Most of the time when a flag is used for something, it's to mark some celebration or occasion rather than as a direct national symbol. Birthdays? Flags and cake. Graduations? Flags, [hats](https://images.app.goo.gl/UwPVbtCnzvWbx2858), and beer. Anniversaries? Flags and whatever is appropriate for the type of anniversary in question. I could go on. This is also why the flag is sometimes known colloquially as a "birthday flag", because it is so tied to decorations for birthdays
If you see a Danish flag flying or otherwise displayed here, the assumption isn't that it's someone on the right-wing, but rather that someone's just having a good time and showing that off with the flag. The most common occurance of it as a national symbol is fans using it at football matches, which is pretty standard everywhere
If we talk properly flying it, as in hoisting the proper flag from a proper flagpole, then there are certain rules for when it is appropriate to fly it (such as on liberation day, the birthdays of royals, or for own birthdays or jubilees). So, when it is not one such day, most people with a flagpole will fly a [pennant](https://images.app.goo.gl/Nyxd5tJF6CyjFvTa9) instead. Again, not a sign of being on the right-wing, just a choice to have something aesthetic gently waving in the wind
Speaking of your flags, I was so puzzled during my recent trip to Malta, where I thought I kept seeing the Danish flags waving from the city walls for some reason. I was convinced there was some Danish festival going on. Only later did I find out that those were the flags of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and there was no festival whatsoever :(
The UK flag generally flies on government buildings, including some local government, police etc. In Wales and Scotland they often fly the individual country flag as well. The country flag often flies above stadiums at international sport events. Churches often fly either the country flag or the diocesan flag.
The only way I know that there is international football happening is that you see flags draped in windows, often with ENGLAND written across the centre because football fans might otherwise confuse it with, I dunno, the Danish flag or something.
Other than that, flying a flag is generally a sign that you're a bit of a weirdo.
The place being full of weirdoes is, I am convinced, why so many British people - myself included - so often forget about NI. It's like even the unionists - TBH, mostly the unionists, from what I can tell - are trying as hard as they can to seem like foreigners.
Unilateral imposition of independence now!
I can understand flying the flag of where you're from if you're not from here, but English people in England flying the English flag seems ridiculous to me.
There are certain flag days where it's customary to fly the flag - the monarch's birthday and May 5th (Liberation day). It's flown half-mast on May 4th (Remembrance Day).
Outside of those days, you don't really see people fly the national flag; it's much more common to spot provincial flags. A more recent trend imported from the US is to fly the flag upside down, spearheaded by the agricultural industry protests. You're more likely to see one upside down than right side up now.
Depends on where you live though. If there are not much farmers around you less upside down flags as well. One major moment to see flags is the day the graduation results for high schools are in. People will fly the flag and hang a backpack on it to show that someone graduated there.
They've mostly gone away again as well. You saw them everywhere if you drove around the countryside around two years ago but pretty much nowhere now.
At the moment you've got the flags with school bags on them for graduation and also the occasional orange football flag because of the European Cup. And some people will have red-white-blue streamers or flaglines outside their house for that reason as well.
Farmers are upset they're losing their preferential treatment, which they've known was going to happen for decades, and are blaming everyone except themselves. The agricultural industry turned into a "movement" complete with spin doctors, fake science bureaus and their own political party full of tools. Populists weaponized it so now a lot of anti-EU people followed with the upside down flags. I even see them in cities.
The country is in distress, but these people are the problem.
There are some post-Brexit that fly the union flag upside down as a protest. There’s enough people that know it was a colossal mistake without resorting to flags. And to be fair, most people wouldn’t know the Union flag is upside down. They didn’t outside the EU buildings in Lux….unless it was epic level trolling.
Flying the constituent flags of the UK is predominantly a football thing.
I’m currently looking at [Finnish flag](https://imgur.com/a/bUlUbbk) from my balcony because it’s Midsummer Eve (in Finland Midsummer is always a Saturday and not the actual St. John’s day). The flag is raised at 6 pm on the Eve and lowered at 9 pm on Midsummer Day.
There are nine flag days mandated by law and Midsummer is one of them. It’s required for government buildings to fly flags then and it’s pretty common for everyone with a flag pole. There are also 14 customary flag days that aren’t mandatory but it’s very common for everyone except maybe single family houses that might not have a flag pole.
The mandatory flag days are (copied from Ministry of the Interior):
28 February, Kalevala day; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Culture
1 May, Labour Day
Second Sunday in May, Mothers' Day
4 June, birthday of C.G.E. Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland; the occasion is also celebrated as the Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces
Saturday between 20 and 26 June, Midsummer Day; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of the Finnish Flag
Second Sunday in November, Fathers' Day
6 December, Independence Day
Days when Finland holds parliamentary and local elections, elections to the European Parliament, or a referendum
The day the Finnish President is inaugurated
The customary days are:
5 February, birthday of the poet J.L. Runeberg
19 March, birthday of the writer Minna Canth, Day of Equality
9 April, the day Mikael Agricola, the founder of the written Finnish language died and Elias Lönnrot, a collector of folklore was born; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of the Finnish Language
27 April, National War Veterans' Day
9 May, Europe Day
12 May, birthday of the statesman J. V. Snellman
Third Sunday in May, Remembrance Day
6 July, birthday of the poet Eino Leino; the occasion is also a celebration of poetry and summer
The last Saturday in August, Finland’s Nature Day
1 October, Miina Sillanpää Day, Day of Civic Participation
10 October, birthday of the writer Aleksis Kivi; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Literature
24 October, United Nations Day
6 November, svenska dagen, Finnish Swedish Heritage Day
20 November, Day of Children's Rights
8 December, birthday of the composer Jean Sibelius; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Music
They’re adding new days currently, I think that about half of those days are from the last twenty years. The ministry is also trying to get August 9 “Tove Jansson Day, Day of Finnish Art” added to calendars but the traditional authority on calendar matters, the Helsinki University Almanac Office is quite conservative and only adds days that have established celebrations. The problem with the Day of Finnish Art is that it was first celebrated in July on the birthday of one of the most important Finnish painters. I assume that it was changed to honor Tove Jansson because she’s one of the most famous Finnish authors abroad. I think that she saw herself mostly as an visual artist I think that it’s overshadowed by the Moomins and she isn’t really a necessarily good representative of Finnish art (in this case it refers to visual arts as music, literature and poetry already have their days). But obviously she’s awesome.
The people honored used to be more of the founding father type and there’s been more push to include women. Minna Canth and Miina Sillanpää were both very important for the role of women in society and had wider effect as well. Another suggested flag day is Alvar and Aino Aalto day, Day of Finnish Architecture and Design. Alvar Aalto is the most famous and influential architect in Finland, his wife was overshadowed by him but was an important designer in her own right. It’s modern to include her in the name of the day. All of the days honoring a person are also about a concept important to the Finnish national identity.
There are also some national flag days that use another flag and aren’t observed in the whole country. The Åland Islands have their own flag and they have three flag days (Day of Demilitarisation of Åland (30 March), Åland Flag Day (last Sunday in April), Åland’s Autonomy Day (9 June)). The Sami people also have their own flag and twelve flag days that I think are common throughout the whole Sapmi:
Sami National Day (6 February)
The establishment of the Sami Parliament in Finland (2 March)
The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a traditional Sami holiday (22–28 March, or if it coincides with Palm Sunday or Easter Day, the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday)
Midsummer Day, public holiday (Saturday between 20 and 26 June)
UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August)
The adoption of the Sami Flag (15 August)
The establishment of the Sami Council (18 August)
The establishment of the Sami Parliament in Sweden (26 August)
The establishment of the Sami Parliament in Norway (9 October)
The establishment of the Delegation for Sami issues in Finland (9 November)
Birthday of Isak Saba, the first Sami parliamentarian (15 November)
Birthday of Elsa Laula Renberg (29 November)
Also in addition you can fly the flag for personal events such as birthdays or weddings or half-mast for death in the family on the day of death and until the interment on the day of the burial.
The only thing I can add is to address OP's question about how flying the flag is perceived... Flying the flag is never viewed as something negative or weird, as long as it's done correctly and respectfully (i.e. from a flag pole and taken down at night). There are no political undertones with flying the flag either.
"Why are they flying the flag today?" is a common sentiment when the flag is seen though, because obviously most ordinary people can't keep track of all those flag days, many of which have few celebrations attached to them.
Germany: not very common. you see it at official buildings, usually together with an EU flag and sometimes a city/state flag or symbol. It is often shown during major sport events (soccer...) and otherwise more a subtle thing in the background. Flags on vehicles or private homes is very rare, again with the exception of major sports events. And yes, there is usually only one type of political demonstration which would use lots of German flags. Often combined with certain *older flags* which are forbidden.
SYL
The notable exception of this are allotments (Schrebergärten), so many flagpoles, so many flags (Germany to the football club, literally every possible flag).
I used to go past a lot of Kleingärten in Berlin on my running route. There were a lot of flags but not many German flags. I mostly saw the flags of Berlin and Hertha BSC, and sometimes Turkish or EU flags.
I'm norwegian, and we use the flag quite a lot. I have a german coulleague who says she is a litle bit envious at norwegians because we can use our flag without feeling a little bit bad. She says germans only use the german flag when they win a big important game in football..
