Ashanti's were the first to develop bark cloth, before cotton fabrics became widespread.  When cloth weaving was introduced patterns in the cloth had special significance.  Social status, a clan, a saying, or other significant messages were represented by the different patterns. 

The Ashanti hold to an ancestor belief system, with the idea that there is a soul in every living thing, and also the belief in lower and higher powers.  The Ashanti live in a communal society and family units live all together.  Many different huts with a courtyard in the middle for each family unit.  The head of the household is usually the oldest brother, the family units themselves are usually very tight knit with divorce being very rare.