Asafo Flag

Fante textile artists have been creating Asafo flags for at least three hundred years. Asafo were originally military organizations, but today they perform more civic duties.Asafo flags are emblems of a Fante Asafo company. One of the most influential of all Akan institutions, Asafo is a military organization that may have existed in some form as early as the late 1400s. The lion represents the Asafo company that owned the flag. Asafo companies play an important role in the political process by balancing the power of paramount chiefs. Asafo members also take part in ceremonies when a new chief is installed. A Fante town may have from 2 to 14 companies. Each company has its own name, number, regalia and shrine. A company is led by a senior commander, captains of subdivisions and various other officials, including linguists, flag bearers, priests and priestesses. The flag is made from commercially produced trade cloth. Its appliqué figures were copied from paper patterns; each figure is two-sided. The flag of Ghana in the upper left indicates that the flag was made after Ghanaian independence in 1957.