The Swedish flag
Posted on 12. Nov, 2011 by Steve in Uncategorized
The Swedish flag looks like this:
For those of you who can’t see the image (for whatever reason), it’s a horizontally lying rectangle with a blue background and a yellow cross through it, with its vertical stroke panned to the left.
The Swedish flag is said to have been inspired by Dannebrogen, the Danish name for the flag of Denmark. You will notice that they look almost the same, except for their colors:
The rest of the Nordic (Norway, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands) flags have similar designs. The flag of England is also said to have been inspired by Dannebrogen. The Dannebrogen itself is believed by many to have been designed based on the cross emblem of the Crusades.
The colors of the Swedish flag are supposed to have come from Sweden’s Coat of Arms (riksvapnet), with a blue background of the same shade and a yellow cross through it. Here is a picture of Sweden’s Greater Coat of Arms:
These colors have become traditional for Sweden and are used on many occasions, both national and international.
The flag of Sweden is celebrated every year on Sveriges nationaldag, the national day of Sweden, otherwise known as svenska flaggans dag, the day of the Swedish flag. On this day, 6 June, you will see blue and yellow flags all over the country and especially all over the cities – even on the buses.
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6 Responses to “The Swedish flag”
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Well, the one thing people visiting Sweden notice right away is that there are flags EVERYWHERE all the time, all year round! Think about it next time, you’ll notice it!
This is something that best associates with swedish flag for me: http://www.google.com/search?q=os+mössan&tbm=isch
It is also linked to the coat of arms of some of the noble families who fought for power, i.e. the Crown in the late medeivel period. Some of these also had the heradic lions and the crows in their waepons as well just to intimidate the other families. The present blue and yellow colours have not always been the ones used but are now the officially approved.
den svenska flaggan is such a happy set of colors for me. my niece and I hope to go to Sweden next year; she hung a Swedish flag on her ceiling. our Swedish cousin sent her a piggy bank painted like the flag so she can save for her trip!
You forgot about the Skånska flag. It’s a mix between the danish and the Swedish. the cross is yellow and the background is red.
http://hd.se/kultur/blogg/2009/07/01/de-skanska-flaggorna/