Today is a national holiday, the 17th June is Iceland's Independance Day and it is celebrated around the country with a range of events.
Icelanders are flag flyers like I have never seen before and many have flag poles in their yards. Australians on the other hand are not traditionally flag flyers and some see it almost un Australian to be flying a flag. The only day in the year that it is really acceptable by all is ANZAC day. Today in this small town there must have been at least a hundred or more flags flying. The council workers attached flags to every light pole down the main street on both sides of the road.
Notice all the flags in the back of the vehicle about to be placed around town.
They even placed about 6 flags along the top of the hill.
There is a whole host of flag ettiquette and strict rules to adhere to when flying the flag not only here but in most countries. Here in Iceland the flag cannot be hoisted before 7am in the morning and should be lowered before sunset or midnight...which ever comes first.
Here is a pic of the secret people who come and raise and lower the flag outside the Post Office...lately it seems like it is done every couple of days. Apparently a few days ago the secret person was someone dressed in a lions suit....not sure if that might contravene some sort of flag protocol, ...unfortunately I missed that so no picture.
This is what my front yard looked like today once all the flags were up.
That's a lot of flags!!
ReplyDeleteWow, i'm sure they didnt have so many flags when i was there in 2003. Flag overboard!!
ReplyDeleteFlag flying in australia almost seems a little racist for some reason, but there are a lot of mini-flags on cars around Australia day when they give them out with the newspaper. Not as many as in S'krokur right now!