Our excitement is growing for our trip in May, 108 days to go! Here's a little information about the South African flag to help us, friends, and family learn more about South Africa.
The flag consists of six bold colors: black, yellow, green, white, red, and blue. These colors are said to have no official significance, but much reason can be found behind them. Black, green, and yellow were the colors of Nelson Mandela's political party. Red, white, and blue are the colors of the National African Congress and a former flag. If you need more reasoning for the colors, you may look at past South African flags. Here's what they have meant: red for bloodshed, blue for open skies, green for the land, black for the black people, white for the European people, and yellow for natural resources like gold.
While colors don't have official means the lines and shapes of this flag do. The Y of V shape represents South Africa's diverse society and unity.
The flag was adopted in April 1994, right before the election of Nelson Mandela. This flag was first commissioned as the interim flag while designers and committees found an official flag. A public competition brought in over 7,000 designs, but with no success. Seven days before the general election this flag was chosen, designed by State Herald, Frederick Brownell. There is usually a five year period of use for an interim flag, but this flag was well received and quickly written into the constitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment