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The national colours of Canada (French : Couleurs nationales du Canada) are red and white, the former being symbolic of England and the latter of France, the colours having been used representatively by those countries in the past. [1] The maple is one of the national symbols and red is both the first leaf colour after spring budding and the autumn colour of maple leaves. [2] The colours are most prominently evident on the national flag of Canada and it has been said they were declared the country's official colours when King George V proclaimed his Canadian coat of arms in 1921. [3] However, there is no mention of national colours in the proclamation. Similarly, the creation of Queen Elizabeth II's royal standard in 1962 is also considered to be when red and white were unofficially set as the national colours.
Canada's national colours can trace their history to the First Crusade of the 11th century, during which Norman nobleman Bohemond I of Antioch distributed red crosses to the crusaders he led, so that they could affix them to their clothing "as a distinguishing mark". [3] Thereafter, nations were identified by the colour of their cross and, in particular, England used a white cross on a red background and France a red cross on white. [3] Eventually, France and England agreed to exchange their colours,[ citation needed ] and St George's Cross was adopted as an emblem of England. This was the flag used by John Cabot when he landed on the island of Newfoundland on his second voyage in 1497, under the commission of Henry VII of England. [4] The two nations would eventually explore North America, where each claimed territory.
The proclamation of the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada by King George V on 21 November 1921 has been considered the moment when red and white became Canada's official colours. [3] The idea of the coat of arms determining the country's official colours was expressed as far back as 1918, when Eugène Fiset argued "red suggested Britishness, military sacrifice, and autumn splendour. White evoked Canadian winters." [5] An unnamed member of the committee designing the coat of arms in 1920 stated, "the colours of the shield will become the national colours of the Dominion [...] the red maple leaf has been used in service flags to denote men who have sacrificed their lives for the country [...] The case for white is that it contains an allusion to snow, which is characteristic of our climate and our landscape in certain seasons." [6] The proclamation, however, gave a blazon of "a royal helmet mantled argent doubled gules" and "a wreath of the colours argent and gules", [2] in which argent refers to the colour white, or silver, and gules to red; tinctures used in blazoning a coat of arms. [7] The proclamation does not say anything specifically about national colours [5] and accepts both green and red as colours for the maple leaves, with a blazon of "three maple leaves conjoined on one stem proper"; [2] proper means in the natural colour of the leaves. The committee first incorporated Fiset's red maple leaves on a white background, as well as a red-and-white wreath on top of the shield. [5] But the final decision was to make the leaves green, adhering to Joseph Pope's preference. That remained their colour until 1957, when the leaves on the shield were modified to red "in recognition of Canada's official colours". [1]
Canadian historian Archer Fortescue Duguid claimed in the 1940s that the King had selected red and white because those were the colours of the wreath and mantling on the coat of arms. Forrest Pass, a curator at Library and Archives Canada, determined there is no record of either the King or the committee giving much importance to the mantling. [5] Regardless, Duguid's claim about the King selecting the colours stuck and heavily influenced the choice of colours for the national flag in 1964. [5]
Nathan Tidridge argued that it was the creation of the royal standard of Queen Elizabeth II in 1961 that set red and white as the national colours. [6] The banner's registration with the Canadian Heraldic Authority also does not mention either national colours or the colours red or white. [8]
For the Federal Identity Program operated by the Treasury Board Secretariat, official and signage colours are specified in technical specification T-145. [9] The red colour is named FIP red and represented by the hexadecimal triplet FF0000, the 8-bit per channel RGB value (255,0,0), the CMYK colour (0,100,100,0), or the Pantone Colour Matching System colour Pantone 032. [9] [10] White is represented by CMYK colour white (255,255,255) and hexadecimal FFFFFF and the de facto national colour, black, is represented as CMYK colour black; six more colours are defined for use by the government. [9]
A second red colour, known as safety red, is also specified, but, not used for official symbols; it is represented by the hexadecimal triplet E8112D, RGB value (230,15,45), CMYK colour (0,90,75,0), or Pantone colour 185. [9]
The national flag uses the national colours. [3] Its red-white-red pattern is derived from the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada [11] and the Canada General Service Medal of 1899. [3]
The national colours are used in federal government branding as part of the Federal Identity Program. This includes the use of the Canadian flag in the Canada wordmark, the "global identifier of the Government of Canada" specified in technical specification T-130. [12]
The Canadian Forces' Decoration ribbon consists of four red bars separated by equally spaced thin white lines. [13] The Canada Medal instituted on 14 October 1943 was specified to have a ribbon in the national colours, [7] which was the same ribbon used for the Canada General Service Medal. [14] The ill-fated medal was never awarded, and was abolished in 1966 with the introduction of the Order of Canada, [15] which also has a red and white ribbon.
The Toronto Blue Jays, a franchise in Major League Baseball, honour Canada Day by wearing an alternate jersey instead of the team's usual uniform. [16] In the 1990s, the team would wear red baseball caps, [17] or a red uniform. [18] In 2012, the team wore a red uniform with white lettering. [19]
The Canadian national colours and the de facto third colour, black, are used prominently by ice hockey teams representing the nation, including the men's ice hockey team, men's junior ice hockey team, men's under-18 ice hockey team, men's ice sledge hockey team, men's inline hockey team, women's ice hockey team, and women's under-18 ice hockey team. The logo of Hockey Canada, the national governing body for ice hockey in Canada, is red, white, and black; though, their specifications are different from those of the national colours. [20]
The National Flag of Canada, often referred to simply as the Canadian flag, consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of 1∶2∶1, in which is featured one stylized, red, 11-pointed maple leaf charged in the centre. It is the first flag to have been adopted by both houses of Parliament and officially proclaimed by the Canadian monarch as the country's official national flag. The flag has become the predominant and most recognizable national symbol of Canada.