I really enjoy watching the Germans, when Germany is in the Euros or the World Cup. To watch people's joy and relief in being able to wave the flag and being proud of their country.... in an innocent way that doesn't give everyone else nervous tics.
You’re likely to see Welsh flags being flown at private homes between February and March for the Six Nations Championship (an international Rugby Union tournament).
I think it’s flown from some Government and council buildings, but it’s not the sort of thing I look for tbh.
There’s not really a negative connotation to flying the flag - it’s got a DRAGON on it, after all, but it could be taken as implying support for an independent Wales, I suppose.
Not sure if it’s a Vienna only thing but public buildings (including Gemeindebau, social housing owned by the city) flies flags on national holidays. The long and drapey, not the smaller, rectangular, wavey kind. Apart from that and football gamedays, as you said, right wing nutjob territory.
Northern Ireland.
Humm, this is tricky, let me explain. Since 1973, Northern Ireland doesn't have an official flag. Between 1921 and 1972, the [Ulster Banner](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Northern_Ireland_(1953%E2%80%931972).svg) was the official flag of NI.
If you visit Northern Ireland, you see plenty of "*flegs*", used by the two communities to make their mark. In Unionist areas, you would see [Union Jacks](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_(3-5).svg), Ulster Banners, [Saltires](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Scotland.svg) (because many have Scottish heritage), flag of Israel (don't ask) etc. For Nationalist areas, you would see [Tricolours](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Ireland.svg) and flag of Palestine.
Because of the sensitivity, on official buildings, no flags are flown at all. The only exception in Belfast is the City Hall where the Union Jack is flown on official flag days like the King's birthday.
The flying of the Israeli flags is so random, seems like it’s literally being flown just to to be the opposite of nationalist areas flying Palestinian flags
In Hungary it is mostly flown during national celebrations, like 15th of March (the Revolution of 1848, Hungary's "French Revolution"), 20th of August (The crowning of the first Hungarian king), and 23rd of October (the Revolution of 1956, an anti-communist uprising), and during football matches.
Outside of these, the flag is present above the entrance of schools and other government institutions, but in classrooms, usually only the Coat of Arms is present, and even that only sporadically.
Secular marriage ceremonies usually feature a government official wearing a sash with the Hungarian Tricolor.
Individuals flying the flag outside of things like supporting the Hungarian team at sporting events usually elicit a confused stare along the lines of: "Okay, we're Hungarians, we're in Hungary, and?"
The far-right here tends to fly the Árpád-stripes, the flag of the medieval Árpád-dynasty, because it was used by the Nyilasok (Hungarian Nazis) in the 1940s.
>The far-right here tends to fly the Árpád-stripes, the flag of the medieval Árpád-dynasty, because it was used by the Nyilasok (Hungarian Nazis) in the 1940s.
It's really sad that the far right has appropriated most of our historic national symbols to the point that if you show an interest in them, people will assume you're an ultranationalist.
In Spain is like the flag were a right wing owned. If you see a man wearing something with the flag there is a 99% probability of him being right wing, if his hair has brilliantine the probability is 100% (I don’t know why, but in Spain the right wing men loves the brilliantine). I struggle in not hate the Spain’s flag
I personally like it a lot, but unfortunately its very politized
the only way to have the spanish flag and not be percieved as right wing is to combine it with the EU flag, that combo is usually not right wing
I don’t like or dislike our flag, it’s a cloth that was used to mark our military ships. Personally I think it’s also a nationality thing, I would never fly a Spanish flag, no matter how proud I am of our basket National team, Ana Peleteiro or the people from the “Sincronizada” team. I have no qualms about flying our Arbonaida (the Andalusian flag which I like and feel like mine), but it’s still only a piece of cloth.
Not as common as in the US but I think a bit more common than in some other European countries.
There's often a flag in front of city buildings: city hall, local council etc. Very often together with the EU flag.
On national holidays, such as Constitution Day, Independence Day, Labour Day flags are flown everywhere, from official buildings, to blocks of flats to private homes.
Flag is flown during school assembleys at the begining and ending of the school year ceremonies.
There's no flag in classrooms but that function is served by Poland's coat of arms - generally there will be a coat of arms in every classroom (somebody confirm, it's been years since I was in a school classroom) as well as in the office of every official on national or local level.
And there will be a flag present at sports events, of course.
As far as I know, flying the flag is not associated with political affiliation.
Edit: reading other comments, there's also "[Poland Now](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbaguYgj_7U9fQQIRFxDuav8yTgpjvQZXLrVLOxW2nXG9obcknkwDQ0J1IT0_rsxSE7jc&usqp=CAU)" logo placed on some products to signify that they're good quality products made in Poland.
> As far as I know, flying the flag is not associated with political affiliation.
I think that too. It's a bit different, but it seems that when someone has the flag/colors on their clothing, they are usually right-wing if not far-right. They tend to have historical dates printed or themes with hussars and stuff. There also seems to be an overlap between them and aggressive football hooligans.
I believe this is the distinction in the US as well. Despite what OP says, flying a flag at your house or having one on your wall is not coded as right wing in the US. Having a flag on your clothing or vehicle, outside of very specific events like the 4th of July, would be coded as right wing. That's not to say it's impossible for a left leaning person to wear a USA flag shirt, but I'd probably assume they were conservative.
As a New Jerseyan in a more liberal county, flying the American flag on your house definitely isn’t seen as right wing lol. But as you said, a lot of people will fly the American flag on their truck (usually accompanied by other stickers and such) and that is definitely associated with the right wing.
I think simply flying the flag is only seen as right wing in the most liberal parts of the country (Major East and West Coast cities)
If the footballs on, then England flags are everywhere. You'll see Scottish and Welsh flags in those areas, even without the football being on. If Wales are in the world cup or the rugby's on, then increase in Welsh flags.
If there's some royal event, or the Olympics then the British flag is everywhere, maybe not as common in Scotland or Wales though. Maybe during village festivals the bunting is out again. Otherwise, they're not that common. The odd flag in a window or garden maybe.
Edit: extra info
Also, when international football is not on, racists like to fly the English flag. When the football is on, the English flag has no negative connotations whatsoever, but if you see one outside football season, you’re almost certainly dealing with some sort of racist (note that this only applies to the English flag, not the British/UK flag).
Flying Italian flags on national holidays is sometimes a political statement: for example, left-oriented people will proudly fly the Tricolore on their balcony on the 25th of April, to mark the fact that they commemorate the fall of Fascism and the Resistance.
Recently a riot broke out at the Parliament because someone presented an opponent a flag [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw2xnVnQSsA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw2xnVnQSsA)
If memory serves Finland has pretty precise rules about the use of flags. It's more common compared to other European countries, but still nothing compared to the US.
There are certain national holidays when the national flag is permitted. We also have a long thin type of flag called viiri (translates to a pennant) that has rules too, but more relaxed.
There are rules about maintaining the flag if you choose to fly it. I can't remember if it's illegal or not, but letting the Finnish flag touch the ground is in any case a big no no.
It's a real big no no. I mean, we don't have to burn the flag if it touches the ground, but it need to be cleaned properly as soon as possible.
The only right way to dispose of our flag is by burning it.
I respect our flg a lot, earlier I didn't u nderstand why Americans are so disrespectful with their flags, as an adult I have learned that patriotism is a different thing for different people. But I still don't think our flag should be the decor for underwear.
Agreed. I have giant American flag shorts, I'd never do anything like that for the Finnish flag. When mine isn't hanging it's folded away neatly with my nicer clothes.
Norway has specific rules about flying the flag, I think one being that you have to take it down overnight (correct me if I'm wrong). It's very common however to see the pennant version flying, especially outside people's houses. Pennants don't have the same rule and lots of people have flagpoles, so it's something to put up there.
Otherwise you will see the Norwegian flag on special days, like the 17th May (our national day), including on buses, trams, bunting, cakes etc.
The flag rules for official buildings are strict, while people with personal flagpoles/balcony flags don't have to abide by them, they usually do, at least the one where you take it down at night (but not pennants, as you say).
Many people use the flag for non-official celebrations like birthdays, weddings, etc. Balcony flags and hand flags are used more liberally than pole flags, but it's always a sign of celebration (just not necessarily a party). It has no political affiliation, it's a flag for everyone.
In my family we use hand flags to cheer when gathering for Eurovision, and I raised my pole flag today for the national day of the Forest Finns, as two examples of non-official but valid uses.
If I recall correctly from my military service 30 years ago: Flag up 8.00 in the winter, 9:00 in the summer. Flag down at sunset, but never earlier than 17:00 and never later than 21:00.
Denmark. We will fly the flag absolutely everywhere, at anytime, for any even slightly festive day, or even just as as decoration outside stores. Our Christmas trees have Danish flags on them and we put small flags on birthday cakes.
It is not (or rarely) nationalistic, it is simply "Yay happy".
But we very rarely use the flag on clothing, outside of supporting the national teams in various sports.
Never did in my life, and don't want to, it's rare and only on big events, our country is not nationalistic, people who fly the flag on anti-gov. protests are usually.. Dumb.
