Enough people treat a flag as a stand-in for the country itself that whole festivals have grown up around them, some noisy with parades, some quiet and formal. What those celebrations look like tells you almost as much as the flag does.
Why flags carry national identity
Flags reach back to ancient times as marks of sovereignty, and they still carry culture, heritage and a sense of belonging. The effect on people is not subtle: seeing a national flag can pull up anything from nostalgia to pride. Vexillology, the study of flags, covers both the design of them and the way people read them, which is how you get an answer to why a given color sits where it does.
Flag celebrations around the world
Countries host their own festivals around their flags, each with its own customs. Japan's Flag Day involves elaborate displays. Brazil's Dia da Bandeira fills the streets with parades and color.
Every color and symbol in a flag design carries meaning. Red in the United States flag, for instance, stands for valor.
Green in the Afghan flag stands for hope and prosperity.
Three flag festivals
Bastille Day, France
France marks July 14th as a celebration of liberty. Parades take over the streets of Paris, and the tricolor is on every building that has a pole for it.
Independence Day, United States
July 4th in the United States means fireworks, parades, and streets full of the Stars and Stripes.
Dia de la Bandera, Mexico
On February 24th, Mexico honors its flag with ceremonies and cultural festivities. The green, white and red stripes stand for hope, purity, and the blood of the country's heroes.
The role of parades
Parades are central to flag celebrations, and they carry more than national pride. Music and dance turn them into a display of a country's artistry, communities and international visitors join in, and the city streets become the venue.
Flag-raising ceremonies
Flag-raising rituals are communal by design. In India, the hoisting at the Red Fort on Independence Day is an emotional event, the flag going up against a backdrop of patriotic songs.
Flags in the digital age
Social media added a second venue for all of this. Digital campaigns connect people across borders through livestreams, and profiles fill up with flag emojis on the day.
