It’s a Banner Time to Learn How to Fly the Flag
Here’s a sure-fire bar bet winner: Challenge the know-it-all at the next stool to draw a picture of the Swiss flag.
This is what will happen: He’ll brighten smugly, call for pen and paper, draw a rectangle with a cross in the center and declare that the cross is red.
Wrong and wrong. The cross is white on a red background (Switzerland is not the Red Cross), and the flag is the only national flag in the world that is perfectly square. Correct him quietly and enjoy your free drink.
The Swiss love that flag, and not only because it’s their national banner. It also makes them happy because it’s the easiest national flag in the world to display properly. You simply cannot run it up a flagpole wrongly or hang it on a wall in an improper way, unless you dangle it from a single nail by one of its corners. Any way you face it, any side of it you show, no matter what edge is up, the thing is still symmetrical.
Not for nothing are the Swiss known for their precision. They like life to be neat, clean and simple, and if you don’t believe it, try dropping a chocolate bar wrapper on the ground in Geneva. You’ll be suicidal with guilt inside of five minutes.
We Yankees, on the other hand, are not known for things such as Patek Philippe watches and trains that run on time. Among the nations of the world, we are the country with the lampshade on its head. We come up with things like Disneyland, Geraldo Rivera, Jell-O, Amtrak, the NFL, Las Vegas, the 1992 Chevy Caprice Classic and the Dodgers. We’re a free-form kind of country. And we’ve got the flag to prove it.
The current version of the Star-Spangled Banner is the Jerry Lewis of national flags. It screams for attention. It’s as subtle as vaudeville. And it’s wonderful. It’s just like us.
But, on this day of all days, it presents us with problems the Swiss seldom have to address. Just what is proper protocol for displaying the American flag?
It’s complex, and it takes up several sections of public law, but take heart. You won’t have to deal with most of it if you simply want to fly Old Glory at home. Most of the provisions, in fact, are simple common sense and can be divided generally into two categories: when to display the flag and how.
The first part is the easiest. If you want to fly the flag every day, or any day you want, there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t. In general, however, the flag is flown from sunrise to sunset, and only in good weather. On special occasions, such as wartime, your home flag can be flown at night, preferably illuminated.
The rules pertaining to how the flag is displayed depend on its location. If you want to use a flagpole with a halyard to raise and lower the flag, make sure the union (the blue field of stars) is always up and next to the pole. It should be raised quickly, but lowered slowly and ceremoniously.
If you want to fly another flag--say the state flag--next to the American flag, it should either be level with or below the American flag, but never above and always to the left as you face the flags.
Hanging the flag from a window or the front wall of the house? It should always be at the peak of whatever staff it’s attached to. If you’re not using a staff and suspending the flag from, say, a windowsill, the union should be to the observer’s left, whether the flag is hung horizontally or vertically.
A few don’ts, some of which get fudged, wrongly, from time to time:
* Don’t let the flag touch the ground. You needn’t burn it if it does. You won’t go to hell. Just be careful.
* Don’t use it as a tablecloth, bedspread, costume or drapery.
* Don’t alter it by clipping, sticking or sewing anything onto it.
* Don’t use it for advertising purposes. Good judgment should prevail here. A flag on a pole at a gas station is OK. Printing up paper napkins with your company logo and the flag is not. You’re going to be dabbing your mouth with them, then throwing them away.
Laundering or dry-cleaning a soiled flag that’s still in good shape is fine. But if it’s showing a lot of wear, dispose of it. Burning is customary.
What will they cost? A 3-by-5-foot flag--the most popular home size, according to Danielle Walkey of U.S. Flag and Pole in Tustin--goes for about $27 for the nylon-sewn model. The cotton model sells for $22.50 and the printed nylon for $21.75. If you’re a real patriot’s patriot, you can take home a 30-by-60-foot nylon sewn flag for $1,869.
A Swiss flag goes for slightly less. But remember, squares take up less space than rectangles. You can use the savings for a down payment on a Patek Philippe watch.