The swearing of oath of fidelity to the dead King is the next, beginning with chiefs of the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC), followed immediately by the paramount chiefs (Amanhene) and Abrempong. During the swearing-in ceremony, the chiefs assure the deceased King that if he had not died a natural death but had fallen a victim on the battle field, they would have avenged his death. The procedure for the swearing-in ceremony is that each chief, with his “kuntunkuni” around his waist, walks slowly and mournfully under a small black umbrella towards other seated chiefs When he gets close to the corpse lying-in-state, he stops, the umbrella closes, and the state sword is handed over to him. He then points to the corpse of the late King and swears the great oath of Asante. When the oath swearing ceremony is over, the Asokwafo lift the coffin for burial at the Banpanase Mausoleum, one of the historical wards of Kumasi. The corpse is laid in state again at Banpanase Baamu for a year “to dry”, that is, to allow all fluids in the system to drain out. Traditionally the place is called “Asonee” and it is the Asante equivalent of embalming dead Kings.
