Thursday, July 9, 2015

Fluttering Flag of Church of Scotland


Description of the animation: The Flag of Scotland, (Scottish Gaelic: Bratach na h-Alba, Scots: Banner o Scotland), also known as St Andrew's Cross or the Saltire, is the national flag of Scotland. As the national flag, the Saltire, rather than the Royal Standard of Scotland, is the correct flag for all individuals and corporate bodies to fly. It is also, where possible, flown from Scottish Government buildings every day from 8am until sunset, with certain exceptions.
       The Christian apostle and martyr Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was crucified on an X-shaped cross at Patras, (Patrae), in Achaea. Use of the familiar iconography of his martyrdom, showing the apostle bound to an X-shaped cross, first appears in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1180 during the reign of William I. It was again depicted on seals used during the late 13th century, including on one used by the Guardians of Scotland, dated 1286.
       Using a simplified symbol which does not depict St. Andrew's image, the saltire or crux decussata, (from the Latin crux, 'cross', and decussis, 'having the shape of the Roman numeral X'), began in the late 14th century. In June 1285, the Parliament of Scotland decreed that Scottish soldiers serving in France would wear a white Saint Andrew's Cross, both in front and behind, for identification.
       The earliest reference to the Saint Andrew's Cross as a flag is found in the Vienna Book of Hours, circa 1503, in which a white saltire is depicted with a red background. In the case of Scotland, use of a blue background for the Saint Andrew's Cross is said to date from at least the 15th century, with the first certain illustration of a flag depicting such appearing in Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount's Register of Scottish Arms, circa 1542.
       The legend surrounding Scotland's association with the Saint Andrew's Cross was related by Walter Bower and George Buchanan, who claimed that the flag originated in a 9th-century battle, where Óengus II led a combined force of Picts and Scots to victory over the Angles, led by Æthelstan. Supposedly, a miraculous white saltire appeared in the blue sky and Óengus' troops were roused to victory by the omen. Consisting of a blue background over which is placed a white representation of an X-shaped cross, the Saltire is one of Scotland's most recognizable symbols.
      All flag animations are made by the staff at our blog and are created with graphics attributed to the public domain at both Wikipedia and by some visitors that have requested that flag animations be made for their own Denominations or church groups.
       To read about how we make the flags go the the index page. To request animated flags for your own church: 
  • Visit your churches denominational pages to request that they contact our gallery staff via email to make inquiries about including their own versions on our web pages. Many logos are copyrighted and are only free to use under special permissions. So if you do not see your Denomination's flag represented here, it may be because it has not been filed at Wikipedia under "fair use" or tagged as public domain.
  • If your flag design is for a church youth group or a missions organization we will make the animation for you. However, if we make it, it will be included on this blog for others to download.
  • There are no fees for the making of flag animations.
  • You may contact Kathy Grimm at pickandprintgallery@yahoo.com and she will pass on the information.

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