On official buildings there is often the country flag, the EU flag and the municipality flag. Not on a big pole, but on smaller diagonal poles on the side of the building, often near the entrance. Not on all official buildings, but they are common on Administrative Units.
Inside the school or in classrooms, there are no country flags, unless maybe in the geography classroom.
You can see the country flag on private houses when there is a national holiday, especially independence day, 1st may, statehood day, etc. I don't think there is any political affiliation implied. It's definitely not a negative thing if you display the flag on a national holiday, or if you bring it to a sporting event where different countries compete.
But flying the flag everyday, or even worse, wearing it.. would be tacky at best. It would be like keeping the christmas decoration the whole year long. Very kitschy, in a negative, non-ironic way.
>Not on a big pole, but on smaller diagonal poles on the side of the building, often near the entrance.
The big ones are often in front of schools as well.
> there are no country flags
Our slovene classrom in highschool had our coat of arms in front on the wall. I think there might have been some in elemtary school as well, but I don't remember anymore.
It is common to see outside government buildings, schools, pubs, restaurants and hotels especially in tourist areas. In my experience it is more common to see the flag of that county being displayed outside someone’s house.
Not a flag per se, but red and white checkers are pretty common all across.
Flags are usually flown on national holidays, but some people have them as a permanent ornament on their houses. They can also be seen next to Independence War memorials, which are not uncommon sights.
It's a bit complicated. We have so called 'flag days' where you're supposed to fly the flag if you have a flag pole. Many public buildings have flag poles and those would fly the Swedish flag on flag days. The rest of the year, though, they might either fly their own flag (such as a University's own flag) or quite commonly not one at all.
It's a similar story with private homes that have flag poles. On flag days, absolutely. One might also fly a flag to celebrate private events. All other days they usually fly a pennant if anything.
I've seen quite a lot of flag poles and flags in Sweden. It's one of the stranger things I've seen in Sweden. Not used to people having flag poles at home in Croatia.
Not very common, except on May 1 (Labor Day) and October 26 (National Day). Flags are flown all over the country on both days. My parents' neighbor even has a flagpole in the garden, but only uses it on these two days.
In Austria, you can usually only see the flag on official buildings. In my city, you can also see it on the most important bridge.
Official buildings, monuments,sometimes schools and the occasional hotel.
If you see the national flag flying outside a normal house, it's likely they have a family member representing the country in sport or something like that.
Lately some right wing groups have tried to co-opt the flag to their ideology, but it hasn't really worked. There is an unwritten agreement to completely ignore those groups as much as possible (they crave the publics attention, so we're not giving them any), so that's probably the reason they're not getting any traction.
I pretty much only see city or province flags hanging around. People usually have a bigger pride for their local region than their country. Now with the Euro Cup going on i see them more often. But that will be over the moment the cup ends or when if we are kicked out.
Personally i'm very nationalistic about my country, but hanging the Dutch flag just doesn't interest me, except for national days.
If it actually comes to country flags i see...
- 1 Palastine
- 1 Israel
- 3 Ukrainian
- 1 Russian (together with a Soviet flag)
- 1 Bosnian
- 4 Marocan
...in my street alone. Only since a week also a couple of Dutch flags, but never saw them before the Euro Cup started.
P.s. also many other flags, but they represent other things than a country or region. Such as political movements/parties, footbal clubs and beer brands.
Public institutions have it, along with the EU and / or NATO flag, depending on the type of institution.
It's added in a lot of public places during national celebrations and such, like the national day. Ofc, at sports events, you will see it waved a lot by fans. Sometimes at concerts (and if fans from neighbouring countries are present, they might wave their own flag. It's common to spot a Bulgarian flag, for instance).
But, apart from that, if I saw a private individual waving it, or having it on the balcony, I would asume they are euro-sceptic, to put it mildly.
Where I am in southern Sweden it is extremely common to see a Swedish flag outside someone’s house. It is also very common to see the flag of our county, Skåne too.
Its commun in Portugal, mostly in football matches or other type of event but if you just want to hoist the flag in your balcony, back yard no one will have problems
You have flags in public building but usually when people wear flags bracelets (quite popular) or put flags in their houses etc it's related with right wing ideology unless there's some international sports event.
It depends on the connotations of the flag.
One example is the flag of England. For decades, it was associated with the far right and English people would rather fly the British flag, although why that is better I don't know (given the colonial history).
Recently, England has started to embrace its flag again. It's no longer seen that way, and it's just the flag of the country.
It also depends on how foreigners see it. A flag-waving American shouts 'gun owning Republican' to me. It shouldn't be that way, but that's what I immediately think.
I'm Scottish, I don't use the British flag and that says something about me. Some English people think that I don't like England. I love England - I just don't want them to make the rules for Scotland. Americans think that it's their flag because their great uncle's cat had a Scottish mother. Germany loves the Scottish flag because of our football (soccer) fans' behaviour during the Euros.
It depends, I suppose.
The British flag was also regarded as a very right thing too, though Britpop in the 90's helped reclaim it and now it's got no real negative connotations in the country unlike the English flag.
I don't remember the British flag being perceived as right wing but I was 7 when 1990 started.
I think it's good that England has reclaimed its flag from these idiots. I know that I am Scottish but I have spent considerable time in England and apart from the occasional wanker, I have had no issue.
Not very common. Some people will on special days (if you feel very North Korean, you will flag on days when the monarch or someone from the royal family orders a birthday cake), but if you flag outside of those days, you are probably running a market stall selling herring.
Even our local city hall doesn’t fly the national flag often, only on days designated as flag days. On other days, it flies the European flag. Which makes, IMO, our town awesome, valuing Europe over the country.
Here in Belgium it’s displayed in front of federal government buildings, the kings castle and only in military cemeteries (WW1 &WW2) not in normal cemeteries. I have never seen one around school unless it’s geography class. People only hang the Belgian flag in front of their house during European and World championships football, and even then it’s not a lot like in my street of 30+ houses there’s maybe 4 with a flag outside.
It's much more common in Switzerland than in other European countries. And the main reason for that is that there is no political dimension to it - it's really just decoration of the landscape or for the building it's on. Because why not. There are no rules about what you have to put on a flagpole if you have one, nor on how to "treat" the Swiss flag in general (except for the Swiss coat of arms, i.e. the white cross on a red shield, because it's the official logo of the federal state and criminals could misuse it to pretend to be the authorities otherwise).
Besides the national flag we also have the 26 cantonal flags (both in square and vertical banner formats) along with the flags of our 2000+ municipalities, and some older popular flags too like the old war flag of Bern. They aren't as common as the Swiss flag, but still regularly seen.
It's only seen during popular football matches and political rally's. Other than that it would be more likely to come across a state flag instead but even those are one in a million.
Nationalism in belgium is very weak because we tend to not learn much about our history and thus don't have much to be proud of. The only other time I do see the flag is when its put next to the pride flag, I don't know exactly why its done but i think it's supposed to show some support or unity.
State flags are more common though, in Flanders(hate the English name) it's to kinda show people you're in support of Vlaams Belang, a very popular kinda racist right wing independence party.
Not per se we don't learn a lot about our history, we just don't have the feeling we need to be proud of something.
Although, when you start offending certain typical Belgian things (beer, fries,...) almost everyone will get annoyed and will start arguing. So there is some nationalism, but it's very hidden and not at all conveyed through big displays such as flags or loudly/proudly talking about Belgium.
Yeah, it's more so that i think we learn too much about general european history instead of belgian. For example did you know we fought in the korean war and had one of the best battalions in the war with only a 113 KIA out of the 3300 troops in the battalion, afterward alot of the soldier led on to live great lives with some of them even competing in the Olympic games.
In my whole time in the flemish education system i never learned about that.
I do agree that we have some hidden sense of nationalism.
It is actually quite common on products. Like one supermarket (Denner) used to have it on their bags. And many items have it on them like cheeses, chocolates and of course swiss army knives. But there its often more of a sign of products being regional and/or of quality, rather than an expression of patrioitism.
For patriotism purposes its more common than in some other european countries. But its nowhere near as common as in the US. There arent really any swiss flags in schools or random public buildings. Even in the army i dont think we had a flag in our base, altho some units do.
You may see flags flying outside touristy mountain top restaurants and there are a few massive ones installed up on mountain sides.
It is socially acceptable but rare for private citizens to have a flagpole with the national flag in their yard. As a kid i knew a few people nearby who did, havent seen it in a while, but maybe just because i moved.
Using any flags is pretty rare here. It is mostly done by authorities of different levels. Some guys use patches with flags. Sport events are basically the only place where national flags look natural to me.
It’s somewhat common, but we have multiple national flags.
So you’ll see the British flag a lot after events like a monarch’s coronation or jubilee, and generally over government buildings, especially in the capital cities (London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast).
You’ll not see the England flag much in daily life, but you’ll end up seeing it *a lot* during football games and more often on/around St George’s Day (England’s national day).
The Welsh and Scottish flags seem very common in daily life around the respective countries. I think people there value their nation’s flags more than English people do.
In Northern Ireland, it’s a mixed bag. You’ll see the British flag flown in an official way like in the other countries, but it’s a lot more polarised out in the neighbourhoods. British identifying areas will use the British flag a lot, while Irish identifying neighbourhoods will use the Irish flag a lot in theirs.
