New Russia / Novorossiya, Russia (naval jack)

A new unrecognized nation, Novorossiya (literally, "New Russia"), appeared on Ukraine, claiming territories from Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. According to current reports, it's unlikely to exist an official flag, but interesting proposals appeared on internet. I'll talk about two.

The first is from somebody nicknamed "arcktick". The photographs skillfully edited on Photoshop may have confused distracted Western sources, that often record them as widely used flags.

According to artist's page, the colors were chosen due to their wide use on Ukrainian oblast flags. Moreover, the flag can be obtained from combinations of Ukrainian and imperial and current Russian flags, as you can see below:

The second is the flag of New Russia Party, a Russophile Ukrainian flag behing the Novorossiya idea. Its flag, backed by many photographs, consists only of the white-blue-red of current Russian flag.

I've saw many Americans noticing the similarity between the flag above and the contemporary Confederate flag, but its most probable origin can be other: the Russian naval jack, below.

This flag consists of the union of St. George's and St. Andrew's cross, like the Great Britain flag, but on reverse order of colors. The naval jack was part of a set of flags designed by czar Peter I the Great himself. At the time, Peter I travelled to many European states, with the goal of forming an anti-Ottoman alliance (he failed) and modernizing Russia, and, on his stay on England, the Union ensign may have inspired him to create the Russian own jack.

But the flag, anyway, has a strong significance to Russia: St. Andrew, having preached along the Black Sea and region, is Russia's patron saint (curiously, Ukraine's, too), and St. George have been Moscow's city patron saint for centuries. The two saints also names important Russian military orders.

Comments (critiques, suggestions, corrections, additional info) is welcome.

Book Review: Flags Through the Ages and Across the World (Whitney Smith)

I've recently acquired the monumental Flags Through the Ages and Across the World (1975), by Whitney Smith, Ph.D. considered the founder of the "vexillology" (by the way, this word was created by him), the study of flags. It has more than 350 pages, 2257 artwork pieces made exclusively to the book, , featuring the masterpieces by Franz Coray, and many selected deluxe illustrations and photographs.

It's certainly among the best vexillology books ever written, and, although out-of-date and with minor errors, it's worth any money you can invest on it. The books excels both as a guide to vexillology and as a reference book.

This book is divided in some sections, and I'll describe them one by one.

Introduction (pages 7-31). Contains a brief introduction to the vexillology, and a very complete glossary of terms related to flags and heraldry.

Flags Through the Ages (pages 32-203). For its historiographic valor, the highlight of the book. This section tells the history of the flags since its ancestors ("vexilloids") from five millenia ago until the current usage, including sub-sections related to some historically relevant flags (like the standards of Charlemagne and Joan of Arc), the evolution of flag etiquette, the usage in many contexts (religious, military, naval, etc.) and timelines to some of most famous national flags.

Flags Accross the World (pages 204-303). Describes and explains the flags and coats of arms of all independent nations (and some subnational entities, when relevant) at the time of book conclusion. In the course of time, many of them became obsolete, but this section is yet a relevant text for reference. The section contains appendixes about international flags (like the United Nations and Red Cross) and flags of some ethnic and cultural minorities.

Symbols (pages 304-348). In a very original and intuitive layout, the section cites many flags with common symbols (geometric shapes, animals, plants, etc.) and patterns (the crescent and star, for example).

Alaska (USA)

Hey, Hollywood, what about a movie about the history of Alaskan flag. It has a rare history for a flag, and it happened on American territory... Well, I did my part.

The history of Alaskan flag starts with Benny Benson, a 13-years old boy with Aleutian blood. When he was three years old, his mother had died, and his father was forced to send his brother and him to orphanage. The year is 1927, and American Legion government is holding a government to decide the first Alaskan flag; more than 700 children from 7th to 12th grades submitted entries.


Benny didn't have doubts about what putting on the flags. The Big Dipper is the constellation that he looked at the sky every single night before sleeping, during all those years in the orphanage. The ratio of the flag, on his original words:

The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear—symbolizing strength.

