The symbols are incorporated into face painting, fabrics, on interior wall designs and on pottery. The symbols are found frequently in the West African country of Ghana. The Akan and the Asante tribes of West Africa both use “Adinkra” symbols. In West Africa, many symbols are used to convey messages and values within a community. These symbols are considered sacred, and were primarily used in ceremonial and religious contexts. In Africa, where record of the oldest human communities lie, there are many tribal families that use symbols to tell stories and provide information, reminders and lessons.

Symbols are visual keys that have meaning to people with a common heritage around a given symbol. Greens is usually used for life, growth, freshness and healing while white signifies hope, purity and light. Red is used for danger, daring, urgency and energy and blue denotes peace, calmness, confidence and affection. Purple commonly means royalty, luxury, wisdom, and passion and yellow is used for joy, energy and warmth. Each color and each symbol has a certain meaning.īlack is usually used to denote power, evil, death, and mystery while grey is commonly used to mean security, authority, maturity and stability. Some of the most well-known tribes across Africa include the Zulu tribe, members of which live in South Africa, Lesotho & Zimbabwe, the Maasai, who can be found in Tanzania and Kenya, the San Bushmen, who live in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and the Yoruba, who live in Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Togo.Īdditional tribes include the Xhosa, who reside in South Africa, the Hausa, found in Niger, Gabon, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, the Himba, who live in Angola and Namibia, the Borana Oromo, who reside in Ethiopia and Kenya, the Kalenjin of Kenya, the Chaga of Tanzania and the Fulani of Nigera, Guinea, Sudan and Senegal.įace paint is usually made out of clay with different hues using dried plants and flowers.

African tribal war paint