Pam Oman (i.e. Unite, Join Together in Harmony and Peace) II

Pam Oman (i.e. Unite, Join Together in Harmony and Peace) II
100% silk twill scarf (90 x 90 cm)
Color: black olive/venetian red/van dyke brown/spanish orange/snow/rhythm/...

Designed by Yaw Tony
Ref. : 0-2316-D82B38
Limited edition of 5

DESIGN HISTORY
Omampam, The salamander. The name in Ashanti means literally ‘mend nation’ (pam oman), i.e. unite, join together in harmony and peace. The following is the Ashanti story of how it came to get this name.

The Salamander was formerly known as the Boaman (i.e. breaker-up of nations). This name he was given by Esono, the Elephant, who is supposed, according to this story, to have given all the animals their names.

The Salamander protested against being given this name, but in vain, so he went off and executed the following plan in order to get it altered: he went alternately to the chiefs of the Nkran (Accra) and Akuapem nations, and told each in turn that the other was about to attack him, and these nations were on the point of going to war.

It transpired, however, that the Salamander was the real cause of all the trouble, and he was caught and asked to give an explanation of his false reports. He freely acknowledged what he had done, but pleaded justification in his name, Boaman (the Destroyer and Divider of Nations). His excuse was ultimately accepted, but his name was altered from Boaman to his present one, Mampam (Uniter of Nations).

The Salamander is said by the natives to be deaf ; in the saying above he is represented as the Okyeame. The staff held by a chief’s Okyeame, that is, “Spokesman,” is generally bound round with the skin of the salamander (as a kind of ‘sympathetic’ magic, also signifying no doubt in what the holder is saying, or says).

The word okyeame is universally interpreted and used as ‘linguist’ by the Europeans in this colony. It has, of course, nothing to do with being a linguist (i.e. one skilled in languages). The okyeame is a court official who acts as the mouthpiece of the chief; etiquette neither allowing a chief to speak directly to, nor be spoken to directly, by his subjects. The idea of a linguist or interpreter is entirely foreign to the word.

The okyeame need not, and probably does not, know any language but his own, and if the word is to be interpreted in English at all, it should be by the word, “Spokesman.”