Flags and what they show

A flag is a piece of cloth on a pole.

It has colors and shapes. When the wind blows, the flag flaps. People can see it from far away.

A flag is a piece of cloth with a pattern of colors and shapes. Flags can stand for a country, a city or an organization. They also send messages, and people use them to decorate for celebrations.

A flag has to work while it flaps in the wind, so flag makers use light cloth and print the same pattern on both sides. That is also why most flags have no words: words would be hard to read when the flag is moving or seen from the back. Simple patterns are easiest to recognize.

Britannica explains that flags were first used mainly in war, to tell friend from foe, and are now widely used for signaling, decoration and display; by the end of the Middle Ages they had become accepted symbols of countries, rulers, organizations and cities. Because a flag is only useful for identification if it blows out freely in the wind, it is usually made of light material and carries a pattern that is identical on both sides. Wording therefore tends to be left out, and simple patterns are favored.

European flag design often follows a rule borrowed from heraldry, the old system of designs on shields: avoid placing two "metals" (yellow and white) next to each other, or two colors without a metal between them. The flag of Vatican City, which places yellow beside white, is a well-known exception.

Flags have parts with names.

The side next to the pole is the hoist. The far side is the fly. Most flags are rectangles. Switzerland's flag is a square!

Flags have parts with special names. The side nearest the pole is the hoist, and the outer side is the fly. The main background is called the field. Some flags have a different design in the upper corner next to the pole, called the canton.

Most national flags are rectangles, longer than they are tall. A few are different. The flag of Switzerland is square, and the flag of Nepal is not a rectangle at all: it is made of two triangle shapes, one above the other.

The part of a flag nearest the staff is the hoist, and the outer part the fly; a flag's length usually exceeds its width. The field is the main area, and a distinct design in the upper hoist corner is the canton. Flags of different forms and uses have names such as colours, standards, banners, ensigns, pennants and burgees.

Shapes and proportions vary. Britannica gives the width-to-length ratio of Japan's flag as 2 to 3 and that of Australia's and New Zealand's as 1 to 2. Switzerland's national flag is square, and Nepal's is nonrectangular: two pennant (triangular) shapes joined together, crimson with blue borders.

Flags use pictures called symbols.

The flag of the United States has 13 stripes and 50 stars. Japan's flag has a red circle that looks like the sun. Canada's flag has a red maple leaf.

Many flags use symbols that stand for something. The flag of the United States has 13 red and white stripes for the 13 original colonies, and 50 white stars for the 50 states. A star is added when a new state joins; the last change was in 1960, after Hawaii became a state.

Japan's flag is a white field with a red disk, a simple picture of the sun. Nepal's flag shows a white moon and a white sun. Canada's flag, raised for the first time in 1965, has a single red maple leaf between two red bands.

The US government explains that the flag's 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies and its 50 stars the 50 states; a star is added when a state joins, and the flag was last modified on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii's admission.

Britannica describes Japan's flag as a white field with a central red disk, a stylized sun; its current form was adopted in 1854, and the national parliament formally adopted it by law in 1999. Nepal's crimson flag carries a white moon with eight rays above a white stylized sun with 12 rays. Australia's flag shows five stars of the Southern Cross constellation and a seven-pointed Commonwealth Star, which stands for the six states and the Northern Territory.

Some flags look like cousins.

Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland all have a cross on their flags. The crosses are in different colors. Can you spot the family?

Some flags belong to families that share a design. The flags of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland all have a cross. Denmark's cross is set a little toward the pole, with arms that reach the edges, and the others look much the same. Denmark's is a white cross on red, Sweden's a yellow cross on blue, Norway's a blue cross outlined in white on red, Finland's a blue cross on white, and Iceland's a red cross bordered in white on blue.

Another family puts the United Kingdom's flag, the Union Jack, in the canton. Australia and New Zealand both do this, and both add stars from the Southern Cross, a constellation, or pattern of stars.

Britannica calls the off-center cross on Denmark's flag a Scandinavian Cross, its arms extending to the edges. Sweden flies a yellow cross on blue, Norway a blue cross outlined in white on red, Finland a blue cross on white, and Iceland a white-bordered red cross on blue; when Iceland's flag was approved in 1915, a red cross was added to a proposed blue and white design so that the colors of Denmark would be included.

The Union Jack is itself a combination. The first British union flag of 1606 joined the crosses of England and Scotland, and on January 1, 1801, the cross of Ireland was added, with narrow white borders so the colors would not touch. Australia (whose winning design was announced in 1901) and New Zealand (whose flag was legally set in 1902) both place the Union Jack in the canton and Southern Cross stars in the fly.

People in Canada once made a brand-new flag.

Thousands of people sent in ideas. The first maple leaf had 13 points. It was too hard to see from far away. So the leaf got 11 points instead.

How do you design a flag? In 1964, Canada's parliament set up a committee to choose a new national flag. Canadians sent in a few thousand ideas, and the committee chose a design by George Stanley: one red maple leaf on white, with two red borders.

The first version of the leaf had 13 points, but it lost its detail when seen from far away. So a graphic artist, Jacques St-Cyr, redrew it with 11 points. The new flag was raised on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on February 15, 1965.

Canada's government recounts that after the Prime Minister's own proposal met strong opposition in 1964, a 15-member parliamentary committee was given six weeks to recommend a flag. After considering a few thousand concepts submitted by Canadians, it voted on October 22, 1964, for George Stanley's single-leaf design, inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College in Kingston.

The working design had a stylized 13-point maple leaf, but it lost its detail when seen from far away, so graphic artist Jacques St-Cyr redesigned it with 11 points. The House of Commons and the Senate approved the flag, it was proclaimed on January 28, 1965, and it was raised on Parliament Hill on February 15, 1965. The story shows a key rule of flag design: a flag must be recognizable at a distance.

Some flags send messages.

A white flag means 'let's stop and talk.' A flag halfway down its pole means people are sad. Long ago, a yellow flag on a ship meant someone on board was sick.

Flags can also send messages without any words. A white flag is used around the world to ask for a truce, a pause to talk. A flag flown halfway down its pole, called half-mast, is a sign that people are mourning someone who has died.

In the past, a ship flew a yellow flag to tell others that someone on board had an illness that could spread, and kept it up until the ship had been cleared. Ships also greet each other by dipping their flags: lowering them slowly, then raising them again.

Britannica lists many signaling uses. The white flag is used universally as a flag of truce, and a flag at half-mast is the universal symbol of mourning. Britannica also records the yellow flag as the traditional signal of infectious illness: a ship hoisted it while some on board had a disease such as cholera, and kept it up until the ship had passed quarantine.

Ships at sea salute each other by dipping, running the flag slowly down and then smartly back up, and flying a national ensign upside down is a ship's distress signal. Etiquette matters too: each national flag must be flown from its own staff, because placing one country's flag above another's has traditionally signaled victory.