The Japanese have suffered not only from a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, but they have experienced a devastating tsunami.  Even though Japan is the world’s third wealthiest nation, these events would present overwhelming challenges for any nation.  Its location has subjected the country to repeated earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity.  Over 127 million people live in an area roughly the size of California, which further complicates their dire situation.  As nations of the world respond in the face of catastrophic destruction, death tolls and extent of damage are still unknown.

Japanese flags in their homeland and around the word fly at half-staff following the custom practiced in most countries.  As everywhere this shows that the mourning for loss is shared by the Japanese people and others.  Indeed the world shares the sense of tragic loss suffered by Japan.

A second method of mourning is sometimes visible in Japanese flag display.  Dating from the death of the Emperor Meiji in 1912, the Hinomaru or flag of the sun disc is raised on a flagpole where the ball ornament topping the pole has been covered with black cloth.  Above the Japanese flag flies a black pennant .

The Japanese Cabinet has the authority to specify the display of Japan’s national flag in times of mourning.  Whatever form that may take, the world mourns with Japan.

In 2011 Colonial Flag will highlight selected Flag Days celebrated in the United States and around the world.  These flag days are Flag Facts and in order to highlight these we have compiled a list of Flag Days celebrated in America as well as important Flag Days in other nations.  To spotlight these special days each month we will announce on our Web site and post articles to our blog (flag-post.com).  Additionally, we will make postings to our Facebook page, and the Colonial Flag Showroom will host special events to lead the celebrations.

Click here to see the compiled list of Flag Days.  While it would be impossible to include all Flag Days, we want to do our best to remember the days that are important to our community!

Contact us if you have you a Flag Day to suggest that we may have missed.  Share with us any observance your group may be planning which includes the display of flags.

Flags add color and excitement to any scene, but additionally they have meaning to those who display them.  They remind us of history and inspire us to action.  Join us at Colonial Flag in the celebration of flags throughout the year!

In 1824 William Driver took command of a merchant vessel named the Charles Doggett.  Proud of her son’s new assignment, William’s mother and several of her friends made him a beautiful ship’s ensign.  The flag originally had twenty-four stars.  According to several versions of the story, the flag was folded into a triangle for presentation.  A minister consecrated the ensign pointing in turn to the three corners of the triangular package, as he intoned the names of the Christian Trinity.  At each reference to Diety, the people answered, “Glory, Glory and Glory.”  Captain Driver then hoisted his new ships flag and told his crew, “I’ll call her Old Glory, boys, Old Glory.”

A ships ensign did not survive long in the wind and weather of the high seas.  We can simply guess that William Driver only flew the ensign on special occasions.  When not flying over his ship, Driver stowed Old Glory in a camphor wood sea chest.  The flag accompanied Captain Driver to exotic ports around the world.

In 1837 Driver quit the sea and moved to Nashville, Tennessee.  Still preserving Old Glory in his sea chest, the Captain displayed his ship’s ensign proudly on holidays.  His neighbors learned of his fierce patriotism and loyalty to the United States.  As the Civil War approached, Captain Driver’s wife and daughters updated Old Glory adding ten new stars and an anchor to the field of blue.  The anchor honored the Captain’s years at sea.

Just after Tennessee proclaimed its secession from the Union, William Driver again displayed Old Glory from his Nashville home.  Then, fearing rebel soldiers might confiscate his flag, he had it sewn into a quilt cover.  Confederates did search his house and property, but never found Old Glory’s hiding place.

In February of 1862, Federal troops entered Nashville.  Captain Driver met soldiers from the Ohio 6^th Infantry Regiment at the Tennessee Capitol.  Driver carried his ship’s flag, Old Glory in his arms.  He hoisted the flag over the spire of the Statehouse.  The 6^th Ohio Regiment adopted “Old Glory” as their motto.  Newspapers reported the incident and the nickname of Old Glory spread throughout the Union.  So, once only the name William Driver called his ship’s flag, Old Glory became in time the name for all United States flags.

William Driver presented Old Glory to his daughter, Mary Jane Driver Roland.  She transported the artifact by train from Nashville, Tennessee to Ogden, Utah Territory.  Mary Jane carried the folded flag in her lap during the long trip, fearful it might be lost.   From Ogden she traveled by wagon for the remaining three hundred miles to her home in northern Nevada.  In 1922, the Smithsonian Institution acquired Old Glory.  By this time it was too fragile to unfold.  Only black and white photographs existed.  For decades textile curators stored the flag unseen by the public.  Finally in 1982, the Smithsonian conserved the delicate flag and placed it on display for the first time.  Together with the Star Spangled Banner, Old Glory can be seen in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

It celebrates the day in 1814 when Norway adopted its Constitution and declared its independence.   Sadly, the Norwegians were forced into an unwanted union with Sweden.  A symbol of the union appeared on their flag.  The Union device was an awkward design that combined the Swedish and Norwegian flags.  The Norwegians disliked the union emblem and said it looked like a bowl of herring salad.  They longed for the return of their “clean flag” with the union symbol removed.  They longed for their independence.  In 1905 the union of Sweden and Norway was finally dissolved.  Norwegians again had their “clean flag” without the herring salad.

