Wizard Flags

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter, "Sarah Bennet" wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> Is anyone aware of a wizard flag in the HP books?  I am helping
> my cousins with a school project in which they have to design
> their own Hogwarts flag or Quidditch flag.  They can combine
> elements from each house or keep it specific to a particular
> house or team.  This has led me to wonder if there is an actual
> wizard flag in the canon.  

The only banners I remember having seen are the banners of the houses 
in the Great Hall during the feasts.  Banners can be similarly 
generated from the Hogwarts shield - basically fit what's on the 
shield to the rectangular shape of the flag, while retaining relative 
proportions and positions.

> I wonder what would the wizard flag would look like?  Maybe
> depicting shooting stars, or wands shooting out stars or
> parading owls.  I picture an array of pale gold stars against a
> shimmery midnight blue background, or something else
> appropriately magical.
> 
> Any thoughts?

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter, Al wrote:
> Sarah - as far as I'm aware there is nothing mentioned, but
> it'd probably be cool with dragons and stuff.  Christian has a
> link to the Spitsbergen / Svalbard-ese (sp ?) flag which I'll
> bug him to give you, that one's pretty cool.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/sj-arms.html

(Just a note for Amanda:  I would like some help in blazoning that 
lion - suspect it is "a lion rampant crowned Or maintaining an axe 
[and then I'm uncertain]"

Note, however, that these proposed arms for Svalbard (they were never 
adopted - presumably because Norway's attempts at Arctic imperialism 
in the 1930s weren't so very succesful), are closely based upon the 
Norwegian Royal coat of arms.  At the very least, the crown would 
have to go, and possibly the lion should change tincture as well, to 
distance the user of the flag/coat of arms from any perception that 
the user claims any position or role in Norwegian government.

Another flag worth looking at is the official flag of FOTW (Flags of 
the World - an organisation dedicated to those interested in flags as 
I recall it) - you can see it at the flags of the world website
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ 
(mirror-site of http://www.fotw.net/ which is down at the time - 
snoop around the site a bit - it has all the flags of the world and 
then some)
and in more detail at  

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fotwprfl.html

For flags with dragons, Wales has an interesting flag: 
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-wales.html

Here's a flag with a griffin:  
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-19.html  
It is the county-flag of Troms county in Norway.

[snip description of Al's ToT-flag]

> I know that isn't much help, but I thought I'd point it out.
> I'm also aware this is clearly a flag that was designed by
> committee, as an obvious symbol - in the same vein as the UN
> flag or the NATO flag or the Commonwealth flag, and as such
> doesn't sport a design that can be said to have evolved
> naturally over time (inasmuch as flags are subject to
> Darwinism ... which they aren't :D ).  

Even some national flags today have been designed by commitees - one 
example is the Norwegian flag, despite the common myth that it 
was "accidentally" created by the ten year old son of one member of 
the committee in question.  The American flag was also designed to a 
degree.

> If flags for wizarding countries do exist - in tandem with
> national flags perhaps, I suspect they'd be very ornate
> creations, with lots of pictures and symbols on them - in
> complicated designs - nothing like a standard Muggle tricolour.

I suspect otherwise - the prime function of a flag is to identify 
something from a distance - that really doesn't change for wizards.  
Lots of pictures and symbols one the flag make the flag rather 
difficult to read from a distance.  It is worth noting that the flags 
of the MoM probably will retain at least a facade of submitting to 
Royal Authority.  

If you go to 
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/cwn.html 
you can see the Commonwealth-flag, as well as the Commonwealth Games 
flag further down the page.  The Commonwealth Games flag seems 
typical to me of a flag that speaks of some sort of authority, While 
the Commonwealth-flag seems aimed more at symbolising unity or 
cooperation.  

Also, simple flags that are well designed have an excellent way of 
getting their point across.  The French Tricolor has its originas in 
a symbolic display that the king (represented by white) should be the 
uniting factor between the common people (Red - they were actually 
not so common, but not nobles either) and the nobles and clerics 
(Blue).

Vexicollogically yours
Christian Stubø