The origin of the Scania Flag has two set of beliefs that attempt to explain how it was created. The early belief was that the flag symbolized the coat of arms of the Danish Archbishop of Lund.
However, new claims that focus on the modern Scania explained that the creation of the flag occurred in the 1870s as a private project of Martin Weibull.
This claim became invalid after Curt Weibull, Martin Weibull’s son, clarified that his uncle called Mathias Weibull was responsible for the modern Scania cross flag.
Martin and Mathias were both historical professors and played a major role in the making of the Scania flag.
Curt Weibull also explained that the modern flag was created in 1902 from the design influence of the Nordic tradition cross flags.
Thematic Depictions
The first thing that makes the flag to have the colour it has emerges from the thematic expressions that the designers wanted to portray.
The red field present on the flag of Denmark and the yellow cross present on the flag of Sweden combine to form the Scania flag to depict the shaky history that has existed for a long time in the region.
The combination of these colours portrays the link that has been established beyond the borders and this makes the scania flag the official indicator of a sovereign state. The proportion in colours do not necessarily depict mathematical relations or some strict rules but just resemblance of the scanian people to the neighbours for the purposes of advertising peace and a tough history in the region.
Debate On The Origin Of The Red Colour And The Yellow Cross
The debate on the origin of the colours has attracted attention from historians. Another issue of contestation is the age of the Scanian flag and it is believed that the first flag was developed in the 1870s but the new flag was launched in 1902 but became official in 1915.
The flag brought about a major debate because there was a misunderstanding linked to the region’s own flag that was made basing the coat of arms, a golden griffin on a blue theme.
The flag for the whole region was a trial project, which started n 1999 and extended for a period of four years. Therefore, the origin of the red colour and the yellow cross re believed to have emerged from the Archbishop of Lund originally. Another theory for the idea behind the Scanian cross flag explains that it was a merge of colours from the Swedish and the Danish flags.
The last belief was that the colours were sampled from the provincial arms that had mainly red and yellow colours.
Scania And The Scanian People
Scania is found in the southern part of Sweden and has people who are famous for productive farming, vibrant culture and the outstanding art and music. The determined nature of the people in their economic activities provides an upper hand in creation of a unique environment and the identity of the people.
Despite the negative stereotype that has existed portraying the Scanians as lazy, the calmness, confidence, and economic growth of the people rubbish the claims.
The Scanian people have experienced challenges in the past where the Swedes went against the agreement to preserve language, culture, their identity as the people of Scania, and their rights in 1685.
The Swedes went ahead and conquered the region, which meant that many lives were lost.
Therefore, the Scanian flag plays a vital role for the people as it reminds them their journey from the dark history to the current peace and tranquillity they have.
Influences Of The Flag To The People
The flag is a representation of what used to be Eastern Denmark. If this perception is true, then the flag shows regions such as Bornholm, Danish Baltic Sea, and the Swedish areas of Blekinge and Halland.
It also believed that the flag on the Scandinavian states is a symbol of the predominant Christianity. The cross represents the Christian accord to represent the values of Jesus Christ.
The flag acts as a means of identifying the Scania people who are confident and proud to have a unique lifestyle and distinguished accent. The flag has catalysed patriotism in the region despite the dark history that surrounds the Scanish people when the Swedes broke the peace resolution in 1658.
The period after that occurrence has shown increased attention towards creating the identity of the people, preserve culture, and the human rights to overcome the effects of the homicide incident.
Todays Use Of The Scania Flag
The red and yellow cross flag is in use in the region council of Scania and many other municipalities that derive their funds from taxes.
Since 1990s, the Sacnian flag and griffin have been in use for official purposes alongside the EU and the Swedish flag.
Organisation keep popularising the flag in attempt to make it an official symbol of the Scanian people.
The campaigns to spread the importance of the flag can be seen through the celebrations of the day of the Scanian flag, which happens on the third Sunday of July.
The trend has increased the public relations in the region because the people feel to be part of something great.
Remarks On The Scanian Flag
Red is one of the most widely used colours on the flags of various nations and its meaning could be the reason for the wide application. Red denotes love and emotions. It represents life, blood, and compassion that people have towards others.
This could explain the use of the colour in the flag. Yellow, on the other hand, depicts happiness and energy of the Scanian people. In other nations such as China, yellow is an imperial colour and shows sunshine.