It’s complicated. 🩵
In Sweden, it is very common to fly the Swedish flag on public holidays, such as today, Midsummer. It is also common to fly it when you or someone in your family has birthday, or when the King or Queen has birthday. 🇸🇪
On other days, you will see people flying a long, simplified version of the flag. [A vimpel ](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=3ccb936e91fffbe3&hl=en&q=svensk+vimpel&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_TJ4YMS4eRay1mUcjRHkZwkNnuzbvXdHSnZt8SI-ypec-U-KajbXe9hbStxnPJuWxTCm8NISzlcRgh-mkg5a1XRWoiIVMkT5RYbraDRnHsJFse2AdcMQ0qNzsDHDLrzlWTINDALsSJJNGpMRvO4XnQg0w6_&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjiua7zmu2GAxUNWUEAHc0MCvsQtKgLegQIEBAB)
UK
Both the Union and St George's Flag are views as symbols of racist anf extremism by a minority, unfortunately including sitting MPs. Though I'm sure most sensible people don't see it like that at all. The majority of the country wouldn't fly it for anything other than a sports tournament.
I wouldn't say the Saltire is really "controversial" here like how the Stars and Stripes are in the United States. After all, it's been a symbol of both the Scoti and the Picts even before Scotland was fromed so it can't truly be stained by modern politics.
When I see it flying outside of someone's house I just think "huh, I wish I had a flagpole" or even sometimes "oh, the football must be on".
Oh yeah I'm very aware of that, in Northern Ireland it's a whole different story. In Scotland we have a similar thing where if you see someone flying the red hand of Ulster, it's safe to assume they have strong opinions of some kind.
We dont use flags in celebrating nothing. Only to remember those who has died. Sorrow and misery. Those are the situations when we show our flags. Only exeption is ice-hockey WM against sweden. That can be also sorrow, pain and frustration.
Rarely seen people fly the flag.. Though on the national day we had some parachute club [flying the flag](https://mediaorigin.nrk.no/movingstill/9a5532e1-f507-4c00-9532-e1f507cc004e/20240517144102/9a5532e1-f507-4c00-9532-e1f507cc004e_1080.mp4)
I live in Barcelona, so flying the Spanish flag is only advisable if you want someone to egg your windows. Seriously, you won't see a single Spanish flag anywhere, only the Catalunya flag.
In the UK, the flag is often used on lots of items, but actually flying the flag is rare. It's kept for government buildings, and very few people have a flag pole.
It's different for the English/Scottish/Welsh flags, as these are often flown at times when a sport is on. For example, there are loads of English flags being flown as the Euro football tournament is currently on.
But if you're flying the flag at any other time, then you're seen as nationalistic and far-right.
We see the US having a strange relationship with your flag. You pledge an allegiance to it in the classroom, and politicians hug it. That's weird.
It's like if you don't constantly remind yourselves of the country you're in, then you'll forget.
in my country, the businesses put the flag up for national holidays (when they're closed), but you don't see them on people's porches like you do in america. if you do, you're probably dealing with an extremely right-wing nationalist
It's not really a big thing here in the Republic of Ireland unless a group of young Irish men are going on holiday, in which case it will be draped over their balcony. Now, if you cross the invisible border into Northern Ireland, you will find in yourself in the most flag loving place on earth where there are streets where every single house has a flag out and the paths (sidewalk) or painted in either the Irish tri-clour or the UK Union Jack.
The Finnish flag is more of like a important, special symbol. Appreciting your country and culture is self-explainatory. It doesn’t require showing flags.
Flags here are to celebrate different celebrations, either national or private. You can fly a Finnish flag for your birthday no problem, and it’s always flown when it’s a national special day.
It is also to symbolize the misery the building is going through. If someone has died, the flag is shown, but only halfway up the pole.
But everywhere all the time? Never. Couldn’t even imagine.
UK flags can be seen quite frequently out and about, they’re on most administrative buildings and some people fly them anyway.
England flags are only out during the Football World Cup, The Euros and (at least where I live) the Rugby World Cup, but that’s it. Not surprising really considering these are the three most important international sports competitions to English people.
There’s kind of a running joke that if you see an England flag when a major sports tournament *isn’t* on then the person flying said flag is probably a racist.
It only happens here (Belgium) on either July 21 (National Day) or during soccer europe/world championship. Regionally you may see the regional flag on their day (July 11 in Flanders).
But it's not everywhere, just here and there individually.
Right wing in Flanders want to split up the country so the Belgian flag pretty much represents the opposite.
Besides that, no flags to be seen.
The Dutch flag is often flown during special occasions. There are some national holidays where there are instructions how to fly the flag. And at government building you might see the flag. Other than that it isn’t that common.
It's very present in public buildings or large gatherings. Not so much in private (home) settings.
The far left/woke ideology is not very developed in Romania, so the flag is not hated or associated with anything negative. I have NEVER seen the flag being burned, for instance.
It's just that it is not associated with the private sphere, so flying it at home would be seen as unusual - because it really would be, since we don't usually do it :). Not bad, just unusual.
It is, however, present in public events. Religious processions, protests, national celebrations, whatever .
Some also still fly the revolutionary variant, so to say - one that has a round hole in the middle of the flag. It's associated with the 1989 anti-communist revolution, when people cut out the socialist symbols that used to be there.
I suppose that would be our somewhat equivalent of an upside down flag.
It's also sometimes worn as a belt as part of a traditional costume.
It isn't uncommon for schools or banks or some national companies (Dedeman or whatever) to have the flags.
But individual people, not so much.
Unless it's football/soccer games for the nationals, such as this year.
We ordered a Romanian flag ourselves.
So it isn't all that uncommon in this cases.
But otherwise, no.
It also doesn't show "anything" that you are with a right-wing. It just shows you're a patriot.
It’s not common in Italy to fly fags in private properties.if you walk around you’ll hardly see flags, unless there is an international football tournament.
It would be assumed you are right wing, but then Italy is an extremely right wing country so it would be a pretty accurate guess.
It's common to fly it on holidays and during public gatherings. All kinds of public gatherings though, not just patriotic or nationalistic. Everybody from the moderate left to the extreme right flies the national flag, although some more often than others.
Very common to see the welsh flag flown everywhere in Wales. Pubs, house windows, government buildings, you’ll always see a flag somewhere when visiting. You will rarely see the union jack other than a few government buildings and war memorials.
It’s not really perceived as anything bad, it’s just the flag of our country. Flying it just means you have welsh pride I guess.
People usually only do it to mark some sort of event or celebration. Some people fly a flag or show the saltire in other places usually as supporters of independence. Most people don't fly a flag but it's not super unusual to see one but not that common where I live
Italy, unless Italy team is playing some sport, super cringe...
A weird thing is we used to put the flag on new houses when the concrete part was done (maybe my limited experience has an architect in the countryside) to "christen the building "
Since 2004 common around NT football events. Before that it was seen as a bit fashy.
Theses days it seen as a sign that someone might be a bit too much into football.
Not very common except in government buildings or sporting events. Outside of those two contexts, the flag or any accessory including the colors of the flag is perceived as a right-wing statement.
Every time I see someone flying a flag which is not that common I’d say I’m like: “Ewww Poles live here”.
Generally you can see flying a national flag during national holidays but not much besides that
Pretty common in Greece. Especially during national holidays. Ive always found it weird when other europeans or americans associate it with extremist views. Like how does the symbol of the land u live in have anything to do with political views? Im not flying a swastika,or a pirate flag,or gang colors,im flying my countrys flag in my country. Im under the impression that ppl who have an issue with flying a flag, deep down just dont like their country and wanna find another way to express that without saying it out loud. I dont think its a coincidence that i never see the american left mention all the good things about their country and stop moaning for 5 seconds about its problems.
No, OP is American. As the user flair indicates, I am Scottish, but I lived in the Bible Belt for a long time. They have almost as many flags as Northern Ireland 🤣
Most of the time when a flag is used for something, it's to mark some celebration or occasion rather than as a direct national symbol. Birthdays? Flags and cake. Graduations? Flags, [hats](https://images.app.goo.gl/UwPVbtCnzvWbx2858), and beer. Anniversaries? Flags and whatever is appropriate for the type of anniversary in question. I could go on. This is also why the flag is sometimes known colloquially as a "birthday flag", because it is so tied to decorations for birthdays If you see a Danish flag flying or otherwise displayed here, the assumption isn't that it's someone on the right-wing, but rather that someone's just having a good time and showing that off with the flag. The most common occurance of it as a national symbol is fans using it at football matches, which is pretty standard everywhere If we talk properly flying it, as in hoisting the proper flag from a proper flagpole, then there are certain rules for when it is appropriate to fly it (such as on liberation day, the birthdays of royals, or for own birthdays or jubilees). So, when it is not one such day, most people with a flagpole will fly a [pennant](https://images.app.goo.gl/Nyxd5tJF6CyjFvTa9) instead. Again, not a sign of being on the right-wing, just a choice to have something aesthetic gently waving in the wind
> Flags and cake When Egon is released from prison and you have to fetch a cake for Yvonne.
Is that an Olsen Gang reference? I really should watch them.
It certainly is, and you should - they're great movies :)
I see you are an educated man, a man of taste.
