The flag is based on the military flag given by King Sobhuza II to the Swazi Pioneer Corps in 1941 to remind them of the nation’s military traditions. On 25 April 1967, the day the pledge of oath was taken by the king, the flag was hoisted for the first time. The College of Arms in London registered the flag on 30 October 1967. The first official hoisting of the flag was conducted on this day.
The national flag of Cuba consists of five alternating stripes (three blue and two white) and a red equilateral triangle at the hoist, within which is a white five-pointed star. It was designed in 1849 and officially adopted May 20, 1902.
It is one of the two flags of a currently socialist country (the other being Laos) that does not use any communist symbolism.
The three blue stripes represent the three departments in which Cuba was divided at that time, the white purity of ideals, the light; the red triangle, originating from the French Revolution – and the three ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity: red for the blood and the courage; the star was the new state that should be added to the United States.
The twelve rays of the white Sun symbolize the twelve months and the twelve traditional shichen (時辰; shíchén), a traditional unit of time which corresponds to two modern hours. Sun Yat-sen added the “Red Earth” to the flag to signify the blood of the revolutionaries who sacrificed themselves in order to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and create the ROC. Together, the three colors of the flag correspond to the Three Principles of the People: Blue represents nationalism and liberty; White represents democracy and equality; and Red represents the people’s livelihood and fraternity. President Chiang Kai-shek proclaimed on the National Day in 1929, “As long as a national flag with Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth flies on the land of China, it symbolises the independence and liberty of the descendants of the Huang Emperor”.
According to the current interpretation, the colors signify:
Yellow: Represents the riches of the country, the wealth of the Colombian soil, the gold, sovereignty, harmony, justice and agriculture, as well as the Sun, the source of Light.
Blue: represents the seas on Colombia’s shores, the rivers that run through, and the sky above.
Red: represents the blood spilled for Colombia’s independence and also the effort of Colombian people, the determination and the perseverance. It represents that although Colombia’s people have had to struggle they have thrived.
The flag of China, officially the National Flag of the People’s Republic of China and also known as the Five-starred Red Flag, is a Chinese red field charged in the canton (upper corner nearest the flagpole) with five golden stars. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in a semicircle set off towards the fly (the side farthest from the flag pole). The red represents the “revolution”; the five stars and their relationship represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The first flag was hoisted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on a pole overlooking Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, at a ceremony announcing the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
he flag of Quebec, called the Fleurdelisé (the Lily-flowered) represents the province of Quebec. It consists of a white cross on a blue background, with four white fleur-de-lis.
It was adopted by the government of Quebec during the administration of Maurice Duplessis (March 9, 1950). It was the first provincial flag officially adopted in Canada, first shown on January 21, 1948, at the Parliament Building of the National Assembly in Quebec City. Quebec’s Flag Day (January 21) commemorates its adoption each year, though for some time it was celebrated in May. At least one parade marked the flag’s 60th anniversary in January 2008.
The Fleurdelisé takes its white cross from the royal flags of the Kingdom of France, namely the French naval flag as well as the French merchant flag.
Its white fleurs-de-lis (symbols of purity) and blue field (symbolizing Heaven) come from a banner honouring the Virgin Mary. One such was reputedly carried by French Canadian militia at General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm’s victory at Carillon.
The flag is blazoned Azure, a cross between four fleurs-de-lis argent. Its horizontal symmetry allows both sides of the flag to show the same image.
The symbolic meaning of the flag colours (as stated by Harold Thomas) is:
Black – represents the Aboriginal people of Australia
Yellow circle – represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector
Red – represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal peoples’ spiritual relation to the land
The sun is called the Sun of May because it is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin, approved in 1813, whose value was eight escudos (one Spanish dollar). It has 16 straight and 16 waved sunbeams.
In 1978 the sun color was specified to be golden yellow (amarillo oro), to have an inner diameter of 10 cm, and an outer diameter of 25 cm (the diameter of the sun equals 5⁄6 the height of the white stripe. The sun’s face is 2⁄5 of its height). It features 32 rays, alternately wavy and straight, and from 1978 it must be embroidered in the “Official Flag Ceremony”.
Perhaps it is silly of me, but I have been reading a compilation of the earliest editions of the Wonder Woman comics from the early 1940s. Unlike the other super-heroes of the time, Wonder Woman’s primary power was the power of love. Sure, she was incredible strong, she could deflect bullets, she flew an invisible plane, and she could force anyone to tell the truth or do as she instructed with her lasso, but through everything she did in the early days of her comic book appearances, she always tried to change the world to be a more loving place, to reduce the influence of Ares, or Mars, the God of War and to increase the influences of Aphrodite, or Venus, the Goddess of Love. Instead of incarceration of execution for villains, Wonder Woman tried to reform through love and kindness. Perhaps it would benefit us all to revisit the early editions of Wonder Woman, not the later more violent and vindictive versions of today, but the original intent.
