Osram ne Nsoromma

Adinkra symbol of the moon and the star: faithful love and harmony.

Osram ne Nsoromma means the moon and the star, and the Adinkra symbol stands for love, faithfulness and harmony. A well-known explanation tells of the North Star, who has a loving heart and is always in the sky waiting for her husband, the moon, to return. The bond between them is patient and constant: one waits, the other comes back.

Because of that story the symbol is closely linked to marriage and to the loyalty partners show each other, but its meaning is wider. It speaks of any bond that holds over distance and time: between a parent and a child who has left home, between friends separated by an ocean, between the living and those they remember.

The symbol shows a star, a ring with eight short rays ending in small knobs, set above or inside a crescent moon. Like other Adinkra symbols it is printed on cloth and used in jewellery.

It sits naturally beside Akoma, the heart of patience, and Eban, the fence that protects a loving home.

In dreams, the moon and a star together, waiting under a night sky, or someone coming home after a long absence can be read in an Akan way with this meaning. Such dreams often come when someone misses a person, waits for a reunion, or wonders whether a bond will last. Read with Osram ne Nsoromma, the dream does not promise an outcome, but points to the faithfulness already in the bond, and asks how it can be honoured while you wait.