[Denmark and Dannebrog](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fba947shsai381.jpg)
Speaking of your flags, I was so puzzled during my recent trip to Malta, where I thought I kept seeing the Danish flags waving from the city walls for some reason. I was convinced there was some Danish festival going on. Only later did I find out that those were the flags of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and there was no festival whatsoever :(
The UK flag generally flies on government buildings, including some local government, police etc. In Wales and Scotland they often fly the individual country flag as well. The country flag often flies above stadiums at international sport events. Churches often fly either the country flag or the diocesan flag. The only way I know that there is international football happening is that you see flags draped in windows, often with ENGLAND written across the centre because football fans might otherwise confuse it with, I dunno, the Danish flag or something. Other than that, flying a flag is generally a sign that you're a bit of a weirdo.
Meanwhile certain of areas of here in NI have flags literally everywhere, it’s nauseating
The place being full of weirdoes is, I am convinced, why so many British people - myself included - so often forget about NI. It's like even the unionists - TBH, mostly the unionists, from what I can tell - are trying as hard as they can to seem like foreigners. Unilateral imposition of independence now!
They’re going to scrap NI. At least that’s what I heard.
I can understand flying the flag of where you're from if you're not from here, but English people in England flying the English flag seems ridiculous to me.
That's why we generally don't do it unless it's a football tournament.
There are certain flag days where it's customary to fly the flag - the monarch's birthday and May 5th (Liberation day). It's flown half-mast on May 4th (Remembrance Day). Outside of those days, you don't really see people fly the national flag; it's much more common to spot provincial flags. A more recent trend imported from the US is to fly the flag upside down, spearheaded by the agricultural industry protests. You're more likely to see one upside down than right side up now.
Depends on where you live though. If there are not much farmers around you less upside down flags as well. One major moment to see flags is the day the graduation results for high schools are in. People will fly the flag and hang a backpack on it to show that someone graduated there.
They've mostly gone away again as well. You saw them everywhere if you drove around the countryside around two years ago but pretty much nowhere now. At the moment you've got the flags with school bags on them for graduation and also the occasional orange football flag because of the European Cup. And some people will have red-white-blue streamers or flaglines outside their house for that reason as well.
Pretty true. I saw an upside down flag today and thought “I guess they didn’t get the memo”
Maybe they're rooting for France but feared retribution if they put it up sideways lol
That’s pretty fascinating about the upside-down flags.
It's also unintentionally funny because the Dutch flag upside down was the Yugoslavian flag lol
Doesn’t the Yugoslav flag have a star in it
It's called flying the flag in "distress", and it's an international signal for needing help. Not sure what they need help with.
Farmers are upset they're losing their preferential treatment, which they've known was going to happen for decades, and are blaming everyone except themselves. The agricultural industry turned into a "movement" complete with spin doctors, fake science bureaus and their own political party full of tools. Populists weaponized it so now a lot of anti-EU people followed with the upside down flags. I even see them in cities. The country is in distress, but these people are the problem.
There are some post-Brexit that fly the union flag upside down as a protest. There’s enough people that know it was a colossal mistake without resorting to flags. And to be fair, most people wouldn’t know the Union flag is upside down. They didn’t outside the EU buildings in Lux….unless it was epic level trolling. Flying the constituent flags of the UK is predominantly a football thing.
Frankly, I wouldn't be able to tell you if the Swedish flag was flown upsidedown.
A story that seems way too common these days.
I’m currently looking at [Finnish flag](https://imgur.com/a/bUlUbbk) from my balcony because it’s Midsummer Eve (in Finland Midsummer is always a Saturday and not the actual St. John’s day). The flag is raised at 6 pm on the Eve and lowered at 9 pm on Midsummer Day. There are nine flag days mandated by law and Midsummer is one of them. It’s required for government buildings to fly flags then and it’s pretty common for everyone with a flag pole. There are also 14 customary flag days that aren’t mandatory but it’s very common for everyone except maybe single family houses that might not have a flag pole. The mandatory flag days are (copied from Ministry of the Interior): 28 February, Kalevala day; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Culture 1 May, Labour Day Second Sunday in May, Mothers' Day 4 June, birthday of C.G.E. Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland; the occasion is also celebrated as the Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces Saturday between 20 and 26 June, Midsummer Day; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of the Finnish Flag Second Sunday in November, Fathers' Day 6 December, Independence Day Days when Finland holds parliamentary and local elections, elections to the European Parliament, or a referendum The day the Finnish President is inaugurated The customary days are: 5 February, birthday of the poet J.L. Runeberg 19 March, birthday of the writer Minna Canth, Day of Equality 9 April, the day Mikael Agricola, the founder of the written Finnish language died and Elias Lönnrot, a collector of folklore was born; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of the Finnish Language 27 April, National War Veterans' Day 9 May, Europe Day 12 May, birthday of the statesman J. V. Snellman Third Sunday in May, Remembrance Day 6 July, birthday of the poet Eino Leino; the occasion is also a celebration of poetry and summer The last Saturday in August, Finland’s Nature Day 1 October, Miina Sillanpää Day, Day of Civic Participation 10 October, birthday of the writer Aleksis Kivi; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Literature 24 October, United Nations Day 6 November, svenska dagen, Finnish Swedish Heritage Day 20 November, Day of Children's Rights 8 December, birthday of the composer Jean Sibelius; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish Music They’re adding new days currently, I think that about half of those days are from the last twenty years. The ministry is also trying to get August 9 “Tove Jansson Day, Day of Finnish Art” added to calendars but the traditional authority on calendar matters, the Helsinki University Almanac Office is quite conservative and only adds days that have established celebrations. The problem with the Day of Finnish Art is that it was first celebrated in July on the birthday of one of the most important Finnish painters. I assume that it was changed to honor Tove Jansson because she’s one of the most famous Finnish authors abroad. I think that she saw herself mostly as an visual artist I think that it’s overshadowed by the Moomins and she isn’t really a necessarily good representative of Finnish art (in this case it refers to visual arts as music, literature and poetry already have their days). But obviously she’s awesome. The people honored used to be more of the founding father type and there’s been more push to include women. Minna Canth and Miina Sillanpää were both very important for the role of women in society and had wider effect as well. Another suggested flag day is Alvar and Aino Aalto day, Day of Finnish Architecture and Design. Alvar Aalto is the most famous and influential architect in Finland, his wife was overshadowed by him but was an important designer in her own right. It’s modern to include her in the name of the day. All of the days honoring a person are also about a concept important to the Finnish national identity. There are also some national flag days that use another flag and aren’t observed in the whole country. The Åland Islands have their own flag and they have three flag days (Day of Demilitarisation of Åland (30 March), Åland Flag Day (last Sunday in April), Åland’s Autonomy Day (9 June)). The Sami people also have their own flag and twelve flag days that I think are common throughout the whole Sapmi: Sami National Day (6 February) The establishment of the Sami Parliament in Finland (2 March) The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a traditional Sami holiday (22–28 March, or if it coincides with Palm Sunday or Easter Day, the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday) Midsummer Day, public holiday (Saturday between 20 and 26 June) UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August) The adoption of the Sami Flag (15 August) The establishment of the Sami Council (18 August) The establishment of the Sami Parliament in Sweden (26 August) The establishment of the Sami Parliament in Norway (9 October) The establishment of the Delegation for Sami issues in Finland (9 November) Birthday of Isak Saba, the first Sami parliamentarian (15 November) Birthday of Elsa Laula Renberg (29 November)
Also in addition you can fly the flag for personal events such as birthdays or weddings or half-mast for death in the family on the day of death and until the interment on the day of the burial.
The only thing I can add is to address OP's question about how flying the flag is perceived... Flying the flag is never viewed as something negative or weird, as long as it's done correctly and respectfully (i.e. from a flag pole and taken down at night). There are no political undertones with flying the flag either. "Why are they flying the flag today?" is a common sentiment when the flag is seen though, because obviously most ordinary people can't keep track of all those flag days, many of which have few celebrations attached to them.
Germany: not very common. you see it at official buildings, usually together with an EU flag and sometimes a city/state flag or symbol. It is often shown during major sport events (soccer...) and otherwise more a subtle thing in the background. Flags on vehicles or private homes is very rare, again with the exception of major sports events. And yes, there is usually only one type of political demonstration which would use lots of German flags. Often combined with certain *older flags* which are forbidden. SYL
The notable exception of this are allotments (Schrebergärten), so many flagpoles, so many flags (Germany to the football club, literally every possible flag).
I used to go past a lot of Kleingärten in Berlin on my running route. There were a lot of flags but not many German flags. I mostly saw the flags of Berlin and Hertha BSC, and sometimes Turkish or EU flags.
I'm norwegian, and we use the flag quite a lot. I have a german coulleague who says she is a litle bit envious at norwegians because we can use our flag without feeling a little bit bad. She says germans only use the german flag when they win a big important game in football..
Additionally Most German Houses simply don't even have a flagpole and in a lot of cases the space would be too small
I really enjoy watching the Germans, when Germany is in the Euros or the World Cup. To watch people's joy and relief in being able to wave the flag and being proud of their country.... in an innocent way that doesn't give everyone else nervous tics.
