Last modified: 2005-09-24 by rob raeside
Keywords: ufe | unidentified flags |
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by Martin Karner
[Click on flag for larger version; click here
for version with people.]
Last September (2004) I took part in an excursion of the Swiss Society for
Vexillology. We went to the "Lötschental" in the Valais (German: Wallis) canton
to have a look at the old "communal flags" (Gemeindefahnen). The communes of the
Lötschental have been united in one parish several centuries ago, that's why
there's also a parochial flag ("Talschaftsfahne" / Talschaft = community of the
valley). The flags that have been presented to us (it was the first time ever
that they have been together on the same place) are different from the official
communal flags. They're religious flags that are presented to the public only
three times a year on occasion of certain Christian and special Catholic
holidays (the Lötschental is Catholic like the whole Valais). During our visit a
man from one of those villages (Ferden; today he lives in Berne) joined us and
asked if we could help him to find the owner of a certain flag. I offered him to
place his request on the Francovex list because the owner is supposed to live in
France. Some time later this man sent me photos of the flag and photocopies of
the correspondence which took place between February 1991 and January 1993 with
follow-ups until 2003. Because there was no answer on Francovex up to now I
expand the search to this page, maybe the searched flag has made its way outside
the francophone area.
I reported the previous search for this flag in details on Francovex which I
don't repeat now. Whoever is interested may contact me for details. I'm also in
possession of the letter correspondence which report the research about the
origins of this flag (the research was made by the vexillologist Michel Rochat
from Geneva). This flag is one of the above mentioned old religious communal
flags of the Ferden commune (it's not known how this flag left Ferden. The
communal archives have not been searched yet for this). The writings on the flag
are "G.F." (=Gemeinde Ferden) and "1788". To make it short: Michel Rochat was
one of two middlemen between the owner of the flag and the Ferden commune who
wanted to buy back its old flag. During the negotiations the connections
suddenly broke and the commune hadn't anymore a connection to the owner who
lived in Paris. From unknown reasons Michel Rochat didn't want to communicate
anymore about this flag and its owner. Last autumn there was the last try to
speak with him on this matter but this time it was his mental weakness (due to
his high age) which disabled him to remember. We know that the Ferden commune is
still interested to buy this flag, that's why we try on this way to find out
something about its whereabouts. I got two photos from 1992/93 in a not too good
quality above. One of the photos shows the
owner and two women. Please mail us if you know
something about these persons and/or the flag. Thank you for your help.
Martin Karner, 8 January 2005
I am looking for the origin of a flag that has a red stripe, then a yellow
square with a red runner in the center of the flag over the yellow square, and
ending with a green stripe. Can you help me? Working in a school we find all
kinds of things packed away in file cabinets. This was on a roll of tiny flags
that the secretary found. The students for history used the internet to find
which flag belong to which country. They found all but a few. Some of the
students are really curious to see where this one came from. It could be from
anywhere or from any event. Was hoping you could help.
Randy Cooper, 2 February 2005
I wonder if you might have seen this flag. I thought at first that it was
Manchukuo (Manshukoku), but now I'm not so sure. This was taken, I'm told, in
the 1880s in Kobe. It appears to be a mission school, or some kind of Christian
school, as the boys all have crosses on their uniforms. Any information will be
helpful.
Thomas Barr, 2 February 2005
This five stripes flag has nothing to do with
Manchukou or Chinese five stripes flag if the picture
was taken in Kobe circa 1880's, because (1) Manchukou was established on
March 1st 1932 and
(2) Chinese 5 stripes national
flag was adopted on February 10th 1912.
I have not seen the flag before but
this flag design is unusual in Japan.
The most popular Japanese flag
design is a centered emblem in
one colour field such as national flag
and most prefectural flags using only
two colours.. We have stripes flag
as rare case.
This flag looks four or five colours
and stripes which may result from
Christian school as Thomas mentions.
So what four or five colours were
chosen to symbolize Christianity ?
Nozomi Kariyasu, 3 February 2005
located by Zach Harden
I see some flags that I might not have seen before. Between the African Union
and Ethiopia flags, there are two flags that I cannot seem to make out what they
are. Also, between the Arab Union and the Islamic Congress, there is a green
flag with a black disk. The meeting flag is the flag that is in the middle of
the table.
Zachary Harden, 4 February 2005
The flag that is white with a logo beside the Ethiopian flag is
the Non-Aligned Movement. The logo is in the web at
http://www.nam.gov.za/.
J.L. Cepero, 8 July 2005
[See our page on the Non-Aligned Movement.]
I saw this flag, can you please tell me what country this belong to - it has
3 parts (bands) - orange (top), white (with 5 or 7 blue stars), green (bottom).
Waiting to hear from you.
Irene Fernandez, 26 February 2005
I wonder if you could help me identify a flag I saw. It has 3 horizontal stripes: blue on top, white in
