Author: Chiara

Tomorrow, 23 March, is Nordic day, on this day the Helsinki treaty, establishing the Nordic Council, was signed in 1962. Its member are all Nordic countries and autonomous regions – including Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

In honour of this occurence, I am writing this post explaining Nordic (cross) flags. Scandinavians and Nordic peoples in general really like to use their flag, which are common to see in various forms and occasions, from pennants to wooden table flags, as decoration for a birthday or on a Christmas tree. But let’s go back to history!

Where Nordic flags come from: Dannebrog, the oldest flag in the world

Danish flag

the Nordic cross flags originated from the Danish flag, the oldest flag in the world! Also called Dannebrog, according to the legend it fell from the sky during a battle in Lyndanisse (today’s Estonian capital Tallinn) in 1219, turning 800 years old few years ago! 15th June is celebrated as Valdemarsdag in Denmark, from Valdemar Sejr, the king who fought in that battle.

The flag of the Kalmar Union, union of Scandinavia (or Denmark and Sweden, with Denmark reigning over Norway) 1397-1523, also had a Nordic cross. The Danish flag then became the model for fellow Scandinavian countries:

Swedish flag

Sweden officially got its flag 300 years later, with a design from the 16th century, with the colors -yellow and blue – taken from the coat of arms dating back to 1275. The day on which the flag is celebrated is 6th June, Svenska flaggans dag.

Norwegian flag

Norway‘s current flag appeared in 1821 – picked among a few different flag design proposals. It was the first Nordic flag with 3 colors, maybe inspired by the French revolution wanting to get rid of the Danes…parliament member Fredrik Meltzer from Bergen said ‘it means freedom, as the French flag, and in the Flags of the Dutch and Americans, and the Union of the English’. You will see a sea of flags everywhere on 17th May, Norway’s constitution day

2oth century Nature-inspired Iceland and Finland, Faroe islands and Åland

Icelandic flag

Iceland‘s official flag became official in 1915, based off its nature: according to the Flag Act the flag colours are “sky blue”, “fire red” and “snow white”. Iceland had previously an unofficial flag called Hvítbláinn, the ‘white-blue’, used by Icelandic nationalist activists from 1897 and after 1915 partly abandoned due to its similarity to other flags. Today it is still used by the Icelandic Youth Association among others.

Finnish flag

Finland‘s flag, called Siniristilippu “blue cross flag”, was adopted in 1917. The colors would represent the lakes Finland is rich of and snow. Finland has a Day of the Flag, Suomen lipun päivä, which also happens to be Midsummer (or Juhannus in Finnish), a very important day for the Nordics! On this day the Finnish flag is raised on Midsummer eve on 6pm, until 9pm of midsummer itsself.

Faroese flag

Faroe Islands flag is called Merkið “drape / mark”, with a white background symbolizing the foam of the sea and the pure, radiant sky of the Faroe Islands, while the old Faroese blue and red colours are reminiscent of other Scandinavian and Nordic flags, also reminding the colors of traditional Faroese clothing. Faroese students in Denmark strongly felt the need to have their own flag, and in 1919 their newly created flag was hoisted for the first time by a student in his home village. On 25 April 1940, the British Authorities officially recognised the Merkið as the Marine Flag of the Faroe Islands. This day became later the Faroese flag day, Flaggdagur.

Åland flag

Åland islands, the autonomous Swedish-speaking archipelago belonging to Finland, mixes Sweden and Finland in its flag, where the red cross represented Finland as the color of its coat of arms. The red cross used to be blue, with the colors taken from a song festival in the capital Mariehamn. Since 1954 it has been the official flag of Åland, April’s last Sunday is the flag day, Ålands flaggas dag.