The national flag of Austria is a triband in the following order: cherry red, white, and red.
The coat of arms of Canada, also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada or, formally, as the Arms of His Majesty The King in Right of Canada, is the arms of dominion of the Canadian monarch and, thus, also the official coat of arms of Canada. In use since 1921, it is closely modelled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.
The national flag of Norway is cherry red with a navy blue Scandinavian cross bordered in white that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog, the flag of Denmark.
In heraldry, mantling or "lambrequin" is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. In paper heraldry it is a depiction of the protective cloth covering worn by knights from their helmets to stave off the elements, and, secondarily, to decrease the effects of sword-blows against the helmet in battle, from which it is usually shown tattered or cut to shreds; less often it is shown as an intact drape, principally in those cases where clergy use a helmet and mantling, although this is usually the artist's discretion and done for decorative rather than symbolic reasons.
In British maritime law and custom, an ensign is the identifying flag flown to designate a British ship, either military or civilian. Such flags display the United Kingdom Union Flag in the canton, with either a red, white or blue field, dependent on whether the vessel is civilian, naval, or in a special category. These are known as the red, white, and blue ensigns respectively.
The national flag of Bulgaria is a tricolour consisting of three equal-sized horizontal bands of white, green, and red. The flag was first adopted after the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, when Bulgaria gained de facto independence. The national flag at times had as a supplement the state emblem, especially during the communist era. The current flag was re-established with the 1991 Constitution of Bulgaria and was confirmed in a 1998 law.
The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is most widely recognized as the national symbol of Canada.
The flag of New Brunswick consists of a golden lion passant on a red field in the upper third and a gold field defaced with a lymphad on top of blue and white wavy lines in the bottom two-thirds. Adopted in 1965 shortly after the new national flag was inaugurated, it has been the flag of the Canadian province since February 24 of that year. It is a banner of arms modelled after the province's coat of arms.
The flag of Cyprus came into use on 16 August 1960, under the Zürich and London Agreements, whereby a constitution was drafted and Cyprus was proclaimed an independent state. The flag was designed by Turkish Cypriot artist İsmet Güney. The design of the flag deliberately employs peaceful and neutral symbols in an attempt to indicate harmony between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, an ideal that has not yet been realised. In 1963, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities separated because of Cypriot intercommunal violence.
The flag of Iceland was officially described in Law No. 34, set out on 17 June 1944, the day Iceland became a republic. The law is entitled "The Law of the National Flag of Icelanders and the State Arms" and describes the Icelandic flag as follows:
The royal standards of Canada are a set of personal flags used by members of the Canadian royal family to denote the presence of the bearer within any vehicle, building, or area within Canada or when representing Canada abroad. All are based on a escutcheon of the coat of arms of Canada, the arms of dominion of the Canadian monarch.
The Canadian Red Ensign served as a nautical flag and civil ensign for Canada from 1892 to 1965, and later as the de facto flag of Canada before 1965. The flag is a British Red Ensign, with the Royal Union Flag in the canton, emblazoned with the shield of the coat of arms of Canada.
The Federal Identity Program is the Government of Canada's corporate identity program. The purpose of the FIP is to provide to the public a consistent and unified image for federal government projects and activities. Other objectives of the program include facilitating public access to federal programs and services, promoting the equal status of the two official languages, and achieving better management of the federal identity. Managed by the Treasury Board Secretariat, this program, and the government's communication policy, help to shape the public image of the government. In general, logos – or, in the parlance of the policy, visual identifiers – used by government departments other than those specified in the FIP must be approved by the Treasury Board.
The first coat of arms of Montreal was designed by Jacques Viger, the first mayor of Montreal, and adopted in 1833 by the city councillors. Modifications were made some one hundred five years later and adopted on 21 March 1938, and again on 13 September 2017, resulting in the version currently in use. The coat of arms was the only city emblem representing Montreal until 1981, when a stylized logo was developed for common daily use, reserving the coat of arms for ceremonial occasions.
The Chief Herald of Canada is the director of the Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA) and is responsible for the authority's day-to-day operations. The chief herald typically handles petitions for arms and makes the grant of arms if the petition meets eligibility requirements. There have been three chief heralds since the CHA's inception in 1988, with Samy Khalid being the latest appointee on 20 May 2020.
Over the course of centuries, a multitude of national symbols and material items have arisen as uniquely Canadian or possessing uniquely Canadian characteristics. These symbols and items represent the culture of Canada—protectionism of that culture, identity, values, nationalism, and the heritage of its inhabitants.
The people and province of Quebec have created and established several symbols throughout Quebec's history to represent the collective identity of its residents. Many of Quebec's symbols are related to its history, to catholicism, to Quebec's winters and/or the fauna and flora of Quebec. The motif most commonly seen in Quebec's various symbols is the fleur de lys, which is associated with the French language and New France.
Cambridge Blue is the colour commonly used by sports teams from the University of Cambridge. There is contextual and historical variation. The colour used since the mid-20th century by Cambridge University Boat Club is greener than that used by Cambridge University R.U.F.C.. This rowing colour was created when Alf Twinn, the boatman from 1934 to 1984, added more yellow to this shade, reportedly to distinguish it from the rugby club's colour.
Canadian heraldry is the cultural tradition and style of coats of arms and other heraldic achievements in both modern and historic Canada. It includes national, provincial, and civic arms, noble and personal arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays as corporate logos, and Canadian blazonry.