NorthStar Flags

While growing up, me, my mom and dad used to frequent the KFC joint a stones-throw from the movie theater in our community. My memory speaks of weekends where we usually spend some time in the supermarket and movies, then dine at the KFC before calling it a day. So, it helped me create an opinion that Kentucky is simply fried chicken.

While in college, I learned a lot more about Kentucky, particularly the contribution it made to the union, the products it shares with other states and the sights that tourists frequent. Also as I mature, I’ve developed a liking to racehorses and it brought me closer to Kentucky simply because of the thrill of the Kentucky Horse Derby happening at Churchill Downs.

Kentucky is not just fried chicken, but a thousand times more and like its residents I have come to recognize the Kentucky State Flag, the emblem of a people who brought the “fastest two minutes in sports.” The state flag consists of the commonwealth’s seal placed against a navy blue field, a form that has served the state since 1928.

In detail the seal shows two friends in an embrace, one in buckskin on the left and the other in suit on the right. The popular belief is that of Daniel Boone who was responsible for the exploration of much of Kentucky and Henry Clay, the state’s most famous statesman. Official explanation does not refer to the two gentlemen, but that it represents all frontiersmen and statesmen.

The words “Commonwealth of Kentucky” surrounds the figures above and sprigs of goldenrod, the state flower below, and encircling is the state motto “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”

Have you heard of the Rastafari movement? It is the belief of those members of the sect that wherever they are in the world, their stay is only temporary because eventually they will be herded back to their New Zion (that is Ethiopia), a phenomenon much like the exodus of the Jews back to the Promised Land.

Ethiopia is the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, but as a nation it is landlocked in the northeastern region known as the Horn of Africa. The country rests on a high plateau and mountains at elevations over 4,000meters and the Great Rift Valley cuts the plateau diagonally. The western part gets summer rainfall, while the eastern side is mostly hot and dry, so naturally people flock to the western side.

The majority of Ethiopians are farmers and herders, but deforestation, drought, and soil degradation resulted in crop failures and the possibility of famine ensued in the past few decades. The country is experiencing a high birthrate, plus refugees coming from Somalia, and defeat at the 30year war with Eritrea, all strained whatever economic resource it had.

Through it all the people of Ethiopia endured and still pay homage to the Ethiopia flag. Composed of three horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red with a pentagram and single yellow rays emanating between the points on a light blue disk placed on the center of the three bands. The flag is intended to project both the diversity and unity of the country.

Being the oldest country in Africa, the color of the flag of Ethiopia was often used by other African nations, that later it became known as the Pan-African colors.

Does nakfa and gabbi ring a bell? If you are familiar with Eritrea, then you will know that nakfa is the country’s currency in use; while gabbi are traditional shawls worn by villagers in the rural communities.

In 1952 Eritrea existed along side Ethiopia as part of a federation, then ten years later it was annexed as a province of Ethiopia, which started the 30year struggle for independence. By 1991 the war ended with the Eritrean rebels winning against the government forces of Ethiopia, and independence was overwhelmingly voted in a 1993 referendum.

Then again a border dispute in 1998 erupted, which only ended with the intervention of the U.N. peacekeeping forces. Relative peace is now being maintained through the auspices of the U.N. by monitoring the 25km-wide Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on the border with Ethiopia.

The hard earned independence may have strengthened the resolve of the residents as clearly shown on their almost cult-like respect for the National Flag of Eritrea. The current flag is dominated by a red triangle starting from the hoist all the way to the fly, with complimentary green and blue triangles above and below. A gold leaf is added at the center of the red triangle encircling a gold olive branch.

Green on the flag stands for abundance in agriculture; blue is for the ocean; while red signifies for blood spilled in the fight for freedom; and the yellow wreath on the red triangle is a symbol with 14 leaves.

It is also interesting to note that the red triangle geometrically serves as a fissure that divided the country from the start and diminishes, that would only signify peace and blood will no longer be shed in the end.

We are all familiar with Egypt and the contribution it made to modern civilization, the monuments that accounts for a great kingdom are still around us. Who would forget the Pyramids at Giza, of the temples and elaborate hypostyle hall, the obelisks, mastaba’s and ornaments like the lotus bud or the kheker cresting, designed as a tribute to the deities and man’s passage to the afterlife.

