leaves, flowers, stars

 

I know you've all seen the Canadian flag.  It is promoted shamelessly, endlessly, and is slapped on any and all products that are Canadian, as well as many, many stamps.  But, unlike the Americans, we are not a flag waving from your front porch kind of country.  That is changing as, in light of current ... issues, we are being encouraged to fly it proudly this weekend.  Flag makers have been furiously sewing like crazy to keep up!  This FDC shows the very first stamp of the flag that has its 60th anniversary on Feb 15th.  I like the 'simplicity' of this, though remember well having to learn how to get all those points right - which was challenging for a seven year old (but then getting the crosses correct on the Union Jack was equally challenging)

An even simpler design is the Japanese flag, which was adopted as a civil flag in 1858 and as a national flag in 1999. I like how this stamp includes the chrysanthemum imperial seal and the cherry blossoms.

Since 1972, New Zealand has discussed changing their flag, to get rid of the colonial Union Jack, but also to distinguish it from the similar Australian flag. (hint, NZ has red stars inside its white stars. It also only has 4 of these stars of the Southern Cross)