Benny's original design was quite similar to current flag, but had the "1867" inscription on it, that corresponds to the year of the American purchase of Alaska Territory from Russia. A modern reconstruction:


Winning the contest, he gained a US$1,000 prize, a watch and a trip to Washington, DC. He would only waste the money prize some years later, paying a professional course in diesel engines repair. Years on, he moved to Kodiak, Alaska to work as airplane mechanic; city's airport now holds his name.

Hope the history is worth the ticket... I mean, the reading. Comments are welcome!

World Heritage Convention

You may have seen the today's flag yet. No matter in what continent you live. There's a flag granted to all the UNESCO's World Heritage sites, occasionally also used by the entities that protect te sites.

There are many variants of the flag, but you'll find more commonly these two:



The first, red on white, the second like UNESCO flag (white on UN blue). The inscriptions in English ("WORLD HERITAGE") and French ("PATRIMOINE MONDIAL") are always present, but the writing in Spanish ("PATRIMONIO MUNDIAL") can be replaced by the national language of the country where the site is located.

The square stands for the result of human skills (the cultural heritages), while the circle represents the Earth (the natural heritages). The circle also remembers a bell jar, representing protection (the World Heritage Convention itself). The fact the circle and the square are intrinsically united represents the link between cultural and natural heritages.

The logo of the design has a strong simplicity that combines with a flag. The text, however, could be dropped without extra thought (as in some variants of the flag), because the wind would be too strong or too weak to the text be read on the biggest part of time.

Hope you knew more about this flag. Comments are welcome.

Union of South American Nations

The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR in its Spanish acronym) is an organization formed by the 12 independent nations of South America (with Mexico and Panama as associate members).

Although apparently unofficial, a flag appears on most of the meetings of the organizations (like that, that occurred this month).


The flag is blue with a white logo. The use of logos on flags is common between international organizations, but may result in bad results, specially if the logo is too abstract or two complex; what's not UNASUR flag's case. The logo, similar to a whirl, remembers the shape of the South American continent. Reported variants have the "UNASUR" word either above or below the logo.

The flag is considerably different from the proposed flag given by Peruvian then-president Alan García to the president of Chile and then pro-tempo president of UNASUR, Michelle Bachelet, on its constitution summit.


The flag presented by García was red, with a golden silhouette of South America inscribed in a golden ring. That flag was inspired by a design by his party's founder, Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1895-1979). Haya's design, however, had the map of the whole Latin America instead of South America only.

Comments are welcome.

Crimea

The flag of Crimea has appeared on many newspapers on last days. This post will not discuss the politics related, but the flag itself.

If you read or watch news recurrently, it's very possible that you have saw this flag:


If you look carefully, the design is rare and curious.The central stripes is too wide compared to whole flag. The reason is it isn't an untouched flag. In 1992, five flag proposals were presented to the Crimean parliament, that chose proposal #5, by A. Malgin and V. Trusov, that was identical to current flag, except for a detail...


Yes, the coat of arms. The white area was originally destined to it, but Crimean parliament decided not to use the arms on the flag, leaving it blank. Vexillology is also made by intentions and should-bes...

I don't know any documents containing the rationale of each of the submitted proposals at the time. While the colors are the same of the coat of arms, it's not clear if the use of Pan-Slavic (or, more specifically, Russian) colors were intentional.

Comments are welcome.

Asano clan (Japan)

I've recently watched the 47 Ronin (2013) movie, and some flags that appeared on movie attracted my attention. Don't worry, no spoilers!

One of the patterns that appear more often on the movie is, as I was found on my research, the mon of the Asano clan. Asano Naganori was the daimyo of the samurais that would, during the movie, became the forty-seven ronin (masterless samurai) of the title; it was usual to commoners without mon to use those of their patrons or organization. That mon consists of falcon feathers in saltire; falcon feathers were a popular pattern for being used in arrows, and in decoration for some special occasion.

Many flags with this mon appear on the movie, for example on this scene (don't know about historical accuracy). Here's one of those flags I reconstructed:


Japanese mons are used even today as symbol of a family, organization or clan (similarly to Western coats of arms and badges), and are very simple and monochromatic. They commonly appear in architecture, personal marks and, on the age of the samurai, flags, specially during the battles.

The mon were excellent during samurai battles, as their simple designs could be easily used to distinguish friends and foes. As explained on a previous post, the Japanese mon is the base of the Japanese flags tradition.

