New Zealand Flag Institute

 WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF A FLAG?

 

"A moth-eaten rag on a worm-eaten pole,
It doesn't look likely to stir a man's soul;
'Tis the deeds that were done 'neath the moth-eaten rag
When that pole was a staff and the rag was a Flag."

 

 

General Sir Edward Bruce Hamley,

Referring to the Colours of the

43rd Monmouth Light Infantry Regiment    

 

 

 

 

The origins of flags lies in ancient history. Originally they may have been simply decorative streamers, or perhaps ceremonial images. They were superior to many other emblems: cheap and simple to make; easy to carry and display; and attracting attention with their lifelike movement in the wind.

 

Flags came to symbolise variously leaders, communities, gods, merchant and craft guilds, ships, and towns. A flag often gained the same respect as was accorded to the person or thing which it represented. In battle, the loss of a flag was a severe blow. The capture of the opponents flag might be the turning point in a battle.  Flags often bore religious symbols, and were used in religious as well as state occasions.

 

The modern national flag arose in the seventeenth century, with the creation of the first modern states. Before that most countries had only had the flag of the rulers. Some modern national flags are even now used only by the government and military, with a different flag (a civil flag) used by the people.

 

-continued

 

 

 

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