The 25th International Congress of Vexillology (ICV): Vexillology - The Study of Flags

Dutch vexillologist Theun Okkerse is the designer of the 25^th ICV  Flag.

The 25^th International Congress of Vexillology (ICV) will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from August 4 to 10, 2013  simultaneously the 23^rd session of the General Assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Associations Vexillologiques (FIAV), amid flag-related tours, seminars, and meetings among various vexillologists on specific topics. The Netherlands Vexillological Association, the Netherlands Flag Museum Foundation and the Rotterdam Flag Parade Foundation, the three Dutch partners joined forces to organize the 25^th ICV. http://www.nfc2013.com/

Flag parade of FIAV-members (photo: Francisco Gregoric)

The International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV) is the umbrella organization of flag-studies associations worldwide. Its  members (on six continents) pursue Vexillology - the study of flags of all kinds, their history and their symbolism. FIAV's aim is to promote vexillology as science, to coordinate the activities of its members, to facilitate the exchange of information, and to bring the vexillologists of the different countries closer together. Today FIAV is an international community of over one thousand specialists and friends of flags of all kinds, organized in national or regional organizations.  Since 1965, the vexillologists of the world meet every two years in an International Congress, hosted by one of its member associations. Since 1969, FIAV has sponsored the biennial International Congresses of Vexillology (ICV). Previous Congresses have been held in Muiderberg (1965), Zürich and Ruschlikon (1967), Boston (1969), Turin (1971), London (1973), Ijsselmeer (1975), Washington D.C. (1977), Vienna (1979), Ottawa (1981), Oxford (1983), Madrid (1985),San francisco (1987), Melbourne (1989), Barcelona (1991), Zürich (1993), Warsaw (1995),  Cape Town (1997),Victoria (1999), York (2001), Stockholm (2003), Buenos Aires (2005), Berlin (2007), Yokohama (2009), and Alexandria (2011).

  The FIAV Flag is rectangular in 2:3 proportions. On royal blue field appear two horizontally positioned halyards, reaching from the hoist to the fly, which form in the centre of the flag the "vexillological knot".

The halyards symbolize Vexillology, the science of flags. The blue field of the flag and the two halyards recall navigation, which made flags known all over the world. The knot is symbol of friendship between vexillologists of all nations. The two loops of the knot represent the close ties between the two hemispheres of the world. The two halyards cross the flag from one end to the other--and beyond--thus marking the almost unending field of vexillological research.
The four ends of the halyards and the two loops together make "6", as there are six continents, expressing FIAV's international character.

 Klaes Sierksma (Netherlands) originated the idea to symbolize FIAV with a knot formed by halyards on its flag. In 1967 a committee of the 2nd International Congress of Vexillology make slight changes to Sierksma's proposal and asked Paul Krog to make the final design.

Woman with vexillum (circa 100 BCE)

Dr. Whitney Smith (b. 1940) is recognized world over as the Father of Vexillologists. The term Vexillology, which Smith originated in his 1958 article Flags of the Arab World, refers to the scholarly analysis of all aspects of flags. In his own words “When I went to the New York Public Library as a teenager (18), I discovered that flags were lumped in with heraldry and similar topics.  I felt that the study deserved a name of its own, which I coined:  vexillology—vexillum being the Latin word for flag and ology the Greek word for the study of”.

 In 1961, Boston University student Whitney Smith, 21 and New York City high school teacher Gerhard Grahl , 26 set out the initial issue of the world’s first journal devoted entirely to flags. Publication of No. 1 of The Flag Bulletin, in October 1961 can be considered the “birthday of vexillology”  because it signaled the first international, public, scholarly, and ongoing commitment to the study of flags. (The Flag Bulletin, No 118, Vol. XXXV, No 5, p.163). The following year, Smith established the Flag Research Center in USA.

Dr. Smith worked with Klaes Sierksma  to organize the First International Congress of Vexillology at Muiderberg, Netherlands in 1965. Thereafter they joined Louis Mühlemann in founding the Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques or The International Federation of Vexillological Associations, known by its acronym—FIAV, which was formally inaugurated in 1969.

 Smith was also responsible for founding the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) in 1967. NAVA's Whitney Smith Award for an outstanding contribution to North American vexillology is named in Smith's honor.

 Dr. W. Smith has written several books on the subject of flags, notably Flags Through the Ages and Across the World, The Flag Book of the United States, and Flag Lore of all Nations.

 Dr.W. Smith was the designer of the national Flag of Guyana and has served as a vexillographer (flag designer) to a number of governments and organizations. 

 

My first contact with Dr Whitney Smith, Director of the Flag Research Center, Winchester, Mass.

 Prof. Michel Lupant took this photo of Dr. Whitney Smith on 24 July 2011 in his home in Winchester (The Flag Research Centre). Dr. Smith has in his hand the Vexillum he had manufactured himself when he was young and began his flags collection.

 

  Prof. Michel R. Lupant: President of the International Federation of Vexillological Association (FIAV), and the founder of the Belgian European Flags Studies Centre.

The National Flag of Bangladesh

26^th  March, Independence Day (Shadhinata Dibôsh) of Bangladesh. The day commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan on late hours of 25 March 1971. The day is a memorial to the deaths of thousands of civilians who died for their own Mother Language in erstwhile East Pakistan.

  Issue Date: 29-07-1971

Designer: Biman Mallik

Printer: Format International Printing Press, U.K. 

 The  flag of Bangladesh  used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.

The map was later deleted in 1972 from the flag. The Red disc represents the sun rising over the Golden Bengal (Soner Bangla), recalls the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The Green field may have been inspired by its association with Islam but in the flag the colour stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh.  The flag is said to have been designed by Serajul Ilam, whose name means “Light of the Flag”.

Indian stamp issued on 10 April 1973, in commemoration of the inauguration of the first Parliament on 26-3-1971, which gave itself a constitution on 16 December 1972. The stamp shows its National Flag with the Shapla - the National Flower of Bangladesh.

  Bangladesh in United Nations

Bangladesh joined the UN in 1974

 

  

  Freedom is heralded by hoisting of a new national flag. Inclusion of that flag in front of the UN building in New York is the symbolic equivalent of being recognized as a real country.  (The Indian National Flag unfurled through Philately (Niyogi Books, p.107).

Bangladesh National Day and Anniversary of Independence 

      

 

 

 

The Flag of Pakistan "The Crescent Moon & Star" on Green Field

Moon Never Wanes on Pakistan Flag

A national news paper reported on 8August 1998 that the Pakistan government had refuted  the contention raised in a writ petition before a high court that the moon shown on the National flag was waning when it should be waxing.

The government’s response to the petition was that the position of the moon would be determined from the direction in which the wind is blowing. “If the wind blows from left to right the moon appears to be waning and vice versa.”  
 The practice at international level is of flowing flags from left to right. However, it is not possible to fix the position of a fluttering flag. The contention “The position of the moon  determines the destiny of a nation” was opposed in the government’s response. 

  
 It is said that the symbolism of Crescent is for the bright future and five corners of the Star are for five pillars of Islam,  i.e Tauheed, Salat , Fasting, Zakat and Hajj
To delve into the genesis of the Pakistan flag, the All India Muslim League used the Islamic ‘Subz Hilali Parcham’ meaning ‘green flag with the crescent’, since its inception in 1906, in Dacca (Dhaka—present-day capital of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh).  
 
At the All India Muslim League’s Lucknow session in 1937, Mohammad Ali Jinnah pronounced that the League’s green flag – the flag of Islam, to be the national flag for the ‘Land of the Pure’. I feel confident that once they understand and realise the policy and programme of the Muslim League, the entire Musalman population of India will rally round its platform and under its flag. So said Mohd Ali Jinnah in his Presidential address. 

