Flag

Object Details

Donor Name

Col. Harold D. Kehm

From card: "Made of three horizontal cotton stripes, red top and bottom, center orange with a large [right- facing] swastika of blue sewn on. These were flying over many huts but natives did not know of any outside connections such as Germany. Swastika design used frequently here. Refer: Steward: "HSAI", vol. 4, pl. 49-f."

Note: in 1925, the Kuna revolted against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and were granted autonomy in 1930; the flag they adopted at that time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Kuna Yala (Kuna Yala is an autonomous territory or comarca in Panama, inhabited by the Kuna; the name means "Kuna-land" or "Kuna mountain" in the Kuna language.) This object is a small version of the flag of Kuna Yala. The swastika is an ancient symbol in Kuna culture. It symbolizes the octopus that created the universe; its four tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points, which gave rise to the rainbow, the sun, the moon and the stars. According to one explanation, it symbolizes the four sides of the world or the origin from which peoples of the world emerged, and is an ancestral symbol called Naa Ukuryaa.

Record Last Modified

30 Mar 2021

Specimen Count

1

Culture

San Blas

Kuna (Guna)

Accession Date

15 Feb 1967

Collection Date

1922 to 1930

Accession Number

271304

USNM Number

E406973-0

Object Type

Flag

Place

Panama, Central America

See more items in

Anthropology

NMNH - Anthropology Dept.

Topic

Ethnology

Record ID

nmnhanthropology_8436878

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3d2ee55bd-8a97-4c5d-863b-8ebb1178562b