r/vexillology 23d ago

Historical Flag of the Green Party of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2022. For unknown reasons they stopped using this flag.

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4.0k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jan 26 '25

Historical I'm sorry yall but you can never beat the OG "American Protest" flag

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20.0k Upvotes

r/vexillology Nov 17 '23

Historical Found this very old flag in grandfathers chest

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24.1k Upvotes

Any idea what it is? He was in the Marines.

r/vexillology Oct 26 '24

Historical Finland's Air Force Academy still use a swastika on their flag.

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4.7k Upvotes

r/vexillology Aug 02 '24

Historical Favorite flags of countries that don't exist anymore?

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5.3k Upvotes

Mine's the Second Spanish Republic. Gotta love the simplicity of a tricolor with those beautiful colors, and a properly centered Spanish CoA. Would love to hear y'all's favorites.

r/vexillology Jul 19 '24

Historical Who has the best flag throughout history?

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3.1k Upvotes

The Seychelles my personal opinion

r/vexillology May 15 '25

Historical Why did this phenomenon happen?

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4.1k Upvotes

r/vexillology 9d ago

Historical This was almost the Palestinian flag

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760 Upvotes

Before the watermelon became the fruit synonymous with Palestine, the orange was often seen as the national fruit instead since the coastline of the region was covered in orange orchards, which became extremely popular in Europe, and were known as the "Jaffa oranges" named after Jaffa, a city in Palestine (also this is where Jaffa Cakes got their name from).

Not only were these oranges extremely popular, but they were also a national symbol for Palestine. Infact, in 1929 someone even proposed remaking the flag with an orange on it (which is the flag that you're currently seeing right now).

The current flag of Palestine was not yet specific to Palestine back in the 1920s, instead it was just a general symbol of Arab resistance (especially against colonialism). But at the same time, many Arab countries were starting to develop national identities, and so they would start with the flag as a base and then modify it slightly to make the flag of their nation. In 1929, the Palestinian newspaper Filastin, remarked that two foreign flags (the British.svg) and Israeli flags) were flying on their soil, and yet the British banned them from flying their own flag. They recognized the danger of not having a unifying national symbol, and so they invited the Palestinian people to write into the newspaper with their own proposed flag redesign.

And what would make for a perfect national symbol? The orange. That's where this design comes from. Compare this flag with the Lebanese flag for example, both contain colors that are representative of Arab identity and their resistance against colonialism, but they also both contain distinctive national symbols to set them apart from the rest of the arab world (the orange for Palestine and the cedar for Lebanon).

So now if we look at other flag proposals that were sent into Palestine, you should see that they have similiar symbolism, the four colours representative of Arab indentity (Red, Green, White and Black) but also the color orange, representative of Palestinian identity.

But these redesigns never really stuck around, and though the 4 colors are still broadly associated with Arab identity, this flag has since narrowed and finally has become that national symbol Palestinians have always wanted.

So why isn't the orange a symbol for Palestine anymore? Well to some extent it still is, as a motif used in art, music or literature (Land of the Sad Oranges for example). But it does seem like the orange has generally faded from public consciousness.

That's probably because in 1948, many Palestinian agriculturalists were forcibly evicted from their orchards, and subsequently, Israel adopted the orange as their own national symbol (Just search Israel orange posters).

But let me leave you with one last observation... when Israel first occupied the West Bank and Gaza, they equipped Palestinians with their own identity cards to distinguish them from Israeli citizens, whereas Israelis got blue cards, Palestinians got orange cards (though green Palestinian identity cards still remain the most common).

As for the modern fruit associated with Palestine, the watermelon, it came in use after Israel banned the flying of the Palestinian flag in 1967, and would go on to ban anything even remotely resembling the symbol of the Palestinian flag, even just using the 4 colors (Red, Green, White and Black). Since watermelons typically contains those colors, it's started being used as a resistance symbol, and in the modern day with the internet, it's only exploded in use.

r/vexillology Apr 03 '26

Historical This could have been Mexico's flag

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1.4k Upvotes

r/vexillology Dec 25 '24

Historical 25 December 1991: The Soviet flag that flies over the Kremlin is lowered for the last time

3.6k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jan 04 '23

Historical 1836 Sweden-Norway union flag proposal, I feel like I found gold.

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16.7k Upvotes

r/vexillology Feb 07 '23

Historical TIL that Robert Lee surrendered with a dish towel and that it’s the “final flag of the Confederacy”

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13.6k Upvotes

r/vexillology Apr 22 '26

Historical One of my favorite flag designs ever. NSFW

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1.6k Upvotes

I’m not affiliated with their beliefs or what they did, but hell is the flag design amazing.

r/vexillology Aug 29 '25

Historical The only 3 authentic pirate flags known to be in existence

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9.0k Upvotes

These are the only 3 authentic flags from the Golden Age of Piracy.

The Barbary Corsair Flag

This is the flag at the Maritime Museum in Finland and is often cited as one of the most authentic examples. It is considered a classic Jolly Roger design, and it dates back to the late 17th or early 18th century.

The Private Flag

This flag is held in private hands and on display at the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth, UK. It was captured in a battle with pirates in 1780.

The St. Augustine Flag

This flag is from the Pirate and Treasure Museum in Florida. Its origins have been difficult to confirm, with claims it dates back to 1850.

r/vexillology Jan 10 '22

Historical The Humanity Flag, this design hurts me.

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9.5k Upvotes

r/vexillology Feb 09 '26

Historical The Puerto Rican flag of Independence was outlawed until 1952. When it became an American territory, it was altered to resemble the US flag until changed back in 1995.

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1.5k Upvotes

This was the flag carried by Bad Bunny tonight. Probably as a nod to his island's history.

r/vexillology Mar 14 '26

Historical Flags with only color

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1.5k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jan 25 '26

Historical Same Shit Different Day

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1.8k Upvotes

A slightly revised version of the historical NAACP flag that flew often over major cities in the 1930s-40s

r/vexillology Jun 21 '20

Historical Second World War poster making use of national flags. One of my personal favourites. NSFW

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15.0k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jul 15 '20

Historical She may be patched and tattered, but after a century and a half she’s still here! My first version imperial German naval flag, with the old eagle.

9.3k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jul 14 '25

Historical 14 July 2012: A flag designed by a local schoolgirl is chosen for the English region of the Black Country, but subsequently faces controversy

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1.7k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jun 03 '25

Historical Proposed Flag For Canada During The National Flag Design Competition In The 1960's

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3.9k Upvotes

r/vexillology Aug 17 '21

Historical Full flag history of Afghanistan

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9.1k Upvotes

r/vexillology Jul 16 '25

Historical The Flag of Ireland According to Partitionist Propaganda

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3.2k Upvotes

The "Rebel Flag" as I've named it

r/vexillology Feb 27 '26

Historical US State Flags Ranked On Originality

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499 Upvotes

I don't know about you but I think what makes a flag good is recognizability amongst other flags.