What does your Nations Flag mean?

[HuckFinn]

Well, ours is just like the Dannebrog or the flag of Sweden to stay in tune of the geographic area... so I'd suppose the cross symbolizes Christianity. Colors is blue on white, blue for the lakes and white for the snow (or so it says in this awful song kids in school have to sing over and over again)

 

[sysyphus]

Thought I'd do the Ontario flag.

It's strikingly similar to the former Canadian flag used up until 1965, and is is virtually identical to the Manitoba flag except that on their flag there is a bison where the leaves are on this one.

The red field represents the colour red, one of Canada's two official colours,

The coat of arms is Ontario's official coat of arms, the St. George's cross symbolising England and the Maple Leaves being Canada's national symbol.

As for that thing in the upper left corner, I have no clue what it is or why it's there

 

[FredLC]

Originally posted by OneJayHawk:
No comments on the USA flag? Maybe its obvious, but the 13 stripes refer to the 13 colonies and original states. The 50 stars are one for each State. BTW this makes it the most complex flag that does not include a picture. Red White and Blue supposedly mean something, but I think they were chosen from the British flag.

J

Is it really?

Take Brazil’s flag, for instance:

The Colors, green and yellow, come from the colors of the Royal Houses of Bragança and Habsburg, to which belonged the mother of our Emperor by the time the flag was designed. Later, when the republic arouse, symbols of monarch became unpopular and it was decided that from their on, they would be the symbols of our great forests and of our gold.

Than comes the globe. It is the representation of the sky in a clear night in the city of Rio de Janeiro, at exactly 12 sidereal hours (meaning 8:30 pm) of November 15, 1889.

There is also one five-sized star for each state of the federation, but they don’t have equal sizes; There are five different sizes, that are linked to the astronomical magnitude of the constellations visible in the represented night; the brighter was the star, the bigger it was represented in the flag.

Than there is the white banner. Some people say that it means the celestial equator, but that is not confirmed, so I’ll consider that it’s just a place for the writing of our national motto, “Ordem e Progresso” (Order and Progress).

Now, what is the most complex flag without a banner? I’ll leave the decision to the reader.

Regards .

 

[Yoshimune]

Japan is obvious, so I'll do my home city, Chicago:

The flag of Chicago has broad blue stripes and four six-pointed stars all in red. Originally the flag had two stars when it was adopted in 1917. The white stripes represent the North, West and South sides of the city. The two blue stripes symbolize Lake Michigan plus the North Branch of the Chicago River, and South Branch of the Chicago River plus the Great Canal. The symbolism of the stars is complex. Here is how it is described:

The First Red Star represents Fort Dearborn (added in 1939). The Points of the First Red Stars signify:

transportation
labor
commerce
finance
populousness
salubrity

The Second Red Star represents the Chicago Fire of October 8-10, 1871. The Points of the Second Red Star signify:

religion
education
esthetics
justice
beneficience
civic pride

The Third Red Star represents the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Points of the Third Red Star signify history of the area:

France 1693
Great Britain 1763
Virginia 1778
Northwest Territory 1798
Indian Territory 1802
Illinois Statehood 1818

The Fourth Red Star represents the century of progress, and was added for the Exposition of 1933 (added in 1933). The Points of the Fourth Red Star signify:

World's Third Largest City
City's Latin Motto
I Will Motto
Great Central Market
Wonder City
Convention City

 

[PolishAssassin]

i really like city flags! i wanna see some more of them

 

[Knowze Gungk]

Well, the Union Jack lookin' thing, in the top left corner, represents the abundance of flies in the outback.

The blue background represents the massive stone in the middle of the contanent.

The Southern Cross represents the constellation of Orion.

The other star represents our elite squads of ninja kangaroos.

The seven points on each of the Five (out of Six) stars represents Vegemite.

And the five points on the little star represents beer.

I hope this clears any confusion caused by the lies that are constantly spread about the history behind our nations flag.

 

[Johann MacLeod]

Originally posted by funxus
From waht I've heard, the Swedish flag was the second flag ever to represent a nation, and it was made as a counter to the danish flag in wars.

From a search: The first flag was a blue field with a golden lion in it. The lion was then replaced with three crowns (representing the three kings in the bible and is still today connected with Sweden, like our hockey team) and later replaced again with a golden cross dividing the blue field in four separate fields. I assume the cross represents us being christian.

actually they don't really know what the 3 crowns mean, it first appeared when a german duke took the throne of sweden in like the 1100's and he brought his coat of arms with him, 3 gold crowns on a blue shield, but the actual meaning of the 3 crowns has since been lost (thats what they told me on a tour of the stockholm city hall, and somewhere else, i foget)

 

[Sims2789]

Here's my city flag:

From www.crwflags.com

Similar to the Alameda Yacht Club flag is the flag of the City of Alameda. Unlike the straight bar on the A of the yacht club flag, the bar on the A of the city flag is angled. At this time I have no other information about the flag itself.

Alameda is a city on an island on the east side of San Francisco Bay bordering Oakland in Alameda County. It has a population of about of about 75,000 and was the former home of Alameda Naval Air Station which has now closed. The city is noted for its many Victorian style homes.

 

[Smaasnekje]

Even though Norway is the centre of the universe, some of the more ignorant fools of the world may not know how the Norwegian flag look like..

