Ghana: Golden Enstoolment

The last of the great ancient kingdoms of West Africa is the Ashanti, whose 2,000,000 tribesmen last week proudly anointed a new king, Nana Opoku Ware II. It was the first time in 35 years that the ceremony, perhaps the most magnificent tribal ritual in all Africa, had been conducted. TIME Correspondent James Wilde went to Kumasi in central Ghana for the fete and wrote this report:

The warriors, their oiled bodies gleaming, danced and chanted, "Yao, yao, we abide, we abide, what was foretold has come to pass." Bells, gongs, metal castanets...

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