Flag of Småland
The official Småland flag ( Swedish Småland flagga ) is a coat of arms banner with the coat of arms of the Swedish province of Småland as a motif. Although it can look back on a long tradition, it is hardly known.
In the golden field there is a standing red lion with an outstretched blue tongue. In his blue paws he holds up a red crossbow , which is armed with a silver arrow, a black bow and a black bowstring . In the version of the coat of arms originally designed by the sons of the Swedish King Gustav I. Wasa , the crossbow was nestled between roses. After Johann III. was crowned king of Sweden , the weapon has been carried by a lion since 1569 and the flag got its current appearance.
Unofficial flags
In addition, there are other flags, mostly modern creations, which claim to represent Småland:
- The most famous of the unofficial flags of Småland corresponds to the pattern of the Scandinavian cross flag , as it can be found predominantly in the Nordic countries . On a green background it is led by a white cross, which is covered with a red cross - with the proportions 16: 25.6. The green base color symbolizes the gardens, orchards and forests of the province, while the red of the cross stands on the one hand for the houses in the region painted in traditional Falun red and on the other hand for the red cranberries . It was designed in 1992 by the publisher Per Andersson, who has already developed other Swedish landscape flags such as the Östergötland flag . The flag is assigned a semi-official status and is sold by many flag manufacturers. The green-white-red flag was already used as a symbol of Småland in the well-known Swedish TV series Det finns inga smålänningar .
- Another suggestion is for a red cross on a green background - without the white border around the cross shown above. However, this flag does not follow the heraldic rule, according to which "heraldic colors" should be separated from each other by a "metal" (white or yellow) in order to stand out more clearly from the background.
- Two further proposals from 1991 replace the color of the red cross with pink, each with and without a white border. The pink symbolizes the pale pink petals of the moss bells .
- Bengt Lindvall created a yellow, blue and yellow tricolor that uses the colors of the flag of Sweden . The Jönköping company Pälle Näver-Sällskapet , which is named after the pseudonym of the Småland writer Josef Högstedt , first presented the flag in 1990. In it are in the Gösch three green on a white background juniper displayed trees. The provincial governments of Kronoberg and Kalmar rejected the draft.
See also
Web links
- Småland (Sweden) Flags of the World via the official Småland flag ( English )
- Småland, unofficial flags and flag proposals (Sweden) Flags of the World on the unofficial flags of Småland (English)
- Här flaggas det för Småland Östran Lokaltidningen on the flags of Småland (Swedish)