The ‘Pakistan Resolution’ was adopted in Lahore on 23 March 1940.  Begum Hafeezuddin, leader of the women volunteers of the All India Muslim League, called upon the Muslims of the subcontinent to unite under the Subz Hilali Parcham. 

 In the first stamp of the se-tenant set, Allama Mohammad Iqbal is shown addressing the famous Allahabad Session of the All India Muslim League in 1930; while Liaquat Ali Khan is depicted taking oath as the Secretary General of the League from its President, the Quaid-e-Azam (Bombay Session,1936),who is shown seated. In the second stamp Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, is shown addressing a Muslim rally; while the Quaid-e-Azam is depicted addressing the mammoth gathering on the eve of the passing of the Pakistan Resolution at Lahore on March 23, 1940. The historic role of the Muslim women in the struggle for Pakistan forms part of the third stamp portrays the  historic act of hoisting the Pakistan Movement flag on the Punjab Secretariat Building at Lahore by the Muslim women freedom fighters (1946); while the Quaid-e-Azam is shown taking oath as the first Governor General of the newly established independent Pakistan on August 14, 1947. (Designer: Adil Salahuddin)

  Golden Jubilee of Pakistan Resolution. Stamp impression on the Aerogramme depicts Minar-e-Pakistan in four colours, portrait and sayings of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah on left of address lines in black. A painting by Aftab Zafar showing scenes from the historic meeting  (Maulvi Fazlul Haq, then  prime minister of Bengal moving the historic resolution: Choudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman seconding the Resolution: Quaid-i-Azam addressing the session), was printed above sender's address lines. Famous couplet of Talu-e-Islam by Bang-e-Dara was used on the banner over the dais on the occasion of Lahore session of the All India Muslim League. In 1940

It was on 4 August 1947 that Pakistan’s national flag was created by adding a narrow white stripe at the hoist side to represent the minority communities and also to enable the national flag to be distinguished from that of the Muslim League’s flag. Ameer-ud-din Khidwai is credited as the designer of the Pakistani National flag.

The Statesman on 8 August 1947 carried a news under the heading ‘Mr. Gandhi to Spend Rest of his life in Pakistan’ wherein it was reported that in reply to a question by Dr Lehna Singh, General Secretary, Punjab Provincial Congress Committee, Mr Gandhi (=Mahatma Gandhi) said that if the Pakistan flag was such as would ensure equal rights and full protection to the minorities, they should all accept and honour the flag and have absolutely no hesitation in saluting it. The Statesman quoted Gandhi saying: ‘I would ask you not to disown the Pakistan flag merely because it bears a crescent.’ He added: ‘I must, however, say that, if no assurance of the kind I have mentioned is forthcoming, at least I shall refuse to salute that flag.’

 

 

 Qaumi Parcham March - Khyber To Chaghi, 1998

The "National Flag March"  by the youth of Pakistan started in November 1998, spear-headed by the Pakistan Muslim League Youth Wing from Jamrud in Khyber Agency. The route taken was Peshawar, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Murree, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Sukkur, Karachi, Larkana, Quetta, to mention only a few of the important towns. This rally covering a distance of 350 kilometers and passing through fifty districts of the country terminated at Chaghi in Balochistan. 

 

 Pakistan Latest To Chase 'Largest Flag' Record.

24,200 young Pakistanis crowded into Lahore's National Hockey Stadium to hold up colored placards forming the Pakistani flag on 22^nd October 2012. The crowd erupted in cheers when the representative from Guinness World Records announced that they had indeed created the "world's largest human flag," breaking a record held by a crowd of Portuguese women since 2006. "The participants said they were showing the beautiful image of Pakistan to the rest of the world and expressing their unity under the flag of Pakistan," Pakistan's "The News" reported.
(http://www.rferl.org/content/pakistan-latest-largest-flag-record/24748636.html)