Comments are welcome.

Sochi (Krasnodar, Russia)

Winter Olympic Games are occurring right now, and it's a good occasion to review the flag of the Sochi, the host city, that's rarely appearing on media coverage. This flag:


The flag is inspired on the coat of arms of Sochi, that has origins on a Soviet-era coat of arms (later re-adopted, without the hammer, the sickle and other ornaments), therefrom the very abstract representation that's considered bad heraldry. It could be a good logo to a resort city like Sochi, but not a flag or coat of arms.

And what all those thingies on the flag represent? Each quarter represents one of four administrative areas of the city: the snow mountains represent the ski resorts of Adler district; the palm tree represent the Khostinsky district, that includes the biggest arboretum of Russia; the sun represents the Central district an its development, but also the beach season that lasts about ten months; the wavy line represents the Black Sea coast on Lazarev district. On the center of the flag, a bowl of flaming water, representing the spa resort on Matsesta river: Matsesta means "flaming water", because of the skin redness caused by the therapeutic factors present on its waters.

Well, the flag of Sochi leaves the good impression that Sochi is much more than Winter Olympics. We all hope it is!

Comments are welcome.

The Forster Flag (USA)

The today's review is dedicated to a flag that will soon be auctioned: the Forster Flag, also known as Forster-Knight Flag, because of its original owner families.

Here's a reconstruction of the flag (a photograph of original flag can be seen here):

It's a crimson field, with six white stripes on left hoist on obverse, and seven on reverse. A difference piece of fabric on canton proves that the flag was made from a red ensign with Union Jack removed. Its overall state is very good to an American Revolution flag, and cord and tassels have survived!

The flag will be auctioned on Doyle New York on April 9th 2014, and its estimate value is between US$ 1,000,000 and 3,000,000. The value seems too high, but a list of facts about the flag, elaborated by vexillology legend Whitney Smith to Flag Bulletin #205 (3rd bimester/2002), can justify it:

• It's the oldest known American flag i.e. the first flag intended to represent the country;
• It's the oldest surviving flag to represent America with thirteen red and white stripes;
• It was carried on the battles of Lexington and Concord, the firsts of Revolutionary War;
• It's one of 30 surviving flags used by rebel troops during the war;
• It's one of two surviving Revolutionary flags to replace a British symbol by an American one;
• Among the 27 war colours on USA, it's the only one that's not owned by a public museum or institution, and its ownership history since Revolutionary days is well established;
• It was never restored but is still in good state, including the original cord and tassels;
• It appeared on a 1999 US Post stamp series in tribute to important flags of American history;
• And much other reasons that can found on link above.

This flag was originally owned by Samuel Forster, lieutenant of Essex Regiment, and was preserved in his family until 1975, when it was acquired by the Flag Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization and has, since then, been the most valuable item of its collection. Its authenticity was proved many times.

If it's a so important flag, why is it in auction? Only a very good reason would justify it, and there is one: the money will be reverted in benefit to the collection of the own Whitney Smith's Flag Research Center unique and collection to be incorporated by the University of Texas at Austin, what will be very valuable to vexillology research around the world.

I certainly don't have US$ 1,000,000 to pay on a flag, so I can only wait that the future owner knows how to preserve and have good use of this true treasury of American history.

Stockholm city (Sweden)

Some flags have a really curious history, and Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and biggest city of Scandinavia, is one of those cases that deserves their own "review".

The flag of the city of Stockholm:


You may be asking: "Who's the man on the flag?".

Well, the answer is not that simple. The banner of arms of Stockholm is blue and yellow (Swedish flag colors) with the head of St. Eric, former king and patron saint of Sweden, associated with many popular legends. The arms of the city is inspired by a mediaeval seal of the city. The combination of colors and charges is excellent to denote the importance of Stockholm to Sweden.

So the man on the flag is St. Eric? Don't be so sure.

During the standardization of Stockholm coat of arms, in early 1930s, inspiration were took from a statue on Roslags-Bro Church, that can be saw below.


The curious history about it all is that, currently, that statue is considered to most probably represent another saint: St. Olaf, king and patron saint... of Norway!

Comments are welcome.