Top Ten Tuesday

It's already time for another Top Ten Tuesday! I promised that these would range from the traditional to not so common.
This week is something you're not gonna find on many other sites. I've been interested in vexillology for several years, at least since high school, and perhaps a dabbling in middle school. One of my most prized reference books is:

My love.

Believe it or not I basically had this all in my head, I had to double check a few because flags change all the time, one of my old favorites is *alas* no longer.

Quit waiting for the picture to load, it actually is was just green.

What you're looking at is the old (1977 - 2011) flag of Libya. Now, several awesome flags have emblems and meaningful designs, but look at that - it's just green. Literally everyone could freehand that on a social studies assignment to be turned in next period. It's like it has nothing to hide - just you, it, and green.
Now, I focused on national flags to limit the playing field (there is one flag here that does double duty as a religious flag, but is the flag of a state recognized by the UN). I must also say that as a visual person my choices are almost totally aesthetic. So, time to let my freak flag fly high as I present you with my...

Top 10 Favorite Flags

10. Switzerland

I've a special fondness for the flags that don't fit in the usual proportions. Switzerland has a square flag but a pretty low key design knocking it down the list. I've seen a fair number of people confuse this with the Red Cross flag, which is kinda sad considering that the name is the description of their emblem...

See... literally a red cross.

Anyway, even large square flags always look kinda dinky flying from a flagpole (at least to many people from rectangle land), so it has a bit of a cute quaint factor going for it. 

9. Myanmar

Combine one of the most common field designs - the triband - with the most commonly used emblem - the star - and you get the flag of Myanmar. What truly makes this one interesting in my opinion is the fact that the star seems to occupy negative space. I don't know, it almost feels like there is a star shaped hole in the middle of the flag. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that the main body of the star doesn't quite cover the green band.

8. Norway

There are many variants of cross flags. My favorite style is the Scandinavian cross, and far and away the best of the Scandinavian crosses is Norway's flag. It is sort of the antithesis of the Union Jack. Really I just love the way the three colors (red, white, and blue seem to be very popular in vexillology) come together on this flag. 

Not all of these are technically national flags, but you get the idea. In my mind the two standouts are Norway and Iceland, but Iceland has this whole, 'I wish I were Britain' vibe going on. Plus making red the primary color in the flag's design gives in a more vibrant and exciting feel, as opposed to Iceland's calm, cool, and collected look. All I'm saying is that with the long, dark winters a bright flag might be a bit perkier out there on the flagpole.

7. Kenya

First off, how can you not love that shield design in the middle? It's basically heraldry but from a different continent. Second, this flag is similar in concept to the flag of Swaziland - which actually has a brighter color scheme. But, I've got a fun history with this flag giving it a boost. 

I'm not the best at meeting new people, so when I went to World Youth Day I was nervous about the large crowds. But I also wanted to branch out a little and at least try to mingle during some free time. I walked by group after group looking for someone approachable. But then I saw two young men standing under this flag. I walked over and said, "So, you're from Kenya, right?" They were very excited that I recognized the flag and struck up a fun conversation with me. If only all ice could be broken in this nerdy fashion...

6. Vatican City/ Roman Catholic Church

Here's the other square flag! And the one that is doing double duty as a religious flag. It beats out Switzerland really easily due to the heraldry. I usually go for simpler symbols on flags, heralds and seals tend to get a little convoluted and hard to make out. This one does well by a) limiting its color scheme, b) containing no words, and c) being proportionally larger than most.

Bonus points - Best dressed army:

5. Antigua and Barbuda

Here is a flag that gives me a picture. This could be a picture in a children's book - no problem. "The sun rose above the ocean, near the mountainous land of white beaches." This is one of those flags that undoubtably tells a story. Vexillologists see a flag like this one and immediately start piecing together symbols to find the story.

Interestingly enough, this flag was designed by an esteemed artist, based on a unique, new pattern that you won't find in the old fields. Not a triband, tricolre, or cross design - this instead has the simplistic yet well placed feel of a modern painting. Incidentally those aren't mountains... that's a V for victory. Even the simplest designs still need explanations sometimes.

4. Kiribati

And now from symbolism so easy a mathematician could do it I bring you the flag of Kiribati. A bird, the sun, the ocean. Okay, it is a little deeper than that but you must admit that this is the only flag where the water actually looks like water. The bird is a frigate bird, though greater or lesser isn't made clear in the books I've looked through. If I had to venture a guess it'd be the lesser frigate though since the greater frigate is that bird with the tendency to blow up like a bullfrog.

You know, I'm an adult and that still makes me oddly uncomfortable.

The bird represents power, sea command... and apparently dance. So it could totally be the greater frigate. I mean did you see those sweet moves?

So awkward.

3. Bhutan

Dear Bhutan,

Your flag looks awesome. I mean, there are other dragons on other flags, but yours is the only one that really owns its position. I'm not a detail oriented person normally. More of a big picture sorta gal, but with something as important as a piece of someone's culture I like to get it right. In that capacity your flag gave me nightmares.

Love, Katie

See? No Bhutan yet.

Alright, maybe not nightmares, but I certainly fussed over it a great deal more than was necessary. In college a friend and I painted a mural at a school for adult immigrants and refugees. My portion of the mural was the wall of flags arranged in order based on number of people of that nationality currently attending the school. I can't remember if Bhutan was number one, but it was right up there towards the tippy top. I spent weeks rough drafting, measuring, and painting all the flags, and putting of Bhutan until later because.... well, just look at it. A teeny bit more complex than a star, wouldn't you say? I finally finished Bhutan at the end of four months. The day before I left Omaha for the summer. Nothing like the last minute, eh?

2. Sri Lanka

My love of the non-standard flag was previously mentioned. And Sri Lanka delivers a flag with the largest length to height ratio. The reason it beats out the square guys? The awesome design. Over on the hoist you can see how they incorporated the flag of India, then on the fly you see that awesome thing which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be a lion. Except I'm also pretty sure they don't have lions in Sri Lanka. At least currently. Then again, similar lions feature in Chinese architecture and I'm almost certain they haven't got any lions.

I looked it up and it is indeed a lion. In fact, it is called the Lion Flag, so there you have it. Plus there was a Sri Lankan subspecies of lion... that went extinct around 40,000 years ago. That's a few years before this flag was adopted in 1972.

And our winner is...








1. Nepal

I picked this country as the focus of my high school geography project simply because I wanted to be the lucky person who could slap this baby on the front of my report. I mean look at it, it's glorious.  Five sides, acute angles, odd proportions... Nepal wins the creative design class hands down you guys. Sure, maybe a flag like this is less cost-effective but it certainly makes a statement. This is the kind of flag that purposefully rights non-rhyming poems. Creates Haikus about limericks. Spells its name Kaytea to dare the teachers to say something! Oh wait, that's me. A little rebellious but still totally traditional, Nepal has a flag that speaks to me. 

Right here.

So there they are! My top ten favorite national flags! What are your favorites? Do you even have any favorites? As always, I'm open to suggestions for next week's Top Ten Tuesday!