posted
I was just browsing online and came upon a site that had pictures of the flags of several different countries on it. Some countries have complex designs on them (brazil), while others are simply different shades of color(indonesia).
The only flag that I know the meaning of is the United States, in which each star representing a state and each stripe in memory of the 13 original colonies (I think).
If anyone knows the significance of any countries flag, can you please post it?
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Canada's flag is pretty simple- the Maple Leaf is our emblem, and the two red panels on either side represent the oceans, and tie into our motto "A mari usque ad mare" (From Sea to Sea).
We actually didn't have a flag of our own until well into our official countryhood. We used the Union Jack, or the Red Ensign.
quote: Canada's flag is pretty simple- the Maple Leaf is our emblem
Israel is similar. It has a star of David on it, which is pretty much the national emblem as well. I don't know what the blue stripes across the top and bottom mean, but blue and white are the country colors.
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posted
British flag - The Union Flag or Union Jack (both names get used equally).
Big red cross in the middle - St. George's cross, patron St. of England.
Thin red cross - St. Patrick's cross, patron St. of Ireland.
Blue background with white cross - St. Andrew's cross, patron St. of Scotland.
The Welsh dragon was not used as Wales was considered to be part of England when the flag was first designed. I like to imagine that the red bits also include Wales, but I would love it if they put the dragon in the middle one day. The flag represents the union of the three countries as one in 1801.
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posted
Since I'm in the area and have grown very used to seeing it often, I'll list the Mexican Flag.
quote: The Mexican Flag is a red, white and green banner whose center contains an eagle eating a rattlesnake while standing with its left claw upon a nopal cactus, and a half circle of green oak (enciño) on the left (symbolizing strength) and laurel branches on the right (symbolizing victory). The red symbolizes the blood that was shed during the battles for Independence. The white symbolizes purity. The green symbolizes the fertility of the earth.
The eagle eating a snake while perched upon a cactus is from an ancient Aztec legend in which the Aztec people were told by Huitzilopochtli (their God) that to find their promised land, they were to find the place where an eagle landed on a nopal cactus while eating a snake. After wandering for hundreds of years, they found the eagle on a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco. This new Aztec home was named Tenochtitlan (meaning "Place of the Nopal Cactus"), and in 1325, they built what is now called Mexico City.
quote: I don't know what the blue stripes across the top and bottom mean
They are based on a profound philosophical theory of Kafka (sp?) in his "משל העכבר", whatever that's called in English. It represents fundamentalist Judaism, and that is why Dr Theodor Herzl thought in a completely different direction - Zionism and 7 hours of work a day. This enfolds within it some of the toughest controversy regarding the social utopia people like Ben Gurion and Katzenellson (sp?) they tried to form. Many of those decisions are reflected in modern Israeli society today.
Actually, it's the Red Sea being crossed. But never mind.
posted
The Norwegian flag is the Dannebrog, the Danish flag, with a blue stripe through the white, making it a tricolour with all the associated liberty-fraternity-equality symbolism. Dannebrog, in turn, is supposed to derive from a flag dropping from heaven onto a Danish king fighting some Baltic pagans; the cross is obviosu Christian symbolism, but I don't know about the colours.
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posted
The Greek flag is blue and white, with a white cross on a blue background in the upper left corner and then nine blue and white stripes. The colours symbolize the sea and the sky (the white being big waves or clouds). The cross represents Greek Orthodoxy and the nine stripes stand for the nine syllables in the Greek national motto: Ελευθερια ε Θανατος (Freedom or Death).
Also, Libya's flag is green. Solid green. Probably symbolizes life or something Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Jon, would you mind terribly calling it traditional (or even Orthodox) Judaism? "Fundamentalist" is not accurate, and it has unfavorable connotations.
As far as the stripes, this site has one of the best explanations of the Israeli flag I have seen online.
quote: The blue stripes on the Zionist flag were inspired by the stripes on the tallit (prayer shawl). The tallit has two separate symbolic aspects: the light blue hue and the stripes.
The site also discusses some of the alternate versions that were proposed.
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The French flag was chosen at the beginning of 1789 revolution. Red and blue were the colors of Paris, and white the color of the King.
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quote: Jon, would you mind terribly calling it traditional (or even Orthodox) Judaism? "Fundamentalist" is not accurate, and it has unfavorable connotations.
That is precisely why I wrote "fundamentalist". Since that whole paragraph I just made up in half a minute, I took the Zionistic point of view to deliberately show how classical European Orthodoxy was thought of by those guys.
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The Brazilian flag has green for the rich flora, and gold for the mineral wealth. The blue circle is the dome of heaven with the Souther Cross constellation as seen from Brazil. Across the "equator" of the sky is the motto of the country: "Ordem e Progresso" or "Order and Progress".
(At least that's what they learned us in missionary school. )
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quote: Jon, would you mind terribly calling it traditional (or even Orthodox) Judaism? "Fundamentalist" is not accurate, and it has unfavorable connotations.
That is precisely why I wrote "fundamentalist". Since that whole paragraph I just made up in half a minute, I took the Zionistic point of view to deliberately show how classical European Orthodoxy was thought of by those guys.
Bull. You use that word almost exclusively when referring to Orthodoxy, and I've asked you to stop it before.
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