Do You Know Our Flag?

According to some, the 21-gun salute at military funerals stands for the sum of the numbers in the year 1776.

The honor guard pays meticulous attention to correctly folding the American flag 13 times. According to some, this symbolizes the original 13 colonies.

The 1st fold.

The 2nd fold.

The 3rd fold.

The 4th fold.

The 5th fold.

The 6th fold.

The 7th fold.

The 8th fold.

The 9th fold.

The 10th fold.

The 11th fold.

The 12th fold.

The 13th fold.

After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington, and the Sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones, who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for us the rights, privileges and freedoms we enjoy today.

Traditional flag etiquette prescribes that before an American flag is stored or presented, its handlers should twice fold it in half lengthwise; then (from the end opposite the blue field) make a triangular fold, continuing to fold it in triangles until the other end is reached. This makes a triangular "pillow" of the flag with only the blue starred field showing on the outside, and it takes thirteen folds to produce: two lengthwise folds and eleven triangular ones.

The American flag isn't folded in this manner because each of the folds has a special symbolic meaning; the flag is folded this way because it provides a dignified ceremonial touch that distinguishes folding a flag from folding an ordinary object such as a bed sheet, and because it results a visually pleasing, easy-to-handle shape. This thirteen-fold procedure was a common practice long before the creation of a ceremonial assignation of "religious meaning" to each of the steps.

An elaborate flag folding ceremony incorporating these meanings has since been devised for special occasions such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. These associations are "real" in the sense that they mean something to the people who participate in the ceremony, but they are not the reason why a flag is folded in the traditional thirteen-step manner. As was the case with the candy cane, an invented (religious) symbolism has become so widespread that it is now often mistakenly assumed to have been an integral part of the origins of the item it is associated with.

Check out the true and false meanings ascribed to the folding of the American flag at Snopes.com. -- See The Rebel Flag.

Factoid

A piece of paper cannot be folded in halves more than seven (7) times?

NowYouKnowThatYouKnow.com

    

Back To Beginning