En träskulptur - Adan - Ghana (Utan reservationspris)

A couple of Adan/Aklama couple, Ghana, in shape of two Kalao-birds with remnants of Kaolin. Incl stand.

The carved bird sculptures associated with the Adan (also sometimes written “Ada/Adangbe”) people of Ghana are known in collectors’ literature as “Aklama” figures. These artifacts are characterised by being carved of wood (often light hardwood) and finished with natural pigments or kaolin, the forms often stylised and in some cases clearly bird‑shaped. Examples appear in auction catalogues described as “Ghana Adan wood, natural pigments … in the shape of a bird”One listing further notes that such figures “represent various deities linked to hunting” and that they are “used by the Ewe of Adangbe/Ada language of Ghana” and are “objects of voodoo cult” in that describing tradition.

Culturally the Aklama‑figures are interpreted as “helper spirits” or intermediaries in ritual contexts of the Ewe/Dangme cultural zone (which includes the Adan/Ada community). According to one source the figures were placed on private altars, sometimes grouped in a basket and covered with cloth, similar in usage to the Vinavi figures among the Ewe. The bird symbolism may link to notions of mediation, hunting, or ancestral power, though explicit ethnographic detail for Adan‑community use remains limited.

The Kalao Bird: Ritual, Memory, and the Knowledge of Protection

The Kalao bird, known in European zoology as the hornbill, occupies in many West African cultures a position far beyond that of a mere animal. Its appearance—the heavy, curved bill topped with a helmet-like casque, the slow, almost solemn flight, the piercing call—renders it a figure that eludes the everyday. In the religious worldviews of the southern Ghanaian Adan and Dangme, the Kalao is not a creature to be hunted, but one to be observed. It belongs to those animals that are not simply killed, because one must listen to them.

In Dangme thought, the world is not divided into a visible and an invisible sphere but is permeable. Ancestors, natural forces, and the living exist within a dense network of relationships. Animals can appear within this framework as bearers of messages, as mediators between temporalities. The Kalao is considered an ancestral bird: its appearance is interpreted, its call read as a sign. It is a being of transitions—between sky and earth, life and death, protection and danger.

This significance derives not only from mythological narratives but also from careful observation of its behavior. Particularly striking is the Kalao’s breeding behavior, which has become a central point of symbolic interpretation in many cultures.

The Sealing of the Female

During the breeding season, the female seeks a tree cavity into which she retreats with the male. She then nearly completely seals the entrance with a mixture of mud, fruit pulp, and feces, leaving only a narrow slit just wide enough for food to be passed through. For weeks, sometimes months, the female remains enclosed, laying her eggs, raising the chicks, entirely dependent on the male’s provision.

From a naturalistic perspective, this serves to protect against predators, but in ritual interpretation it becomes a powerful image. The sealing is not a sign of captivity, but of trust. The female surrenders her freedom to allow life to thrive. The male assumes responsibility by bringing food and maintaining the boundary between inside and outside. Protection arises not through force but through withdrawal, patience, and mutual obligation.

In the symbolic reading of the Dangme, this behavior is linked to human transitions: pregnancy, initiation, healing, death. The enclosed space of the tree cavity corresponds to the ritual space where transformation occurs. Temporary disappearance from the world is a prerequisite for renewal. This explains why the Kalao in stories and ritual contexts is repeatedly associated with fertility, female power, and social order.

The sealing of the female is not interpreted as subjugation but as an act of sovereign self-enclosure. It embodies the knowledge of when to withdraw from the world in order to allow it to continue.

Images, Objects, and Memory

These meanings have entered material culture. Carvings featuring hornbill bills, mask crests, ritual staffs, or amulets echo the bird’s distinctive form. They are not decorative but functional: as protective objects, as signs of authority, as reminders of moral obligations. In oral traditions, the Kalao serves as a cautionary figure—a creature that observes and remembers.

Historically, this symbolism can be traced far back and is related to similar interpretations among Akan, Senufo, or Dogon groups. Colonial interventions, missionary activity, and museal appropriation have fragmented these knowledge systems, but they have not extinguished them. They endure in rituals, narratives, and in the careful manner with which one approaches the bird.

Conclusion

The Kalao bird embodies knowledge derived from close observation of nature, social experience, and spiritual reflection. Its breeding behavior teaches that protection lies not in what is visible but in conscious withdrawal; that community implies responsibility; and that transformation requires time.

Thus, the Kalao becomes a figure of memory: a living archive of a world in which humans, animals, and ancestors are not separated but sustain one another.

The basis of these descriptions is grounded in field observations and cultural understanding, though the individual stories that once emerged from firsthand encounters are now scattered across multiple devices. Yet there is no reason to mourn what is lost: every story that arises is inherently ephemeral. In my case, memory changes and shifts faster than in others, transforming each attempt at recollecti

This information is created by AI and based on published ethnographic and art-historical sources.

Height: 24 cm / 24 cm
Weight: 280 g / 220 g (incl. stand)