Guess what the colour means (Hint: The same as the colours in the French and the USA flag)

 

[Cecasander]

Originally posted by Zcylen
do you have a flag for every city? amazing

Pretty much every village, municipality, town and city in europe has its own flag and/or coat-of-arms

Behold the one from my village

The municipality

The province

 

[Azale]

http://www.lsjunction.com/flag.htm

http://texashistory.info/Texas-flag.html

http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/6flags.htm


Excerpt from the second site- "The Texas flag is the 1839 national flag of the Republic of Texas. The Texas flag is a rectangle that has a width to length ratio of two to three. It contains one blue vertical stripe that has a width equal to one-third the length, and two equal horizontal stripes, with the upper stripe white, the lower stripe red, and each having a length equal to two-thirds the length. The flag has one white, regular five-pointed star. The five-pointed star is located in the center of the blue stripe, oriented so that one point faces upward, and sized so that the diameter of a circle passing through the five points of the star is equal to three-fourths the width of the blue stripe. The red and blue of the Texas flag are the same colors used in the United States flag. The red, white, and blue of the state flag represent, respectively, bravery, purity and loyalty."

In MY opinion its the best US state flag

 

[RagingBarbarian]

Pretty much every village, municipality, town and city in europe has its own flag and/or coat-of-arms

Behold the one from my village

The municipality

The province

your village's flag looks alot like the Bavarian flag. The Bavarian flag has a tree in the center as well, but I think the colors are different

 

[Perfection]

Here's Minnesota, I'd write the answer myself but I'm too lazy.

http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/flags/mn_flag.htm

On Personal note, I find our flag to be boring unoriginal ugly and lame. I figure we let the other states have the cool symbols and stuff to help compensate for the fact that Minnesotans are the greatest people in the history of the universe.

 

[Archer 007]

My state's lame flag:

 

[Manverulin]

No comments on the USA flag? Maybe its obvious, but the 13 stripes refer to the 13 colonies and original states. The 50 stars are one for each State. BTW this makes it the most complex flag that does not include a picture. Red White and Blue supposedly mean something, but I think they were chosen from the British flag.

J

Isn't the Belorussian flag kinda more complex?

Or is the thing on the side (a carpet design, I think, or something) counted as a picture?

I'm American by birth. However, my mother was born in The Philippines, and as such I have strong connection with that country...

The National Flag has a white triangle at the left containing a sunburst with eight rays at the center, a five-pointed star at each angle of the triangle, an upper stripe of dark blue, and lower stripe of red. The white triangle stood for their hope for equality; the blue color stood for peace, truth and justice; and the red stood for patriotism and valor. The sunburst of eight rays represented the first eight provinces to take up arms against Spain - Manila, Laguna, Pampanga, Cavite, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Bantangas, and Tarlac, and the three stars symbolized Luzon , the Visayas and Mindanao. In times of peace, the blue stripe is uppermost, but when the nation is at war, the red stripe is on top.

Yay Philippines! I like the Philippine flag. Aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion. Unlike...

Edmonton's flag. I don't like it really.

The coat of arms consists of:

The mace: Edmonton’s preeminent status as Alberta’s capital city
The sun emblazoned on the shield: Edmonton’s above-average amount of sunshine
Winged wheel: Edmonton’s importance as an aviation and industrial centre
Wavy ribbon: The North Saskatchewan River
The sheaf: Agriculture
Explorer (left): The city’s fur trading heritage
Athena, Goddess of Wisdom (right): Education and the University of Alberta

It says, " INDUSTRY INTEGRITY PROGRESS" at the bottom of the coat of arms if anybody has a hard time seeing it.

And blue symbolizes strength and the North Saskatchewan River while white signifies peace.


Why can't we have a flag like...

Ottawa's.

The logo

The new logo consists of the Ottawa wordmark that features a stylized "O". The logo will be the symbol most frequently used to identify the new City on everything from stationery and business cards, to vehicles and signage. The logo reflects Ottawa's status as the nation's capital with its three streamers forming an abstract, subtle suggestion of a maple leaf or a hint of the local architecture. The flow of the streamers suggests unity, harmony, connectivity and forward movement. The two-colour version in blue and green, speaks to the city's quality of life and environment. The four-colour version reflects the festive nature and optimism of the new City, and features the colours citizens most often identified during the public participation process, namely blue, green, red and yellow. [By the way, these colours refer to the four white elements on the flag - from left to right they are yellow, green, red, blue (for the O part), although the green is rather turquoise on their webpage.]

The flag

The new flag is designed to reflect the landscape of the new City with the green and blue backdrop representing the importance of our green space and waterways. The stylized "O" logo is in the centre of the flag and represents the vibrancy and forward movement of the new City.

City of Ottawa

The symbols feature a swirling "O" with a representation of a Maple Leaf and the Parliament Buildings in the "O," according to transition board staff members who helped design the symbols.

The board approved both symbols in a special meeting yesterday at regional headquarters.

The logo for the new city will appear on such items as signs and stationery. It has the swirling "O" with an italicized, serif type on the other letters.

The logo comes in versions of blue and green to reflect the colour of the city's land and rivers plus a multi-coloured style that features blue, green, yellow and red, according to staff.

The new city flag is blue and green with a white swirling "O" in the centre.

And then there are all those Japanese flags. I like those ones. Look cool.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Sweden was already done, so let's do my home province, Östergötland:

It's, of course, really only the Swedish flag inverted, but supposedly, the yellow stands for agricultural fields, and the blue lines for the Göta and Kinda Canals, that crossect the province.

 

[CurtSibling]

Scotland's flag?
Some tale about a religionist being crucified in a strange manner.