Sepow Meaning: The Adinkra Executioner's Knife and Justice
AURYN Editorial
Sepow is the executioner's knife, and the Adinkra symbol of that name stands for justice and the authority of the state. It is one of the more sobering Adinkra symbols, because it refers to a real historical practice.
The historical knife
In the pre-colonial Asante kingdom, a condemned person could have a small knife, the sepow, thrust through the cheeks before execution, so that they could not speak a curse against the king. Historical accounts of the Gold Coast by T. E. Bowdich (1819) and Joseph Dupuis (1824) describe the treatment of captives and the condemned, and museum collections, including the British Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, hold objects depicting figures with the sepow through their cheeks.
A symbol of justice
As an Adinkra symbol, Sepow stands for justice and for the final authority of the king and the law. It reminded those who saw it that the power to judge belonged to the state, and that justice had consequences.
Sepow in jewellery
A Sepow design is a sign of justice and authority, and of a history best remembered with seriousness.
