Every Day Is Special: June 7

June 7 - Peru's Flag Day

Posted on June 7, 2019

Red stands for blood spilled in "the war."

White stands for peace.

I suppose the war referenced in the Peruvian flag's symbolism is the war for independence, which was in the 1820s, because the flag was officially adopted in 1824. However, Flag Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the Battle of Arica, which was fought on this date in 1880, and that was during the war with Chile, called the War of the Pacific.

Peru includes its national ensign in the middle of its flag. Some people feel strongly that national flags should be simple, with two to five colors and only geometrical features such as stripes, stars, circles, crescents. In other words, these people opine, national flags should have no detailed pictures or fussy elements. After all, they reason, a flag has to be recognizable up there on a flagpole. Some people point out that it's fun for school kids, sports fans, and others to be able to easily recreate their flag with colored paper, scissors, and a glue stick.

I guess my answer is that I would prefer simple if I were designing a flag for a new nation, BUT surely we can shrug and let other peoples design their own flags?

Also, we can help kids making flags by copying and printing emblems or picture elements, OR we can accept that kid-drawn flags are great, too!

As for sport fans, simplifying a flag to just its colors or to just its basic elements is easy-peasy. For example, not all Mexican flags copy the central emblem on their flag in order to show their patriotism: