What does your countries flag symbolize?

[Ben Kenobi]

The sections pointing up and to the right, and to the left, represents Toronto giving the finger to the east and west.

*whispers

Quebec is east of Toronto too.

[Mr. President]

I used to live in Singapore, so I'm using their flag.

The crescent moon, I believe, is a nod to Singapore's Malay indigenes. The rest I can't remember.

[Bereta_Eder]

Greek flag= lines =the letters "freedom or death"


cross= cross

[Bereta_Eder]

colours= sea, sky

pretty simple explanation.


you had christians fighting for freedom or death and there was blue sea and sky

[Bereta_Eder]

and here's what delacroix had to say about it.


Eugène Delacroix. Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi. 1826. Oil on canvas. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France.

[Bereta_Eder]

Or lord byron (note that english didnt like the french back then too)

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/byron-greece.html

Trust not for freedom to the Franks---
They have a king who buys and sells:
In native swords and native ranks,
The only hope of courage dwells:
But Turkish force and Latin fraud
Would break your shield, however broad.

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
Our virgins dance beneath the shade---
I see their glorious black eyes shine;
But, gazing on each glowing maid,
My own the burning tear-drop laves,
To think such breasts must suckle slaves.

Place me on Sunium's marble steep---
Where nothing, save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep:
There, swan-like, let me sing and die;
A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine---
Dash down yon cup of Samian wine!

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by paiktis22
Or lord byron (note that english didnt like the french back then too)

Its Genetic

[Az]

the two stripes represent the Euphrates, and the Nile, and the star of David represents greater Israel, that is destined to dominate the middle east.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by DaShi
The Japanese flag is a JigglyPuff as seen from above.

The British and American flags have already been discussed here, so I don't need to go over them. The only other country that I've lived in for a long time is China, so it makes sense to explain that.

The Chinese flag takes after the Communist color scheme of gold and red. Gold is said to represent the sweat of the workers' labor, red to symbolize the blood of their sacrifice.

The first modern flag of China, established during the period of time it spent as a Republic, featured five colors for the five major ethnic groups within China. It was different from the current one in that it ran along the red-white-blue theme, but the number five remains important.

The current flag also pays respect to this ethnic range - the five smaller gold stars represent each group. The large gold star in the corner represents the country as a whole.

As of the last census, the Chinese government identified 56 ethnic groups living within the Chinese borders. Of these, the Han majority constitutes maybe 90% of the population (the Han are also the most populous ethnicity in the world). Add the four next largest minorities, and you have 99% of the Chinese population accounted for.

If China's government decides to change the flag, for whatever reason, I think it might be good to represent all 56 ethnicities with a star. They all get seats in the National Party Congress, which means (at least in theory) they all have a representative in the government. But that will probably have to wait later when the political situation in China has developed further.

[Az]

are ethnicities represented in the parliament rather than localities?

[Alinestra Covelia]

I believe so, yes. Although the NPC has widely been accused of being a rubber stamp committee...

[DaShi]

Most of the ethnicities are so intermixed that it is nearly impossible to distinguish them. There are no true Hans, nearly everyone is a mongrel of some sort. Just like Europeans.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Azazel
the two stripes represent the Euphrates, and the Nile, and the star of David represents greater Israel, that is destined to dominate the middle east.

Thanks for putting me right on this. I always thought it expressed a wish to be lifted into the heavens and spread between the Nile and Euphrates in a zillion different pieces. You live and learn.

[lightblue]

The Dutch national flag takes after the heraldry colours of William of Orange. The red used to be orange, but some kind of dye process meant that the orange turned red after time, and in the 18th century sometime we adopted red instead. Intersting little tidbit I just discovered is that the Dutch flag was the first maritime (which is where most of these flags come from originally, on land they fought under coats of arms) flag to incorporate the 3 horizontal bars. The former south african flag was "oranje-blanje-bleu" as a sign of descendency of the Boer from the Dutch.
If you want to go symbolic you could say that the blue represents the sea, the white the sky and the red/orange the royal family, although currently orange pennants are flown above the flag during the royal birthdays.

The Luxembourg flag is surprisingly not derived from the Dutch flag (it is the same aside from a lighter shade of blue), even though Luxembourg was part of Holland between 1815 and 1839 (I think). It is derived from the Grand Ducal coat of arms which consists of a red lion on a light blue and white horizontally striped background.

[Main_Brain]

Blue=Sky
The [b]twelve[b] Stars actually stand for Perfection and Unity, both teh Number itself as the Way they are presented-Circle

[Az]

Thanks for putting me right on this. I always thought it expressed a wish to be lifted into the heavens and spread between the Nile and Euphrates in a zillion different pieces. You live and learn

not very creative. Try again.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Azazel

Quote:

Thanks for putting me right on this. I always thought it expressed a wish to be lifted into the heavens and spread between the Nile and Euphrates in a zillion different pieces. You live and learn

not very creative. Try again.

OK, you asked for it.

How about it symbolising leaving the tracks of a tank over Palestinian land, restamping it as Israel?

EDIT: These are meant to be jokes. I apologise to anyone who finds them offensive.

Brits will laught at just about anything. We have to. The alternative is endlessly screaming.

[Eli]

Originally posted by Azazel
the two stripes represent the Euphrates, and the Nile, and the star of David represents greater Israel, that is destined to dominate the middle east.

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Azazel
the two stripes represent the Euphrates, and the Nile, and the star of David represents greater Israel, that is destined to dominate the middle east.

Glad to hear those two blue things aren´t the atlantic and pacific oceans, with _much_ greater Israel in between.....

[Ben Kenobi]

The crescent moon, I believe, is a nod to Singapore's Malay indigenes. The rest I can't remember.

Nope. Most countries using the crescent are Muslim countries.

[Az]

BeBro: you must remember that Greater Israel is only a part of Greater Finland.

[BeBro]

[Mr. President]

Originally posted by obiwan18


Nope. Most countries using the crescent are Muslim countries.

Singapore's Malays are majority-Muslim.

[Ben Kenobi]

Mr. President:

That's what I thought. It's not clear from how you phrased your earlier statement how the flag played tribute to the Malays.

[Mr. President]

Sorry about that.

[South killer]

Nobody really knows what the argentine flag colors were chosen for, but it is said that they represent the colours of the sky, simbolizing freedom.
The true fact is that the colours were first used when the Virreinato Del Rio De La Plata (vicerroyalty of the river plate) called a meeting to elect new authorities (the first argentinian authority, before independence). Two guys named French and Berutti (those where their surnames) started giving light-blued and white strips to argentinians attending the meeting, to diferenciate them from spaniards.
When independence war begun the revolutionary General Belgrano decided to use those colours on the national flag. Since then, the argentinian flag has been light-blued and white.
A lot of years later, the ''Sol De Mayo'' (Sun of May) was added. Nowadays, the flag with the sun is used in war and in all diplomatic events outside of Argentina, while the flag without the sun is used in not-very formal acts inside the country.

[ranskaldan]

Originally posted by Mr. President
I used to live in Singapore, so I'm using their flag.

The crescent moon, I believe, is a nod to Singapore's Malay indigenes. The rest I can't remember.

You used to live in Singapore? Nice! So did I.

When were you there? Where did you live?

Oh, and as for the crescent - the official line is that "Singapore is a new nation on the rise", hence a crescent moon.

[Ben Kenobi]

"Singapore is a new nation on the rise", hence a crescent moon."

Seems a stretch that all of the majority muslim countries are on the rise at the same time.