DID YOU KNOW?
As February draws to a close, we at Brook international remain excited about the coming months of 2023 and our upcoming projects.
As our customers will know, we produce and supply quality fabric, enabling our customers to craft flags for a variety of different occasions. The history behind the flags of different countries, events and communities makes for interesting reading, so for this month’s newsletter, we have compiled a list of different facts about flags that will leave you wanting to know more!
The Olympic Flag
In 1920, the first Olympic flag suddenly went missing at the end of the games for 77 years. Until 101-year-old ex-Olympian, Hal Haig Prieste finally revealed in an interview that he had stolen the flag as a prank after the games and popped it in his luggage, where it remained in hiding until his 1997 revelation. He returned the flag to the International Olympic Committee 3 years later during the 2000 Olympics. The committee presented him with a plaque thanking him for “donating” the flag that he had stolen from them all those years ago.
During the 1936 Olympics ceremony, two countries Haiti and Liechtenstein discovered they were using the same flag, which was a little awkward. The national flag of Haiti, which was used for athletic events, had horizontal blue and red stripes like Liechtenstein’s. After the resemblance was discovered and to avoid further embarrassment, Liechtenstein added a gold crown to their flag.
There are only two flags in the world that have the colour purple on them! Only two countries include it in their palette – Dominica, and Nicaragua. In each of these flags, you have to look carefully for the colour purple as it is used sparingly. This is due to two primary factors: Purple dye was too expensive to include in flag designs for centuries and was difficult to manufacture. Also, purple has a long history of being associated with royalty or wealth, making it a risky colour for the countries to promote.
The flags of Australia and New Zealand have a lot in common. They’re so close that when Prime Minister Bob Hawke visited Canada in 1984, he was greeted with the New Zealand flag. Former New Zealand Prime Minister John Keys had a similar problem with the Australian flag, and the debate for a new flag in both nations continues.
The only difference is that New Zealand’s flag features 5-point stars and are red with white outlining, while Australian flag has 7-point stars in white.
The Mozambican flag has been the topic of discussion since it is the only flag in the world with a symbol of a modern weapon. Many argue that the weapon represents violence and civil war, and it should be removed entirely from the flag.
A competition was held in 2005 to design a new flag for the country, and over 100 designs were submitted. A new flag was chosen, but nothing has changed since then.
White flags have been considered as a surrender signal since Ancient Roman times. Although we can’t be 100% certain, historians believe that the colour choice was made as per convenience. As white clothes were easily accessible in the ancient world and were considered highly visible. Today, the white flag is not just considered as a sign of surrender but also symbolises the wish to negotiate.
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