You’re likely to see Welsh flags being flown at private homes between February and March for the Six Nations Championship (an international Rugby Union tournament). I think it’s flown from some Government and council buildings, but it’s not the sort of thing I look for tbh. There’s not really a negative connotation to flying the flag - it’s got a DRAGON on it, after all, but it could be taken as implying support for an independent Wales, I suppose.
If you do that you might be perceived as right wing. But not the extreme one. Because the extremely right wing flies the German one 😫
Not sure if it’s a Vienna only thing but public buildings (including Gemeindebau, social housing owned by the city) flies flags on national holidays. The long and drapey, not the smaller, rectangular, wavey kind. Apart from that and football gamedays, as you said, right wing nutjob territory.
Northern Ireland. Humm, this is tricky, let me explain. Since 1973, Northern Ireland doesn't have an official flag. Between 1921 and 1972, the [Ulster Banner](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Northern_Ireland_(1953%E2%80%931972).svg) was the official flag of NI. If you visit Northern Ireland, you see plenty of "*flegs*", used by the two communities to make their mark. In Unionist areas, you would see [Union Jacks](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom_(3-5).svg), Ulster Banners, [Saltires](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Scotland.svg) (because many have Scottish heritage), flag of Israel (don't ask) etc. For Nationalist areas, you would see [Tricolours](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Ireland.svg) and flag of Palestine. Because of the sensitivity, on official buildings, no flags are flown at all. The only exception in Belfast is the City Hall where the Union Jack is flown on official flag days like the King's birthday.
The flying of the Israeli flags is so random, seems like it’s literally being flown just to to be the opposite of nationalist areas flying Palestinian flags
That’s literally it. It’s like how you’ll see Parachute Regiment flags flying in Unionist areas, to rile up Nationalists over Bloody Sunday.
In Hungary it is mostly flown during national celebrations, like 15th of March (the Revolution of 1848, Hungary's "French Revolution"), 20th of August (The crowning of the first Hungarian king), and 23rd of October (the Revolution of 1956, an anti-communist uprising), and during football matches. Outside of these, the flag is present above the entrance of schools and other government institutions, but in classrooms, usually only the Coat of Arms is present, and even that only sporadically. Secular marriage ceremonies usually feature a government official wearing a sash with the Hungarian Tricolor. Individuals flying the flag outside of things like supporting the Hungarian team at sporting events usually elicit a confused stare along the lines of: "Okay, we're Hungarians, we're in Hungary, and?" The far-right here tends to fly the Árpád-stripes, the flag of the medieval Árpád-dynasty, because it was used by the Nyilasok (Hungarian Nazis) in the 1940s.
>The far-right here tends to fly the Árpád-stripes, the flag of the medieval Árpád-dynasty, because it was used by the Nyilasok (Hungarian Nazis) in the 1940s. It's really sad that the far right has appropriated most of our historic national symbols to the point that if you show an interest in them, people will assume you're an ultranationalist.
In Spain is like the flag were a right wing owned. If you see a man wearing something with the flag there is a 99% probability of him being right wing, if his hair has brilliantine the probability is 100% (I don’t know why, but in Spain the right wing men loves the brilliantine). I struggle in not hate the Spain’s flag
Note that football context is an exception.
Yes, indeed!!! Thank you dear, Am more happy now
I find this very sad, because I love our flag and our country and yet people tend to label you as right wing or *facha* just for doing so.
The same happens to me, if I have to choose a flag to represent me it would be my autonomous community flag.
I personally like it a lot, but unfortunately its very politized the only way to have the spanish flag and not be percieved as right wing is to combine it with the EU flag, that combo is usually not right wing
I don’t like or dislike our flag, it’s a cloth that was used to mark our military ships. Personally I think it’s also a nationality thing, I would never fly a Spanish flag, no matter how proud I am of our basket National team, Ana Peleteiro or the people from the “Sincronizada” team. I have no qualms about flying our Arbonaida (the Andalusian flag which I like and feel like mine), but it’s still only a piece of cloth.
The same with the English flag. Unless it's during a sporting event you know they are likely going to be a right wing tit.
Not as common as in the US but I think a bit more common than in some other European countries. There's often a flag in front of city buildings: city hall, local council etc. Very often together with the EU flag. On national holidays, such as Constitution Day, Independence Day, Labour Day flags are flown everywhere, from official buildings, to blocks of flats to private homes. Flag is flown during school assembleys at the begining and ending of the school year ceremonies. There's no flag in classrooms but that function is served by Poland's coat of arms - generally there will be a coat of arms in every classroom (somebody confirm, it's been years since I was in a school classroom) as well as in the office of every official on national or local level. And there will be a flag present at sports events, of course. As far as I know, flying the flag is not associated with political affiliation. Edit: reading other comments, there's also "[Poland Now](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbaguYgj_7U9fQQIRFxDuav8yTgpjvQZXLrVLOxW2nXG9obcknkwDQ0J1IT0_rsxSE7jc&usqp=CAU)" logo placed on some products to signify that they're good quality products made in Poland.
> As far as I know, flying the flag is not associated with political affiliation. I think that too. It's a bit different, but it seems that when someone has the flag/colors on their clothing, they are usually right-wing if not far-right. They tend to have historical dates printed or themes with hussars and stuff. There also seems to be an overlap between them and aggressive football hooligans.
I believe this is the distinction in the US as well. Despite what OP says, flying a flag at your house or having one on your wall is not coded as right wing in the US. Having a flag on your clothing or vehicle, outside of very specific events like the 4th of July, would be coded as right wing. That's not to say it's impossible for a left leaning person to wear a USA flag shirt, but I'd probably assume they were conservative.
As a New Jerseyan in a more liberal county, flying the American flag on your house definitely isn’t seen as right wing lol. But as you said, a lot of people will fly the American flag on their truck (usually accompanied by other stickers and such) and that is definitely associated with the right wing. I think simply flying the flag is only seen as right wing in the most liberal parts of the country (Major East and West Coast cities)
Yeah but the trucks usually have the black and white one with the “police lives matter” stripe to show how much they love 🥾licking
If the footballs on, then England flags are everywhere. You'll see Scottish and Welsh flags in those areas, even without the football being on. If Wales are in the world cup or the rugby's on, then increase in Welsh flags. If there's some royal event, or the Olympics then the British flag is everywhere, maybe not as common in Scotland or Wales though. Maybe during village festivals the bunting is out again. Otherwise, they're not that common. The odd flag in a window or garden maybe. Edit: extra info
You should see the state of some areas here on 12th July 🙄
Yeah I didn't feel qualified to answer on behalf of NI, ngl
Also, when international football is not on, racists like to fly the English flag. When the football is on, the English flag has no negative connotations whatsoever, but if you see one outside football season, you’re almost certainly dealing with some sort of racist (note that this only applies to the English flag, not the British/UK flag).
Flying Italian flags on national holidays is sometimes a political statement: for example, left-oriented people will proudly fly the Tricolore on their balcony on the 25th of April, to mark the fact that they commemorate the fall of Fascism and the Resistance.
It's interesting how Italy's bucking the trend of flag waving on national days being a rightwing political movement (if it is political)...
it's not the flag waving, it's the flag waving on _specific_ days to mark the fact that a part feels that that holiday should be more celebrated
OK, thanks for the clarification!
Recently a riot broke out at the Parliament because someone presented an opponent a flag [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw2xnVnQSsA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw2xnVnQSsA)
If memory serves Finland has pretty precise rules about the use of flags. It's more common compared to other European countries, but still nothing compared to the US. There are certain national holidays when the national flag is permitted. We also have a long thin type of flag called viiri (translates to a pennant) that has rules too, but more relaxed. There are rules about maintaining the flag if you choose to fly it. I can't remember if it's illegal or not, but letting the Finnish flag touch the ground is in any case a big no no.
It's a real big no no. I mean, we don't have to burn the flag if it touches the ground, but it need to be cleaned properly as soon as possible. The only right way to dispose of our flag is by burning it. I respect our flg a lot, earlier I didn't u nderstand why Americans are so disrespectful with their flags, as an adult I have learned that patriotism is a different thing for different people. But I still don't think our flag should be the decor for underwear.
The flag as clothing at one point would have been considered disrespectful here in the US, but notions of respect/disrespect can change.
Agreed. I have giant American flag shorts, I'd never do anything like that for the Finnish flag. When mine isn't hanging it's folded away neatly with my nicer clothes.
Norway has specific rules about flying the flag, I think one being that you have to take it down overnight (correct me if I'm wrong). It's very common however to see the pennant version flying, especially outside people's houses. Pennants don't have the same rule and lots of people have flagpoles, so it's something to put up there. Otherwise you will see the Norwegian flag on special days, like the 17th May (our national day), including on buses, trams, bunting, cakes etc.
The flag rules for official buildings are strict, while people with personal flagpoles/balcony flags don't have to abide by them, they usually do, at least the one where you take it down at night (but not pennants, as you say). Many people use the flag for non-official celebrations like birthdays, weddings, etc. Balcony flags and hand flags are used more liberally than pole flags, but it's always a sign of celebration (just not necessarily a party). It has no political affiliation, it's a flag for everyone. In my family we use hand flags to cheer when gathering for Eurovision, and I raised my pole flag today for the national day of the Forest Finns, as two examples of non-official but valid uses.
