{"id":193,"date":"2016-07-13T21:32:52","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T21:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/?p=193"},"modified":"2017-04-19T21:01:15","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T21:01:15","slug":"martial-sphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/uncategorized\/martial-sphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Martial Sphere"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Company<\/a>
Company No. 1 shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every Fante town such as Anomabu has several, usually seven, asafo<\/i> or warrior organizations that, although no longer functioning as military units, take part in all the major community celebrations, have their own ritual calendar and ceremonial obligations, and serve a number of important social and political functions (e.g., the head officer of each company sits on the town’s traditional council as a representative of his organization’s concerns).<\/p>\n

\"Company<\/a>
Company No. 2 shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every Fante inherits membership in one of these\u00a0companies through his or her father, although males tend to be more active\u00a0in these organizations than do females. In Anomabu, which supports seven asafo<\/i> companies, at least one of them (Kyirem Company No. 6) has an active female auxiliary or adzewa<\/i> organization. While many citizens of Anomabu are actively engaged with their associated martial organization,\u00a0some choose not to explore this inherited relationship. Any member of these<\/p>\n

\"Shrine<\/a>
Company No. 3 shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

martial organizations can participate in their group’s music making if they so wish, and the majority of members do perform as singers. The most talented members of the group take\u00a0on the musically more demanding roles of drummers and cantors.\u00a0These groups each have their own songs and styles of drumming.<\/p>\n

\"Shrine<\/a>
Company No. 4 shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two visually distinctive facets of Fante asafo<\/i> organizations are their shrines and their appliqu\u00e9d flags. Each asafo<\/i> company has a meeting place–a post–in town that has as its centerpiece a shrine. While some of these asafo<\/i> shrines in Anomabu are quite modest–one company (No. 5) has a small tree serving as its shrine–others have erected large and symbolically rich cement structures such<\/p>\n

\"Shrine<\/a>
Company No. 6 shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

as the one pictured on this page (this is the shrine for the Kyirem Company No. 6 of Anomabu). \u00a0The\u00a0shrines for the\u00a0Anomabu asafo<\/i>\u00a0companies nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are displayed\u00a0on this page.<\/p>\n

\"Flag<\/a>
A flag belonging to\u00a0\u00a0Company No. 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asafo<\/i> flags (sing., frankaa<\/i>) are important icons of a company’s identity. A flag is commissioned by a member of\u00a0a company when he is promoted to the rank of captain. He relates to a craftsman a proverb or a dream, which is then interpreted by the flag maker into a scene that is appliqu\u00e9d onto a solid-colored<\/p>\n

\"Flag<\/a>
A flag belonging to\u00a0Company No. 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

background. The scene is replicated in mirror image on the backside of the flag. Images\u00a0of three flags belonging to Asafo Co. No. 6 are seen on this page. Although a new flag becomes the property of the man’s company, it serves as an enduring symbol of his personal status within the organization. It, along with other company<\/p>\n

\"Flag<\/a>
A flag belonging to\u00a0Company No. 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

flags, is displayed around the company’s post on ceremonial occasions.\u00a0Each company will also have specially trained flag dancers, called frankakitsanyi<\/i><\/a>, who will perform at the head of the company when it is part of a procession or other public event. Part of the presentation of a flag to important guests present at an event includes an explanation of the flag’s meaning by the asafo<\/i> company’s linguist.<\/p>\n

Collectively, the music, shrine, and flags of an asafo<\/i> company are art forms in the service of a martial organization. They dramatically project to the public the collective pride a company’s members feel in their organization.<\/p>\n

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Every Fante town such as Anomabu has several, usually seven, asafo or warrior organizations that, although no longer functioning as military units, take part in all the major community celebrations, have their own ritual calendar and ceremonial obligations, and serve a number of important social and political functions (e.g., the head officer of each company … Continue reading “Martial Sphere”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetter.sites.grinnell.edu\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}