The Norwegian flag with the union emblem (upper left).

To celebrate Norway and the Norwegian flag on Constitution Day, the people form huge parades all over the countryside.  The marchers each carry their national flag.  The parade is for the participants, the people who march in the parade.  It is not a parade for observers.  Parades are held in cities and towns over the length and width of Norway.  In Oslo alone, the national capital, one hundred thousand people take part in the celebration.  Many wear the national costume or the national colors of red, white and blue.  However, central to it all is Norway’s flag.

On Wednesday, February 17, 2009, a Military commander raised the Afghan flag in the bullet-ridden main market of the Taliban’s southern stronghold of Marjah, signifying (to some) the end of the Taliban rule whilst elsewhere firefights continued to break out between holed-up militants and U.S. and Afghan troops.

Learn more here…

Soldier hoist an Afghan flag in Marjah, Afghanistan. Photo by Altaf Qadri.

The Flag of Afghanistan.

Starting in 1747, the Flag of Afghanistan underwent 24 changes.  In the 20th century alone, the flag underwent 19 changes.  Since 2000 the flag has been modified 3 more times.

Today, the Flag of Afghanistan consists of a vertical tricolor of black, red and green charged in the center of the flag the classical emblem of Afghanistan with a mosque with its “mihrab” facing Mecca.  The vertical tricolor has been present on most flags of Afghanistan in the last 20 years.

The colors on the Flag of Afghanistan, black, red and green, are meant to represent different chapters in the nation’s history.  The color black represents the 19th century, when a series of wars led to British occupation.  The color red represents the nation’s fight for independence, and green is meant to show that independence has been achieved.  Fascinatingly, these colors were also part of the Flag of Afghanistan from 1928 to 1978, running either vertically or horizontally.  At that time, black represented the previous monochrome version of Afghan flags, which in turn represented the sovereign.  Some have said that the color red was taken from the Soviet flag and meant to represent modernity and progress.  The color green stood for Islam.

The classical emblem of Afghanistan in the center of the Flag of Afghanistan has the “shahadah” in the Arabic language at the top of the flag.  As mentioned above, below the shahdah is the image of a mosque with a “mihrab” that is facing Mecca with a prayer mat on the inside.  Attached to the mosque are two flags, taken to stand for flags of Afghanistan.  Beneath the mosque is an inscription that states the name of the nation.  Two flags are also attached to the mosque, which are taken to be flags of Afghanistan.  Around the mosque is a “garland.”

Poor neighborhood shows heavy damage after magnitude-7.0 earthquake.

On Tuesday afternoon, January 12, 2010, Haiti’s history and life of its citizens was again abruptly turned upside down.  The tiny island in the Caribbean Sea was struck by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake, the country’s most severe earthquake in more than 200 years.

Arial view shows collapsed Hotel Christopher in Port-Au-Prince.

The confirmed death toll has risen to 150,000+, but that was only the count of bodies so far found in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s recorded (troubled) history began about 5 centuries ago, on December 5, 1492, when the European navigator, explorer and explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the beach of an island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean, that later came to be known as the “Caribbean Sea.”

Haiti was inhabited by the “Taíno,” an Arawakan people, who variously called their island “Ayiti,” “Bohio,” or “Kiskeya.”  Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, and soon after his arrival renamed it “La Isla Española,” the Spanish Island.

Following these events, both Spain and France ended up colonizing what is now modern-day “Haiti.”  Eventually, however, the island’s emerging multicultural population battled through and won its own independence about 2 centuries ago, in 1804.

Haiti’s Flag was adopted on February 25, 1987.  The nation’s flag is a simple one with two horizontal strips of blue and red of equal size.  The blue and red of the flag were retained after a French Tricolore was torn up in 1803, one year before Haiti’s independence.  The two parts ended up being stitched together horizontally to make a completely new flag.

The flag of Haiti.

What Haiti’s Flag symbolizes and the feelings it evokes are what make this flag especially powerful.  It recognizes the country’s European heritage through its vibrant blue and red colors.

The coat of arms of Haiti on the center of the flag.

Since 1843, Haiti’s Flag has had the coat of arms of Haiti on a white panel in the center.  The coat of arms depicts a trophy of weapons ready to defend freedom, and a royal palm for independence.  The palm is topped by the Cap of Liberty.  The national motto is on a white scroll reading “L’Union Fait La Force,” Unity Makes Strength.

Today, Haiti’s left to deal with the tragic effects of a magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck on January 12.  Fortunately, many countries, organizations and individuals have come to Haiti’s aid.

Ensign Adam Cole holds hands with Haitian girl during assessment visit.

People all over the world are showing a strong unified front by displaying Haiti’s Flag on their cars, in office windows, or outside their homes.  By so doing, they also pay respect to the hosts of lives lost in this recent tragedy.

Visit the American Red Cross for information on donating money to Haiti.