Egypt flourished as a nation because of the Nile River, and that its annual inundation brought fertility to the soil and thus maintained its agricultural potential. The arts that developed thereafter were all organic or copied from trees, plants, animals and bugs that thrived near the banks of the Nile River.

Having known the country, can we do the same with the current Egypt flag? The distinguishing feature of the flag of Egypt is the Eagle of Saladin (a shield superimposed on a golden eagle facing the hoist and above a scroll with the name of the country in Arabic) and placed at the center of the white band. The flag actually is a tricolor of horizontal bands of equal width, red on top, white at the center, and black.

Red refers to the era before the Revolution, where a group of army officers rose to power after deposing King Farouk, the King of Egypt. White symbolizes the time before the 1952 Revolution that ended monarchy without bloodshed. And black symbolizes the end of oppression experienced by the people at the hands of the Monarchy and British colonialism.

Today Egypt is at the center of the Arab world as it controls the Suez Canal (the shortest sea link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea).

Should you be in Djibouti try wandering along salty lake Abbe and a surprise awaits, especially as the moon rises and serves as backdrop to the travertine (calcium carbonate) chimneys, which were created by deposits from hot springs.

Djibouti had ceased to be a French territory in 1977 and later under an authoritarian one-party state, Hassan Gouled Aptidon ruled until 1999. Unrest among the Afars minority led to a civil war in the 90’s, until a peace agreement with the Issa-dominated government was signed. Also in 1999, the first multi-party presidential election was held and Ismail Omar Guelleh was installed as president and again re-elected to second and final term in 2005.

Being at the mouth of the Red Sea, Djibouti serves as the transshipment point for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands. The presence of France Naval Base and garrison generate as much as half of the country’s revenues. It also is home to the only US military base in the region and is the front-line state in the global war on terrorism.

Since its independence, the citizens recognize the Djibouti flag that features two horizontal bands of sky blue (top) and green (lower half) with a white isosceles triangle on the hoist that bears red five-pointed star (representing the settlement of the Somali’s in the region). Green symbolizes the earth; sky blue refers to the sea and sky; while white is for peace; and the red star representing unity.

Despite being capital starved and an underdeveloped poor nation, Djibouti developed into a regional banking center, blessed with a free port and modern air transport facilities.

The “Pambansang Bandila,” the Filipino word for the National Flag of the Philippines, is a horizontal bicolor of equal width of blue and red. It has an equilateral triangle at the hoist with a yellow golden sun at the center that project eight primary rays, each ray having three individual rays. At each corner of the triangle is a five-pointed star, also golden yellow in color.

The first flag was conceptualized and sewn together by a group of women in Hong Kong and was officially used during the declaration of the first Philippine Republic in 1896. The white triangle is a symbol associated with equality and fraternity; the blue field signifies peace, truth and justice; and the red field is for patriotism and valor. The eight rays of the sun represent the eight provinces that originally revolted against Spain, while the three stars represent the three major geographical divisions of the country.

The Philippines is an Archipelago, in Southeast Asia consisting of 7,107 islands located between the China Sea and Pacific Ocean. The country just lies north of the world’s largest Muslim state, Indonesia and is the only Christian country in this part of the globe, with 94% Roman Catholic. 5% of Filipinos are Muslims, mostly living in the coastal plains of Mindanao and Palawan.

The government of the Philippines is a thriving democracy, with elections held every six years for the President and members of the Senate, while three years for members of Congress and other Local Government units.

Unlike its neighbors, the Philippines lag behind economically due to widespread poverty andpolitical instability or perhaps the country may have not found a leader more committed to economic development.

Officially the “Taegeukgi” is the South Korea National flag and it refers to the red (top) and blue (bottom) yin-yang symbol in the center. This used to be the flag of a unified Korea, but with North Korea being a Communist country, it replaced the “taegeukgi” with a white disk and on it is the red five-pointed star the symbol for Communism.

The Flag of Korea is composed of three parts; a white field; a red and blue taegeuk (taijitu or yin- yang) in the center; and four black trigrams on each corner of the flag. The origin of the trigrams is the Chinese book I Ching (Book of Changes) that represents the four Chinese philosophical ideas about the universe (harmony, symmetry, balance, circulation). The overall concept of the custom flag is based on the traditional use of the tricolor (red, white, blue), which had been in use since the early part of Korea’s history.

