Flags of the world

#2 Week 1

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
January 02, 2025

Think you know your stripes from your stars? Your colours from your crosses? Get ready to wave your brain's flag of victory as you dive into this globe-trotting challenge!

  1. What is the only country in the world with a non-rectangular flag

  2. Which African country’s flag has a yellow star on a red, yellow, and green striped background?

  3. The flag of Bhutan depicts what mythical creature?

  4. Which country has the oldest flag in the world?

  5. What are the only two national flags that are square?

  6. What is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags called?

  7. Which country is the most recent to drop the Union Jack from its national flag?

  8. If you turned the Indonesian flag upside down which European country's flag would you get?

  9. What does the national flags of Belize, Guatemala, Mozambique and Saudi Arabia have in common?

  10. There was a period of 15 years when the flag of which country was just a white flag?

The Wonder Wall

  • According to Guinness World Records the largest flag ever made was of a Romanian national flag that measured 349 x 227 metres (1,145 x 744.5ft) – about three times the size of a football field.

  • On 21st October 2009 the only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar was sold at auction for £384,000 – nearly 40 times the pre-auction estimate.

  • Perhaps one of the most famous national flags ever hoisted is the American flag planted on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. While one might assume that this flag would have been made especially, the flag that was used actually cost only $5.50. According to mission reports, the flag was knocked over by the exhaust from the Lunar Module's take-off, so sadly it is unlikely to be still standing today.

Yesterday´s Answers

  1. Janus or lanus, the Roman god of passage and new beginnings. Iānus is Latin and means arched gateway. It is related to the word Janitor, which initially meant “Keeper of the Gate.”

  2. The cottage pink Dianthus caryophyllus, galanthus or traditional carnation and the snowdrop.

  3. It is celebrated on the 25th of December on the Julian calendar, which corresponds to 7th of January on the Gregorian calendar.

  4. February, as the winter months were considered dormant, both in terms of agriculture and also in terms of making war. This was a time of peace.

  5. Wednesday, January 29

  6. The snake!

  7. It is the point in the planet’s orbit where it is closest to the Sun. At perihelion, Earth will be 91,405,993 miles from our bright star.

  8. The USSR

  9. 1893

  10. Abraham Lincoln