What i learnt today: The Golden Stool is considered sacred because it is the symbol of the Ashanti people. It is believed that it contains the sunsum or soul of the people. So no person, whosoever, is allowed to sit on it. It is kept with the strictest security and taken out only on exceptionally-important occasions. Never must it come in contact with the earth or the ground. It always sits on its own stool or on the skin of an animal, such as the leopard. The Ashantis had on many occasions made supreme sacrifices to defend it when its safety had been threatened. For example, in 1896, they allowed their King, Prempeh I, to be deported rather than lose the Golden Stool. Two other incidents show the great importance the Ashantis attach to the Golden Stool. In March 1900, the Governor of the then Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Hodgson, went to Kumasi and ordered them to surrender the Golden Stool. Where is the Golden Stool? he asked. Why am i not sitting on the Golden Stool at this moment? Why did you not take the opportunity of my coming to Kumasi to bring the Golden Stool so i could sit on? This was a tactless and terrible mistake. The Governor committed this blunder because he did not know that the Golden Stool symbolically stood for the whole of the Ashanti people. It was not a throne for kings to sit on but the resting place of the peoples soul. The speech was heard in silence. When the assembly dispersed, every man went home and prepared for war. Three days later, war broke out between the Ashantis and the British. The Ashantis were finally defeated. Soon after, the brave woman, Yaa Asantewaa, gathered the men together to defend their rights but to no avail. The Ashantis, however, said they were victorious because they fought only to save and maintain the Golden Stool, and this they achieved. The second event took place twenty years afterwards. [I was only 17 years then....hehe]. A group of African road builders, as if by chance, stumbled upon the hiding place of the Golden Stool. They robbed it of the gold ornaments. The whole nation was thrown into alarm, and people put on mourning cloths. The British officials realised that there was danger looming and took a very wise course of action. The culprits were arrested and the Kumasi Council of Chiefs allowed to try them according to traditional custom. The verdict was known before it was pronounced. The council considered the matter so serious that they ordered that the culprits should be executed. But the British later commuted the sentence for banishment for life. Questions: 1. Why do the Ashantis have such high regard for the Golden Stool? 2. How did the Ashantis display their regard for the stool? 3. Explain the Ashantis claim that they won the war against the British. 4. What maturity did the British show when the road builders desecrated the Golden Stool? 5. Why did Sir Frederick Hodgsons behaviour offend the Ashantis? 6. For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it in the passage: a. Strictest b. Supreme c. Surrender d. Tactless e. Commuted Naniama! :).. Hahaha
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:51:25 +0000
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