Of Flags and Flag Things

Currently on this page are:

• An introduction to Vexillology.
• My Personal Flag.

Over on their own pages are:

• My proposals for new and improved Washington, Seattle, and King County flags, plus my Electoral Protest flag and new flags for several other states (including some cool renderings of my Oregon design sent in by a visitor to this site!).
• My Anarcho-Capitalist flag.

What is this thing called vexillology?

Vexillology (etymology here) is the study of flags, while designing or drawing flags is vexillography. I've been doing both for a very long time, as well as dabbling in the not-unrelated field of heraldry. It's only recently, though, that I've liked any of my designs enough to unleash them on an unsuspecting world.

A few of my designs are here on these page. Others are on the Flags of Cascadia page.

Before I get started, though, I must strongly encourage anyone interested in flags to consider joining Flags of the World, the Web's leading flag-related discussion group. Also check out the incomparable Flags of the World web page, which is fed by the list. These are absolutely essential references, while the list is also a great community of flag scholars and enthusiasts (vexillologists and vexillophiles). I've learned a lot, and had a lot of fun, on the list. (This design here is the official flag of FOTW [you didn't think a flag group wouldn't have a flag, did you?]. List-member Mark Sensen designed it, and FOTW'ers selected it from among several other suggestions; the one at the top of the page, needless to say, was animated by Pascal Gross, official flag animator of andrewrogers.net.)

(click on my persoflag for a larger -- and better -- image)

As a rule, I don't go in for the overwrought symbolism sometimes larded onto flags ("The red is for the shed blood of our glorious revolutionary heroes, the white is for the purity of our national aspirations, the green is for the verdant fields and forests of our beloved motherland..."). However, since my persoflag is a personal flag, and is supposed to represent me, I've given myself a little more leeway. Herewith, what it all means:

The second quarter is a square version of my anarcho-capitalist flag, of which more on its own page.

The cross in the fourth quarter of my persoflag represents my Christian faith. This style of cross is known heraldically as fitchy double (thanks to Anton Sherwood and the members of rec.heraldry for correcting my previous mis-identification of this), and is taken from the seal of the high school I attended. Red and white were the official colors (two of them, at least) of both my high school and my college.

Those are the four quarters of my persoflag. But that's not the end of the symbolism.

In heraldry, one of the ways to represent a married couple is to place both partners' arms, if they have them, side by side -- impaled, it's called -- on one shield, with the husband's on the left (heraldic dexter) and the wife's on the right (heraldic sinister).

Now, my lovely bride, not being a flag geek like her husband, is among the millions of Americans who don't have persoflags of their own. However, she grew up in Maryland, and is a fan of the excellent Maryland state flag. This prompted me to arrange the second and fourth quarters to recall the Maryland flag (the hoist-ward half of the Maryland flag is taken from the FOTW image by Mario Fabretto).

Okay, so maybe you wouldn't have picked up on the resemblance if I hadn't pointed it out. But once I did, weren't you impressed?

You can create your own personal flag or banner, find USA flags and foreign flags, wall-mounted or in-ground flagpoles, and much more at gettysburgflag.com. Endorsed by andrewrogers.net.