Egyptian National Flags on Postage Stamps

After completion of  very successful Philatelic exhibition in Cairo on Rabindranth Tagore held in commemoration of his 150 years of birth, I have come back to Kolkata and now once again geared up to resume my blog which was in dormant for quite some time. The exhibition in Cairo was greatly publicised by all the news papers in Cairo. I am prompted to reproduce here at least one from the Egyptian Gazette of Saturday, July 9, 2011 just a day after the biggest rally when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians staged one of their biggest demonstrations in Cairo at Tahrir Square on 8th July to demand swift justice for victims of the former regime.

 

In Metro Rail with the demonstators on their way to 

Tahrir Square.

At Tahrir Square on 8th July 2011

Egyptian National flag everywhere at Tahrir Square, Picture from the Egyptian Gazette, 9 July 2011

Page six of the Egyptian Gazette , Cairo of the same date

  Let me now discuss about the Egyptian National Flag to the best of my ability and knowledge. I shall be glad if anybody correct me where I have gone wrong.

 

 The stamp (Egypt-1969)at the right commemorates Revolution of 1919

 Egypt had a number of National flags. Under the Turkish rule Egypt’s flag was ‘Red and bore three Crescents, each with a five pointed star within its horns, all in white’. The flag was in vogue from 1914 to 1922.

 On becoming an independent kingdom in 1922, Egypt changed her flag to ‘Green with one white Crescent’. The flag remained its National status till 1958.

 King Farouk had no less than four Royal standards; the one that resembled the National Flag, but had a small ‘Royal Crown’ in colour in the upper left-hand corner.

 King Farouk raising Egyptian Flag over Kasr-el-Barracks after British withdrawal from the Nile delta.

With the abolition of Monarchy, after the revolution of 1952, the ‘Red-White-Black’ of three equal horizontal stripes was introduced in Egypt. The colours symbolized the period of oppression (black) over come through bloody struggle (red) to be replaced by a bright future(white). This flag , considered by many as the second generation of ‘Pan-Arab colours’. The colours  became the inspiration for the flags of many other Arab Nations which chose the republican political system. The symbolism was explained by poet Safi al-Din-al-Hili as:

“White are our deeds, black are our battles,

Green are our fields, red are our knives”.

 

The National Flag of United Arab Republic (1958-1961) and Egypt (1961-1973)

The central white stripe was charged with two ‘Green Stars’ in 1958 with the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) with Syria.

 Second anniversary of the proclamation of the UAR, 1960

 In 1984 Egypt withdrew from the Federation of Arab Republic founded in 1971 by Egypt, Libya and Syria. The Federation was virtually became inactive since Egypt broke off diplomatic relations with Libya in 1973, on the other hand Syria broke off diplomatic relations with Egypt after ‘1979 Peace Treaty’ with Israel signed by President Anwar Sadat. 

 20th anniversary of revolution, 1972

 Egypt also replaced the ‘Qureish Falcon’ named after the tribe of Prophet Mohammed and introduced by Gamal Abdel Nasser by the ‘Eagle of Saladin’ on Egypt’s national emblem. Saladin was the Sultan of Egypt and Syria who in 1187 had defeated the Christians, near Tiberas and conquered Jerusalem, sparking the third Crusade.

Philatelic Exhibition on Rabindranath Tagore, Cairo, Egypt.

Press Release No. 28

June 16, 2011

MAULANA AZAD CENTRE FOR INDIAN CULTURE

EMBASSY OF INDIA

23, Talaat Harb Street, Down Town, Cairo

150^th birth anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore Exhibition at El Bab Gallery, 5-17 July, 2011

To commemorate the 150^th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC), Embassy of India, Cairo, in cooperation with the Foreign Cultural Relations Sector and the Fine Arts Sector of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture will be bringing two exhibitions related to Tagore which will be inaugurated on 5 July, 2011 at 7 p.m by H.E Dr Emad Abou Ghazi, the Egyptian Minister of Culture and H.E Mr R.Swaminathan, Ambassador of India at El Bab Gallery at the Opera House Complex. The function will be graced by H.E Mr Hossam Nassar, First Under Secretary for Foreign Cultural Relations and H. E Dr Ashraf Reda, Head of the Fine Arts Sector.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the first Asian Nobel Laureate. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.  Tagore was a master of several literary forms – he was a poet, a novelist, a short-story writer and a playwright. His contributions reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Tagore is perhaps the world’s only writer whose compositions have been adopted as the national anthems of two countries: India and Bangladesh. At the age of 60, Tagore also became a celebrated painter. Tagore was also a pioneering educationist (thus the honorific ‘Gurudev’ meaning ‘Teacher’), and greatly promoted rural reconstruction. He set up a school, Santiniketan, and thereafter, a world famous university called Visva Bharati in West Bengal, India as well as a centre for promotion of traditional arts and crafts in Sriniketan. He was a national leader and an internationalist who visited many countries including Egypt in 1925.

 The Tagore exhibitions will consist of two elements: (i) ‘A Philatelic Exhibition on Tagore’ which consists of 20 panels of commemorative stamps and other rare philatelic objects issued by the postal departments of around 20 foreign countries on Rabindranath Tagore. Some of these items are more than a century old and belong to private collectors in India. Mr Sekhar Chakrabarti, one of three Indian collectors, whose collections are used in this exhibition, will be the curator for the show at Cairo; and (ii) ‘Tagore on Kantha’ which includes 13 panels of ‘kantha’ work illustrating Tagore’s short stories, songs, poems, dance dramas all made in the traditional ‘kantha’ style of embroidery practiced to this day by rural women in West Bengal, India and in Bangladesh. Tagore greatly promoted traditional arts and crafts including Kantha work. Kantha work basically uses the ‘running stitch’ to create beautiful motifs on fabric. It was originally used by Bengali women for making quilts from old, worn out saris. The Kantha exhibition has been conceptualized by Ms Shamlu Dudeja who has worked for over 25 years for the revival of kantha work in West Bengal through the setting up of NGOs.

