Defiance, Not Only Survival

Willis records Aya also read as a symbol of defiance specifically, associated with a person who has outlasted attempts to defeat or discourage them, a slightly sharper and more adversarial reading than the related endurance symbols Wawa Aba and Mframadan carry; where those two speak to withstanding pressure or hardship in general, Aya carries an implication of having specifically outlasted opposition, a rival, a critic, or an attempt at suppression. Willis notes this defiant undertone has given Aya recorded modern use in contexts of personal or political resilience against active adversity, cloth worn or displayed specifically to mark having survived a deliberate attempt to bring one down rather than an impersonal hardship alone.

Willis also records Aya used in some documented contemporary contexts of women's resilience specifically, a gendered application he notes without attributing to the symbol's original historical use, distinguishing this more recent, specific reading from the plainer general endurance-and-defiance meaning the symbol has carried across the wider Adinkra tradition. Willis records this as one of several cases where a symbol's older general meaning has acquired a newer, more specific application without displacing the original.