Fante Frankaa or Asafo Military Flag

Akan societies in Ghana had no standing army. They had the asafo.

The asafo, or people’s militia, was a well-established social and political organization founded on military principles. Each group is known by a name and number and by symbols displayed on its flag. This Fante frankaa, made of cotton in the 20th century, measures about four and a half feet by three and a quarter. Proverbs, a significant part of Akan culture, are represented by colored cutout figures appliqued on the cotton ground.

A flag, then, that argues in proverbs. Read it slowly. Whoever carried it was trying to win.