White as the field symbolizes cleanliness of the people; the taegeuk represents the origin of all things in the universe, that describes the two principles of eum; yin in blue being negative and yang in red positive, coexisting together in harmony. All aspects together in a flag embody a never-ending motion within infinity and the two finally merging as one.

After the Korean War (1950-53) that divided the nation, the South Korean side and a capitalist bastion developed into the world’s 12th largest trading nation, becoming a major exporter of cars, consumer electronics, and computer components. A decade in the 90’s saw South Koreas growth at 10% a year, three times that of the U.S. and double that of Japan.

Even after the Asian financial crises, economic growth continues to perform well.

It had been an independent country for much of its history, but following 1905, Korea was annexed by Japan. During the Second World War, Korea was split in two with North Korea under the Soviet sponsored Communist domination and South Korea a U.S. backed republic. Then North Korea attacked attempting to unite the two countries.

Thus the Korean War (1950-53) ensued and with the aid of the U.N. backed U.S. forces, South Korea was able to hold the invading forces on the 38th parallel. The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) came into effect, it serves as a buffer zone. The war alone cost over three million casualties.

A strip of land across the Korean Peninsula, 248 kilometers long and approximately 4 kilometers wide, the DMZ is U.N. monitored and the most heavily armed border in the world.

North Korea’s failure to win the war and unite with the south and under Communism, it responded by discarding the traditional Korean flag, and later revised it to reflect more closely with that of the USSR. The North Korea National flag contains three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (that is three times the width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; and on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a five pointed star.

Although the Communist state retained the colors, they gave prominence to the color red and added a red star on the disk. The red stripe expresses revolutionary traditions while the red star is for Communism. The two blue stripes on the other hand stands for sovereignty, peace and friendship, the white stripe is for purity and red obviously is for revolutionary patriotism and Communism.

The Hinomaru or the “sun disc,” also known, as the Nisshoki or the “sun flag’ is the National Flag of Japan. Although the flag had been in use during the 15th and 16th century Sengoku (Warring States) as military banners, the flag was officially adopted on February 27, 1870 during the Meiji Restoration Period. However, not until August 13, 1999 did the flag became nationally proclaimed as an emblem.

The history of Japan had been embroiled in wars, military conflicts and even between the various shoguns that ruled Japan during the early period. To protect the territory of each shogun, the Samurai were hired, and thus it became a social class much higher in status than the merchants and farmers.

In 1603, Tokugawa a shogun himself solidified his rule (military dictatorship) over Japan and imposed the policy of isolation, particularly from foreign influence. For two centuries this policy gave Japan stability and development of its indigenous culture. In 1854, during the Meiji Restoration Period, Japan opened its doors to the world and started to modernize and industrialize.

In so short a time, Japan became a military power and invaded Korea, China, and most of the countries in Southeast Asia. It even enticed the United States in a protracted war by bombing the American Military Base in Hawaii (Pearl Harbor). The Second World War came to an end abruptly when atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then the American occupation started and under General Douglas McArthur, a new parliamentary constitution was drafted.

With the aid of the Americans, the infrastructure of Japan was restored and for the next five decades, the economy bloomed and grew to a point second only to that of the United States.

The residents of Kansas prefer their state be called the Sunflower State, because the native wildflower grows abundantly throughout and has been adopted as the state official flower.

Kansas is located on the American Heartland, the mid-western central region of the United States of America. The name Kansas was probably derived on the Kansas River that flows through it; and Kansas River had its named coined after the Kansa tribe that inhabited the area. The tribes name is often referred to as “people of the wind” or “people of the south wind,” although early pioneers could just have carried this description.

As all states had their flags, Kansas could not be denied the satisfaction of designing one. And officially the Kansas state flag had the state seal and sunflower, but the original design had been modified in 1961 to include the name of the state.

The State Flag of Kansas was adopted in 1927 it is represented as a dark blue silk rectangle that has been designed to appeal horizontally with the state seal at the center. On top of the seal is a sunflower placed over a twisted bar of gold and light blue. And right below the seal is the name of the state.

In the past, Kansas was home to over 50million buffaloes, but by incessant hunting the population had dwindled to less than 1,000 bison. Cattle had once become the main activity of the residents, but it has long been taken over by manufacturing centers.

In fact, the state supplies 70% of all aviation aircraft produced in the U.S.; also manufactures automobiles; is one of the top oil-producers of the country; and on it is the nations largest natural gas field.