Nordic official flags Overview

Nordic flags	adopted in	Inspired by	also known as	day of the flag
Denmark	1219	flag fallen from the sky during a battle	Dannebrog ‘cloth of the Danes’	16th June, Valdemarsdag
Sweden	1500s	Swedish coat of arms colors	–	6th June, Svenska Flaggans Dag
Norway	1821	colors of other ‘free’ countries flags	–	(widely used on Norway’s National Day 17th May)
Finland	1917	Finnish landscape (snow, lakes)	Siniristilippu “blue cross flag”	Midsummer is Finland’s flag Day, Suomen lipun päivä
Iceland	1915	Icelandic natural elements (sea, fire, snow)		(widely used on Iceland’s National Day 17th June)
Faroe Islands	created 1919, recognized 1940	Sea and Faroese folk costumes’ colors	Merkið “drape, mark”	25 April, Flaggdagur
Åland Islands	1954	Swedish flag+Finnish coat of arms		April’s last Sunday, Ålands flaggas dag

Nordic regional and minority flags

Skåne flag

The flag of Scania, Sweden’s southernmost county, is actually quite old, and has its origin in the historical coat of arms of Lund’s (Danish) archibishop of Lund, older than the Danish Dannebrog! The Nordic cross flag was made up in the 1800s though. The third Sunday of July is Skåne flag day.

Bornholm flag

Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, it has an unofficial flag from the 70s, designed by Bent Kaas. Green would represent the nature on the Danish island. It is mainly used in tourism and to mark local products.

Finnish Swedes and Swedish Finns flags

Finnish/Swedish minority: Flag mixes – Finland’s Swedes (looks actually the same as Skåne flag, red stands for Finland as above for Åland) and Swedish Finns, Finland’s flag with a yellow lining around the cross.

Flags of other Swedish regions: Norrland, Bohuslän, Småland, Öland, Gotland

Unofficial Nordic cross flags have been created for Swedish regions as Norrland, Bohuslän, Småland among others, and the Swedish Baltic Sea islands of Öland, and Gotland, although these are not really used.

Nordic cross flags of Nations with Nordic ties

Shetland and Orkney flags

for their Nordic heritage, historical and cultural ties of the Scottish islands with Scandinavia. Shetland‘s flag was created in the 60s for the 500 years since its transfer to Scotland from Norway (after belonging to Norway for as long). A Nordic cross with Scottish colors. Orkney‘s flag was chosen in 2007, after a public consultation (all proposed flags were a Nordic cross). Yellow and red from Scottish and Norwegian royal coats of arms, Blue representing Scotland and the Sea.  

Normandy flag

Normandy‘s Saint Olaf flag: mainly used by regionalists movements, its name comes from the Norwegian kind Olaf Haraldson, probably baptised in Rouen, remarking the region’s viking origin.

Estonian proposed flags

Nordic cross flags were also proposed for Estonia in 1919, to remark its Nordic (rather than Baltic) identity and historical ties.

Frisia proposed flag

A cool Nordic cross flag was also proposed for Frisia, probably due to the part of Scandinavian heritage Frisian people (scattered between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) have.

Nordic indigenous nations without Nordic cross: Greenland and Sami people

Greenlandic flag

Greenland and Sami people have a flag since 1985 and 1986, both Inuit and Sami people adopted a sun/moon symbol instead of a cross, more typical of indigenous people and their connection to nature. the sun symbol was kept however in the same left-aligned position as Nordic crosses.
Greenland has had a Nordic cross flag proposal – you might guess, green was in it- , but the Greenlandic iceberg landscape-inspired design by Tue Christiansen was eventually chosen instead. its name is Erfalasorput,”our flag”.

Sami flag

In the Sami flag sun and moon are represented as a circle. The first Sami flag, designed in 1977 by Synnøve Persens, was the simpler, red and blue with the yellow line, inspired by Sami traditional clothing. Astrid Båhl added the Green line (color more present in South sami clothing) and the circle.

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sources

• Norway: stortinget.no – Det Norske Flagg – et flagg i frihetens farger
• Iceland: government.is
• Faroe islands: faroeislands.fo
• Åland: regeringen.ax
• Greenland: dr.dk – video about the Greenlandic flag (Danish)
• Sami flag: Store Norske Leksikon
• more: britishcountyflags.com, skaneflaggan.nu, patrimoine-normand.com