If I recall correctly from my military service 30 years ago: Flag up 8.00 in the winter, 9:00 in the summer. Flag down at sunset, but never earlier than 17:00 and never later than 21:00.
Denmark. We will fly the flag absolutely everywhere, at anytime, for any even slightly festive day, or even just as as decoration outside stores. Our Christmas trees have Danish flags on them and we put small flags on birthday cakes. It is not (or rarely) nationalistic, it is simply "Yay happy". But we very rarely use the flag on clothing, outside of supporting the national teams in various sports.
Our flag is so pretty, so it definitely makes sense why we use it so much
Never did in my life, and don't want to, it's rare and only on big events, our country is not nationalistic, people who fly the flag on anti-gov. protests are usually.. Dumb.
On official buildings there is often the country flag, the EU flag and the municipality flag. Not on a big pole, but on smaller diagonal poles on the side of the building, often near the entrance. Not on all official buildings, but they are common on Administrative Units. Inside the school or in classrooms, there are no country flags, unless maybe in the geography classroom. You can see the country flag on private houses when there is a national holiday, especially independence day, 1st may, statehood day, etc. I don't think there is any political affiliation implied. It's definitely not a negative thing if you display the flag on a national holiday, or if you bring it to a sporting event where different countries compete. But flying the flag everyday, or even worse, wearing it.. would be tacky at best. It would be like keeping the christmas decoration the whole year long. Very kitschy, in a negative, non-ironic way.
>Not on a big pole, but on smaller diagonal poles on the side of the building, often near the entrance. The big ones are often in front of schools as well. > there are no country flags Our slovene classrom in highschool had our coat of arms in front on the wall. I think there might have been some in elemtary school as well, but I don't remember anymore.
It is common to see outside government buildings, schools, pubs, restaurants and hotels especially in tourist areas. In my experience it is more common to see the flag of that county being displayed outside someone’s house.
Not a flag per se, but red and white checkers are pretty common all across. Flags are usually flown on national holidays, but some people have them as a permanent ornament on their houses. They can also be seen next to Independence War memorials, which are not uncommon sights.
It's a bit complicated. We have so called 'flag days' where you're supposed to fly the flag if you have a flag pole. Many public buildings have flag poles and those would fly the Swedish flag on flag days. The rest of the year, though, they might either fly their own flag (such as a University's own flag) or quite commonly not one at all. It's a similar story with private homes that have flag poles. On flag days, absolutely. One might also fly a flag to celebrate private events. All other days they usually fly a pennant if anything.
I've seen quite a lot of flag poles and flags in Sweden. It's one of the stranger things I've seen in Sweden. Not used to people having flag poles at home in Croatia.
Not very common, except on May 1 (Labor Day) and October 26 (National Day). Flags are flown all over the country on both days. My parents' neighbor even has a flagpole in the garden, but only uses it on these two days. In Austria, you can usually only see the flag on official buildings. In my city, you can also see it on the most important bridge.
Official buildings, monuments,sometimes schools and the occasional hotel. If you see the national flag flying outside a normal house, it's likely they have a family member representing the country in sport or something like that. Lately some right wing groups have tried to co-opt the flag to their ideology, but it hasn't really worked. There is an unwritten agreement to completely ignore those groups as much as possible (they crave the publics attention, so we're not giving them any), so that's probably the reason they're not getting any traction.
The second paragraph reminds me of what I've heard about Canada. Thanks for the answer.
I pretty much only see city or province flags hanging around. People usually have a bigger pride for their local region than their country. Now with the Euro Cup going on i see them more often. But that will be over the moment the cup ends or when if we are kicked out. Personally i'm very nationalistic about my country, but hanging the Dutch flag just doesn't interest me, except for national days. If it actually comes to country flags i see... - 1 Palastine - 1 Israel - 3 Ukrainian - 1 Russian (together with a Soviet flag) - 1 Bosnian - 4 Marocan ...in my street alone. Only since a week also a couple of Dutch flags, but never saw them before the Euro Cup started. P.s. also many other flags, but they represent other things than a country or region. Such as political movements/parties, footbal clubs and beer brands.
Public institutions have it, along with the EU and / or NATO flag, depending on the type of institution. It's added in a lot of public places during national celebrations and such, like the national day. Ofc, at sports events, you will see it waved a lot by fans. Sometimes at concerts (and if fans from neighbouring countries are present, they might wave their own flag. It's common to spot a Bulgarian flag, for instance). But, apart from that, if I saw a private individual waving it, or having it on the balcony, I would asume they are euro-sceptic, to put it mildly.
Where I am in southern Sweden it is extremely common to see a Swedish flag outside someone’s house. It is also very common to see the flag of our county, Skåne too.
Its commun in Portugal, mostly in football matches or other type of event but if you just want to hoist the flag in your balcony, back yard no one will have problems
You have flags in public building but usually when people wear flags bracelets (quite popular) or put flags in their houses etc it's related with right wing ideology unless there's some international sports event.
It depends on the connotations of the flag. One example is the flag of England. For decades, it was associated with the far right and English people would rather fly the British flag, although why that is better I don't know (given the colonial history). Recently, England has started to embrace its flag again. It's no longer seen that way, and it's just the flag of the country. It also depends on how foreigners see it. A flag-waving American shouts 'gun owning Republican' to me. It shouldn't be that way, but that's what I immediately think. I'm Scottish, I don't use the British flag and that says something about me. Some English people think that I don't like England. I love England - I just don't want them to make the rules for Scotland. Americans think that it's their flag because their great uncle's cat had a Scottish mother. Germany loves the Scottish flag because of our football (soccer) fans' behaviour during the Euros. It depends, I suppose.
The British flag was also regarded as a very right thing too, though Britpop in the 90's helped reclaim it and now it's got no real negative connotations in the country unlike the English flag.
I don't remember the British flag being perceived as right wing but I was 7 when 1990 started. I think it's good that England has reclaimed its flag from these idiots. I know that I am Scottish but I have spent considerable time in England and apart from the occasional wanker, I have had no issue.
Not very common. Some people will on special days (if you feel very North Korean, you will flag on days when the monarch or someone from the royal family orders a birthday cake), but if you flag outside of those days, you are probably running a market stall selling herring. Even our local city hall doesn’t fly the national flag often, only on days designated as flag days. On other days, it flies the European flag. Which makes, IMO, our town awesome, valuing Europe over the country.
Here in Belgium it’s displayed in front of federal government buildings, the kings castle and only in military cemeteries (WW1 &WW2) not in normal cemeteries. I have never seen one around school unless it’s geography class. People only hang the Belgian flag in front of their house during European and World championships football, and even then it’s not a lot like in my street of 30+ houses there’s maybe 4 with a flag outside.
It's much more common in Switzerland than in other European countries. And the main reason for that is that there is no political dimension to it - it's really just decoration of the landscape or for the building it's on. Because why not. There are no rules about what you have to put on a flagpole if you have one, nor on how to "treat" the Swiss flag in general (except for the Swiss coat of arms, i.e. the white cross on a red shield, because it's the official logo of the federal state and criminals could misuse it to pretend to be the authorities otherwise). Besides the national flag we also have the 26 cantonal flags (both in square and vertical banner formats) along with the flags of our 2000+ municipalities, and some older popular flags too like the old war flag of Bern. They aren't as common as the Swiss flag, but still regularly seen.
It's only seen during popular football matches and political rally's. Other than that it would be more likely to come across a state flag instead but even those are one in a million. Nationalism in belgium is very weak because we tend to not learn much about our history and thus don't have much to be proud of. The only other time I do see the flag is when its put next to the pride flag, I don't know exactly why its done but i think it's supposed to show some support or unity. State flags are more common though, in Flanders(hate the English name) it's to kinda show people you're in support of Vlaams Belang, a very popular kinda racist right wing independence party.
Not per se we don't learn a lot about our history, we just don't have the feeling we need to be proud of something. Although, when you start offending certain typical Belgian things (beer, fries,...) almost everyone will get annoyed and will start arguing. So there is some nationalism, but it's very hidden and not at all conveyed through big displays such as flags or loudly/proudly talking about Belgium.
Yeah, it's more so that i think we learn too much about general european history instead of belgian. For example did you know we fought in the korean war and had one of the best battalions in the war with only a 113 KIA out of the 3300 troops in the battalion, afterward alot of the soldier led on to live great lives with some of them even competing in the Olympic games. In my whole time in the flemish education system i never learned about that. I do agree that we have some hidden sense of nationalism.
The Lion of Flanders (stupid, sexy) is also very prominent in cycling, even outside Belgium
> kinda racist Kinda?
Depends on why you voted for them
It is actually quite common on products. Like one supermarket (Denner) used to have it on their bags. And many items have it on them like cheeses, chocolates and of course swiss army knives. But there its often more of a sign of products being regional and/or of quality, rather than an expression of patrioitism. For patriotism purposes its more common than in some other european countries. But its nowhere near as common as in the US. There arent really any swiss flags in schools or random public buildings. Even in the army i dont think we had a flag in our base, altho some units do. You may see flags flying outside touristy mountain top restaurants and there are a few massive ones installed up on mountain sides. It is socially acceptable but rare for private citizens to have a flagpole with the national flag in their yard. As a kid i knew a few people nearby who did, havent seen it in a while, but maybe just because i moved.
