Thai Vexillological Association (Thailand)

I took knowledge about the activities of Thai Vexillological Association (TVA) for only few weeks. However, the work has been impressive, in my opinion, especially in their Facebook page (I recommend the visit).

They also have a very clever flag:

The elephant comes from the flag used by Thailand from the 19th century until 1917; there were variants with a simple and an adorned with royal regalia elephant, and it was actually a white elephant on a red field. It seems obvious the option for the elephant as a royal symbol. On the top of the flag, there's a representation of the sheet knot, initially used by FIAV (Federation of International Associations of Vexillology) and then by many other associations of vexillology; the knot represents the nautical origins of the flags. The knot is adorned with the colors of the current Thailand flag.

The current Thailand flag was adopted in 1917. According to a story, the king Rama VI, when seeing the elephant flag flying upside-down, decided to adopt a totally symmetrical design. Initially, the middle stripe was red, but soon it was changed to blue. The symbology of the colors is the following: red for land and people, white for all religions, and dark blue for monarchy (the astrologers considered the color auspicious to Rama VI). Moreover, the flag was adopted during World War I, and had the same colors of the flags of some Allies: the USA, the United Kingdom and France. Having a good and exclusive design, the flag remains without problems since then.

Your comments are welcome.

Slovakia

The flag of Slovakia, adopted in 1992, is the following:

Although flags with full achievement of arms are considered a bad practice, simple shields, specially when cleverly executed like in Slovakian case, can generate very good flags. The flag of Slovakia needs to adopt the coat of arms because its plain version is identical to Russia's.

As I said, the flag of Slovakia is very cleverly executed, using only three colors and a very geometric coat of arms in a very equilibrated layout.

The Slovak flag contains the pan-Slavic colors, and is charged with an off-centered coat of arms of the Slovakia. The origins of the coat of arms of Slovakia is the Hungarian coat of arms. While the stripes were more associated with Lower Hungary, the double cross and the mounts were more associated with Upper Hungary (whose territory was similar to current Slovakia). The double cross was used at least since the Crusades, as a Christian symbol and of old usage in the kingdom. The hills represent the Tatra, Matra and Fatra chains, in this order (Tatra and Fatra are in Slovakia).

During the Revolutions of 1848 (also known as "Springtime of the People"), the coat of arms was adopted, when the red-white-green color set (associated with Hungary) was substituted by the pan-Slavic colors, by a "Slovak National Council". In the same time, the current flag (with or without coat of arms) started to be used unofficially. It was used to represent Slovakia in the Czechoslovakia, and adopted by the Nazi-client Slovak Republic. Because of the association with the nazism, the coat of arms wasn't used by the socialist regime, but returned to usage in Slovakia independence.

I hope you liked the post. All comments are welcome.