Prohibit

Quote

Stools have a particularly close association with their owners, especially those of senior people and office-holders. Once installed, an office-holder is forbidden to touch the earth with bare feet or to sit on the ground. Such contact between the body and the earth (Asase Yaa) is considered polluting, bringing mmusuo and causing famine and sickness to the community for which the office-holder is responsible. This rule is kept scrupulously: if rivals wish forcibly to remove someone from office, they seize him, pull off his sandals and seat him on the ground. A stool is thought to receive some spiritual element from its user, and Asante often explain their habit of tipping stools on to their sides when not in use as a precaution against a stray bad spiritual power (sunsum bone), possibly from an executed person or an accident victim, entering the stool.

• Source: McLeod, Malcolm D. The Asante. London: British Museum Publications, 1981.
• Culture: Akan
• Location: Africa