The “BLUE AND YELLOW” commemorated on January 27th set from Sweden

Sweden Salutes its National Day

Since 1983, June 6 has been recognized as Sweden’s official National Day of honor. It commemorates that day in 1523, when Gustav Vasa was chosen to lead the country as its king. Raising the Swedish national flag is a festive and formal way to commemorate important date in history even though this particular folk tradition is not particularly old. Raising the flag in general and flying the Swedish flag became a common occurrence only at the beginning of the 1900s. The Swedish design of a yellow cross on a blue background was stipulated by the Flag Act of 1663. The inspiration for the flag was attributed to y Karl Knutsson’s royal banner from the l400s. Crosses were introduced on flags as a Christian symbols during the crusades of the 11th and 12th centuries. Previously, the blue in the Swedish flag was much darker than it is today, and the yellow was closer to orange. The colors found on today’s flag are literally taken from Sweden’s oldest preserved flag, which dates back to 1658, when Parliament decided to institute a new Flag Act following the dissolution, in 1905, of the union with Norway. Helsingborg politician Oscar Trapp argued that the flag should return to the lighter colors from Sweden’s era as a great power. To get the colors just right, he contacted the Museum of Art and History in Amsterdam where Sweden’s oldest flag was preserved as a war-trophy from a naval battle against the Swedes in Oresund Sound. He persuaded the museum to unstitch and remove a piece of yellow and blue fabric from the flag that had not faded. The Flag Act of 1906 subsequently specified that the Swedish flag should be ‘a sky blue field with a golden yellow cross”. The stamps were designed by Ingela Peterson Arrhenius (for the four booklet stamps) and Henrik Karksson for the single coil stamp which was based on a photo by Lena Paterson. The Offset stamps were produced by Sweden Post Stamps.

For more info see:  http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Celebrating-the-Swedish-way/National-Day/

For Photos of the event see:  http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=sweden+national+day+celebration&qpvt=sweden+national+day+celebration&FORM=IGRE&adlt=strict