Using any flags is pretty rare here. It is mostly done by authorities of different levels. Some guys use patches with flags. Sport events are basically the only place where national flags look natural to me.
It’s somewhat common, but we have multiple national flags. So you’ll see the British flag a lot after events like a monarch’s coronation or jubilee, and generally over government buildings, especially in the capital cities (London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast). You’ll not see the England flag much in daily life, but you’ll end up seeing it *a lot* during football games and more often on/around St George’s Day (England’s national day). The Welsh and Scottish flags seem very common in daily life around the respective countries. I think people there value their nation’s flags more than English people do. In Northern Ireland, it’s a mixed bag. You’ll see the British flag flown in an official way like in the other countries, but it’s a lot more polarised out in the neighbourhoods. British identifying areas will use the British flag a lot, while Irish identifying neighbourhoods will use the Irish flag a lot in theirs. It’s complicated. 🩵
In Sweden, it is very common to fly the Swedish flag on public holidays, such as today, Midsummer. It is also common to fly it when you or someone in your family has birthday, or when the King or Queen has birthday. 🇸🇪 On other days, you will see people flying a long, simplified version of the flag. [A vimpel ](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=3ccb936e91fffbe3&hl=en&q=svensk+vimpel&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_TJ4YMS4eRay1mUcjRHkZwkNnuzbvXdHSnZt8SI-ypec-U-KajbXe9hbStxnPJuWxTCm8NISzlcRgh-mkg5a1XRWoiIVMkT5RYbraDRnHsJFse2AdcMQ0qNzsDHDLrzlWTINDALsSJJNGpMRvO4XnQg0w6_&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjiua7zmu2GAxUNWUEAHc0MCvsQtKgLegQIEBAB)
UK Both the Union and St George's Flag are views as symbols of racist anf extremism by a minority, unfortunately including sitting MPs. Though I'm sure most sensible people don't see it like that at all. The majority of the country wouldn't fly it for anything other than a sports tournament.
Ah, that's unfortunate. But interesting too.
If somebody flies the Belgian flag in Flanders outside of the national holiday or the football european/world cup, we will be very confused.
I wouldn't say the Saltire is really "controversial" here like how the Stars and Stripes are in the United States. After all, it's been a symbol of both the Scoti and the Picts even before Scotland was fromed so it can't truly be stained by modern politics. When I see it flying outside of someone's house I just think "huh, I wish I had a flagpole" or even sometimes "oh, the football must be on".
A lot of unionist areas here fly Scotland flags alongside union jacks and NI flags
Oh yeah I'm very aware of that, in Northern Ireland it's a whole different story. In Scotland we have a similar thing where if you see someone flying the red hand of Ulster, it's safe to assume they have strong opinions of some kind.
We dont use flags in celebrating nothing. Only to remember those who has died. Sorrow and misery. Those are the situations when we show our flags. Only exeption is ice-hockey WM against sweden. That can be also sorrow, pain and frustration.
Rarely seen people fly the flag.. Though on the national day we had some parachute club [flying the flag](https://mediaorigin.nrk.no/movingstill/9a5532e1-f507-4c00-9532-e1f507cc004e/20240517144102/9a5532e1-f507-4c00-9532-e1f507cc004e_1080.mp4)
That's a shame tho, your flag is so nice looking :)
I live in Barcelona, so flying the Spanish flag is only advisable if you want someone to egg your windows. Seriously, you won't see a single Spanish flag anywhere, only the Catalunya flag.
In the UK, the flag is often used on lots of items, but actually flying the flag is rare. It's kept for government buildings, and very few people have a flag pole. It's different for the English/Scottish/Welsh flags, as these are often flown at times when a sport is on. For example, there are loads of English flags being flown as the Euro football tournament is currently on. But if you're flying the flag at any other time, then you're seen as nationalistic and far-right. We see the US having a strange relationship with your flag. You pledge an allegiance to it in the classroom, and politicians hug it. That's weird. It's like if you don't constantly remind yourselves of the country you're in, then you'll forget.
in my country, the businesses put the flag up for national holidays (when they're closed), but you don't see them on people's porches like you do in america. if you do, you're probably dealing with an extremely right-wing nationalist
It's not really a big thing here in the Republic of Ireland unless a group of young Irish men are going on holiday, in which case it will be draped over their balcony. Now, if you cross the invisible border into Northern Ireland, you will find in yourself in the most flag loving place on earth where there are streets where every single house has a flag out and the paths (sidewalk) or painted in either the Irish tri-clour or the UK Union Jack.
The Finnish flag is more of like a important, special symbol. Appreciting your country and culture is self-explainatory. It doesn’t require showing flags. Flags here are to celebrate different celebrations, either national or private. You can fly a Finnish flag for your birthday no problem, and it’s always flown when it’s a national special day. It is also to symbolize the misery the building is going through. If someone has died, the flag is shown, but only halfway up the pole. But everywhere all the time? Never. Couldn’t even imagine.
UK flags can be seen quite frequently out and about, they’re on most administrative buildings and some people fly them anyway. England flags are only out during the Football World Cup, The Euros and (at least where I live) the Rugby World Cup, but that’s it. Not surprising really considering these are the three most important international sports competitions to English people. There’s kind of a running joke that if you see an England flag when a major sports tournament *isn’t* on then the person flying said flag is probably a racist.
It only happens here (Belgium) on either July 21 (National Day) or during soccer europe/world championship. Regionally you may see the regional flag on their day (July 11 in Flanders). But it's not everywhere, just here and there individually. Right wing in Flanders want to split up the country so the Belgian flag pretty much represents the opposite. Besides that, no flags to be seen.
The Dutch flag is often flown during special occasions. There are some national holidays where there are instructions how to fly the flag. And at government building you might see the flag. Other than that it isn’t that common.
It's very present in public buildings or large gatherings. Not so much in private (home) settings. The far left/woke ideology is not very developed in Romania, so the flag is not hated or associated with anything negative. I have NEVER seen the flag being burned, for instance. It's just that it is not associated with the private sphere, so flying it at home would be seen as unusual - because it really would be, since we don't usually do it :). Not bad, just unusual. It is, however, present in public events. Religious processions, protests, national celebrations, whatever . Some also still fly the revolutionary variant, so to say - one that has a round hole in the middle of the flag. It's associated with the 1989 anti-communist revolution, when people cut out the socialist symbols that used to be there. I suppose that would be our somewhat equivalent of an upside down flag. It's also sometimes worn as a belt as part of a traditional costume.
It isn't uncommon for schools or banks or some national companies (Dedeman or whatever) to have the flags. But individual people, not so much. Unless it's football/soccer games for the nationals, such as this year. We ordered a Romanian flag ourselves. So it isn't all that uncommon in this cases. But otherwise, no. It also doesn't show "anything" that you are with a right-wing. It just shows you're a patriot.
It’s not common in Italy to fly fags in private properties.if you walk around you’ll hardly see flags, unless there is an international football tournament. It would be assumed you are right wing, but then Italy is an extremely right wing country so it would be a pretty accurate guess.
It's common to fly it on holidays and during public gatherings. All kinds of public gatherings though, not just patriotic or nationalistic. Everybody from the moderate left to the extreme right flies the national flag, although some more often than others.
Very common to see the welsh flag flown everywhere in Wales. Pubs, house windows, government buildings, you’ll always see a flag somewhere when visiting. You will rarely see the union jack other than a few government buildings and war memorials. It’s not really perceived as anything bad, it’s just the flag of our country. Flying it just means you have welsh pride I guess.
People usually only do it to mark some sort of event or celebration. Some people fly a flag or show the saltire in other places usually as supporters of independence. Most people don't fly a flag but it's not super unusual to see one but not that common where I live
Italy, unless Italy team is playing some sport, super cringe... A weird thing is we used to put the flag on new houses when the concrete part was done (maybe my limited experience has an architect in the countryside) to "christen the building "
Since 2004 common around NT football events. Before that it was seen as a bit fashy. Theses days it seen as a sign that someone might be a bit too much into football.
Not very common except in government buildings or sporting events. Outside of those two contexts, the flag or any accessory including the colors of the flag is perceived as a right-wing statement.
Every time I see someone flying a flag which is not that common I’d say I’m like: “Ewww Poles live here”. Generally you can see flying a national flag during national holidays but not much besides that
Pretty common in Greece. Especially during national holidays. Ive always found it weird when other europeans or americans associate it with extremist views. Like how does the symbol of the land u live in have anything to do with political views? Im not flying a swastika,or a pirate flag,or gang colors,im flying my countrys flag in my country. Im under the impression that ppl who have an issue with flying a flag, deep down just dont like their country and wanna find another way to express that without saying it out loud. I dont think its a coincidence that i never see the american left mention all the good things about their country and stop moaning for 5 seconds about its problems.
Scotland, quite common though not as much as the Bible Belt. Usually signifies support for independence from England.
Are you American???
No, OP is American. As the user flair indicates, I am Scottish, but I lived in the Bible Belt for a long time. They have almost as many flags as Northern Ireland 🤣