As a symbol of independence from Spain, the Cuban flag has inspired a number of others, including those of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Catalan separatists. Cuba's flag was originally designed in 1849 in New York City by Venezuelan-Cuban General Narciso López and Cuban poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón to symbolize the effort to have the US annex… Continue reading The Cuban Flag’s Descendents
Author: SDM
Ethnography * Technology * Design
What’s that Flag? (From VexTab #53)
The Vexilloid Tabloid is the newsletter of the Portland Flag Association.
Flags in Cuba – A Trip Report
by Ted Kaye, Vexilloid Tabloid #45 (April 2014) I recently visited Cuba and saw a profusion of national flag use—often as an instrument of political messaging. Here’s a sampling.
Flags and Emancipation in Cuba
Esther Allen has an excellent piece in NYR Daily about the history of US-Cuba relations, including this fascinating story about the Cuban flag: For its part, the US government had had an eye on Cuba at least since the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Jefferson tried without success to buy the colony from… Continue reading Flags and Emancipation in Cuba
NAVA Needs Your Support
NAVA is the North American Vexillological Association, the world's oldest organization devoted to vexillology, the study of flags. It publishes the peer-reviewed journal Raven, as well as a newsletter and the periodical Flag Research Quarterly (FRQ); and holds an annual meeting, the "largest conference of vexillologists (flag scholars),vexillographers (flag designers), vexillophiles (flag collectors and hobbyists), flag conservators, and… Continue reading NAVA Needs Your Support
Playing with the Oregon Flag
Compared to the endless variations people have created based on the California state flag, the Oregon state flag has for the most part been ignored. We've come across these examples -- do you know of others? The first two are from Maddish's blog, The Voice of Vexillology, Flags & Heraldry, in an interesting 2010 posting entitled British Columbia… Continue reading Playing with the Oregon Flag
The Cascadian Nautical Flag
by Alexander Baretich, Vexilloid Tabloid #53 Cascadia is a bioregion roughly encompassing Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and parts of other states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada’s Pacific Northwest (see VT #36). In 2012, nearly 17 years after designing the popular Cascadian flag, I created a nautical flag for Cascadia, specifically for vessels of… Continue reading The Cascadian Nautical Flag
Oregon Flag Registry Update
from Vexilloid Tabloid #53 The Oregon Flag Registry is an ongoing project by the PFA to document the flags of all Oregon tribes, counties, cities, and other flag-using entities. Current status: Total Prospects Identified: 118 Total Entries Assigned: 32 Total Entries Completed:16 The Registry is online at oregonflagregistry.org. Contact Scott Mainwaring to join the team: info… Continue reading Oregon Flag Registry Update
North American Flag?
by Michael Orelove, Vexilloid Tabloid #53 If Canada, the United States, and Mexico were to join to form a North American Union, what would the resulting flag look like? Mike Hale, the former owner of Elmer’s Flag and Banner, put this flag together for me. Residents of each country can easily recognize the color and… Continue reading North American Flag?
What’s in the Flower Bed This Year?
From Vexilloid Tabloid #53 Every year, Michael Orelove plants his “flower bed” to represent a flag. Since 2010 he has grown the U.S., Oregon, U.K., Canada, and Alaska flags. This year he honors his native city, Chicago. The flag has a white field with two horizontal light-blue stripes and four red stars arranged horizontally in… Continue reading What’s in the Flower Bed This Year?
Portland Flag Association 