stories & songs about flags

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FLAG OF NEWFOUNDLAND
From: CarolC
Date: 19 May 02 - 08:45 PM

I found my Newfoundland tricolour flag waiting for me in my mailbox yesterday. It came with a couple of pages of information on the history of the flag. I think it's pretty interesting. Here's some of what it says...

"The 'Pink, White and Green' flag originated in 1843 in St. John's, Newfoundland. It is the oldest flag in continuous use of any of the former jurisdictions of what was British North America, preceding in date of origin the Canada Flag (1967), those of all the other Canadians provinces, and preceded only in date of origin by the Union Flag of Britain (1801). The Newfoundland tricolour is the only flag in the world to include the colour pink."

"The tricolour flag of Ireland, created in 1848 by Thomas Francis Meagher, was most likely directly modeled on the Newfoundland tricolour, for Meagher's father was a large fish merchant operating between St. John's and Waterford, Ireland during the early 19th century and the family owned an extensive premises at the foot of Prescott Street in St. John's near the present Fortis Building."

And more information from this site, Newfoundland and Labrador Heraldry and Flags...

"The story is that during annual wood hauls for the Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, which took place while sealers were in town in the spring, considerable rivalry developed between the two groups involved. The Protestant English marked their wood piles with the pink flag of the Natives' Society, while the Catholic Irish used green banners. The threat of violence was such that Bishop Michael Fleming intervened, and persuaded the sealers to adopt a common flag, on which the pink and green would be separated by a white stripe to symbolize peace, taken from the banner of Scotland."

The Newfoundland tricolour was never the official flag of the province of Newfoundland, or Newfoundland and Labrador. But it seems to be an integral part of the history of the island of Newfoundland. And to add just the right musical touch, here's the song that goes with the flag...


THE FLAG OF NEWFOUNDLAND

The pink the rose of England shows,
The green St. Patrick's emblem bright,
While in between the spotless sheen
St. Andrew's cross displays the white.

Then hail the pink, the white, the green;
Our patriot ring long may it stand,
Our sire lands twine their emblem trine
To form the flag of Newfoundland.

What e'er betide our ocean bride
That nestles midst Atlantic foam,
Still far and wide we'll raise with pride
Our native flag, o'er hearth and home.

Should e'er the hand of fate demand
Some future change in our career,
We ne'er will yield on flood or field
The flag we honour and revere.

Fling out the flag o'er creek and crag;
Pink, white and green, so fair, so grand;
Long may it sway o'er bight and bay,
Around the shores of Newfoundland.


Does anyone else have any interesting flag stories and/or songs?