When the Olympics year is upon us again and some 150 national flags will fly in procession with our Stars and Stripes at the Games, it should behoove us Americans to learn a bit about vexillology.
Did the word stop your eye? It should. It's relatively new and unused. It's the study of flags, according to Dr. Whitney Smith, who should know, since he created the word in 1975 from the Latin vexillum, meaning "military standard".
Dr. Smith has written at least nine books while pursuing s special interest in vexillology, including having his hand in on compiling the mammoth research tome "Flags Through the Ages and Across the World" (McGraw-Hill).
Beyond the history of flags are the regulations each country lists for the display of its flag.
The U.S. has an entire Flag Code, which I included in my book The United States Flagbook, published by McFarland Press in 1996. Unfortunately, time, public ignorance and/or apathy toward the code and new material products have left this Code badly in need of revisions. (I spent five years researching everything about the flag and, after the book was published, wrote a letter to then-President Bill Clinton offering to take on a revision job, gratis. Never heard back.
The parts of the Code most often ignored are: (1) having the blue field always on its own right facing out (from a wall or a window or whatever, (2) taking the flag down at dusk and as specified in inclement weather, (3) displaying two or more American flags together, (4) always displaying it to the right or above any other type flags on display, and (5) wearing it in any way.
We should be proud enough of our country to take a little time and learn more about our Stars and Stripes, don't you think?
Did the word stop your eye? It should. It's relatively new and unused. It's the study of flags, according to Dr. Whitney Smith, who should know, since he created the word in 1975 from the Latin vexillum, meaning "military standard".
Dr. Smith has written at least nine books while pursuing s special interest in vexillology, including having his hand in on compiling the mammoth research tome "Flags Through the Ages and Across the World" (McGraw-Hill).
Beyond the history of flags are the regulations each country lists for the display of its flag.
The U.S. has an entire Flag Code, which I included in my book The United States Flagbook, published by McFarland Press in 1996. Unfortunately, time, public ignorance and/or apathy toward the code and new material products have left this Code badly in need of revisions. (I spent five years researching everything about the flag and, after the book was published, wrote a letter to then-President Bill Clinton offering to take on a revision job, gratis. Never heard back.
The parts of the Code most often ignored are: (1) having the blue field always on its own right facing out (from a wall or a window or whatever, (2) taking the flag down at dusk and as specified in inclement weather, (3) displaying two or more American flags together, (4) always displaying it to the right or above any other type flags on display, and (5) wearing it in any way.
We should be proud enough of our country to take a little time and learn more about our Stars and Stripes, don't you think?
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