 The two exhibitions are being sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi and have been put together by ICCR’s Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Kolkata. The exhibits are travelling out of India for the first time. The exhibition will run until 17 July, 2011 at the El Bab Gallery.

 For further details, please contact (i) MACIC at: Tel: 23933396 / 23960071; Fax: 23936572; e-mail: macic@indembcairo.com and (ii) on Facebook (Foreign Cultural Relations).

Earlier the same Philatelic Exhibition was held at the Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Calcutta organised by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India .Courtesy Sekhar Chakrabarti and Moloy Sarkar.

 It may recalled that the first ever solo philatelic exhibition on Tagore was held by courtesy Sekhar Chakrabarti way back in 1966 organised by Indo-American Society, Calcutta.

Birds on Flags

Most of my previous posts were devoted to the history and evolution of the Indian National flag under the caption "Quest For a National Flag for India". Since, the series has been completed for the time being, I shall now concentrate on other topics and symbolisms concerning to the National flags of the World.

Most  'National Flags' have symbols and they all have special significance with respect to their country. Symbols on Flags are explicit outward expressions of how the country looks at itself. Let us now glance over such 'Symbols on Flags' as depicted on postage stamps.  

BIRDS ON FLAGS

Many countries have placed "Birds" on their National Insignia and flags. Because of the Birds connection to the sky, they have been thought of as a supernatural link between the heavens and the earth. The birds represent a passage between the physical world and spiritual worlds. Birds in flight represent freedom.

The “Double-headed Eagle” devise is inherited from the Byzantine empire. The head on the left (West) symbolizes Rome, the head on the right (East) symbolizes Constantinople. It became widely associated with the Holy Roman Empire. Several Eastern European nations adopted it from the Byzantines and continue to use it as their national symbol to this day, the most prominent being Albania, Austria, Germany, Russia, erstwhile Epirus India’s Mysore State also had a double-headed Eagle the “Gandaberunda” as the royal symbol.

 

 The legendary Gandaberunda possessing two heads facing away from the other was the emblem of the Mysore rulers of the Wadeyar Dynasty.
Indian Navy adopted the Gandaberunda as the crest of the ship 'INS Mysore'.

'Qureish falcon’ of the Egyptian flag was replaced by the ‘Eagle of Saladin’ bearing on its breast a shield with the national colours in 1984. (Eagle - the emblem of Saladin - a 12th. century Sultan and opponent of the Crusaders)

The flag of Mexico is an Eagle holding a snake in its beak and standing on a prickly pear. The serpent and the Eagle refer to the legendary foundation of Tenochtitlan (Mexico) by the Aztecs combining the two cosmic forces: that of the sun in the eagle and those of the earth in the serpent.


The Condor – a local bird of the Equatorian Andes- opens its wings and with its majesty and energy symbolizes the Fatherland in its effort of self improvement and progress.

The Steppe Eagle or Berkut (Aquila Nipalensis) is a bird of prey. The Steppe Eagle is the national bird of Kazakhstan and can be seen on its National Flag.

The Goshawk (Acor in Portuguese) refers to the Islands of Azores

  

The Sisserou Parrot (Amazona imperalis) “The Pride of Dominica”, is the National Bird of Dominica. The parrot figures prominently on the Coat of Arms, the National Flag, The Public Seal, The Mace of the House of Assembly and Dominica’s Honours for Meritorious Service to the Country. The Sisserou Parrot is protected and is found only in Dominica.In 1988 the parrot, which was originally facing right was turned to face the left of the flag.

Burma(Myanmar) had once the "Peacock" as their national emblem. According to believes the Peacock heralds spring, birth, new growth, longevity, and love. (Stamps at the top were issued by Burma Independence Army during Japanese Occupation in1943).

The soapstone bird featured on the flag represents a statuette of a bird found at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. The bird symbolizes the history of Zimbabwe and now is a national symbol. The flag was adopted on April 18, 1980. Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain as Southern Rhodesia in 1965 and then gained independence from Rhodesia as Zimbabwe in 1980.

 The Resplendent Quetzal (Paramocrus Mocinno), the brilliant bird found in the cloud forests of Central America, was sacred to the Mayans and figures prominently in their artwork and legends. Today the Quetzal (also spelled Quetzel and Quesal) is the national bird of Guatemala, and name to the Guatemalan currency.

 The Flag of Kiribati has on the upper half a gold frigate bird (Fregata minor, in Kiribati te eitei) flying over a gold rising sun (otintaai). The frigate bird (also called 'Man-of-War' birds or Pirate birds) symbolizes command of the sea, power, freedom and Kiribati cultural dance patterns. Kiribati's flag is an armorial banner, a flag having a design corresponding exactly to that of the shield in the coat of arms. The coat of arms dates back to May 1937 when it was granted to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, as Kiribati and Tuvalu were then known. The shield was incorporated into the center of the fly of a British Blue Ensign as the state ensign of the colony.

The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of most species, in particular highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings or head. The family is of cultural importance to the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea.

African Balearic Crested Crane (Balearica regulorum) is a bird in the crane family Gruidae. This bird does not migrate. There are two subspecies. The East African Crested Crane is the national bird of Uganda.

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