Why do people buy flags? Flags are great gifts for anyone with a special connection or history to the region. A flag is often purchased by someone to send comfort and pride to someone far away, or to show solidarity with someone in the region. This is a wonderful use for flags, but flags have deeper meanings. Visit Atlantic Flagpole before reading this.

Flags help us to identify our groups and have been around since humans began to form groups. Every culture has its flags. Even the most primitive tribes have flags. Flags are used to identify self and others. Flags are a way to quickly identify friend or foe and can also act as a proclamation for belief or loyalty.

Every flag, no matter how big or small, is associated with a specific group of people. Even smiley face flags and pirate flags have their constituents. The flags that a person has around can tell you a lot about them. An owner of a boat with a U.S. Navy flag and a POW flag will have a different perspective than a yachtsman flying a pirate flag from his cockpit.

Flags are more than just a matter of attitude. There is also real emotion behind them. Ask a Texan to explain the “Lone Star”, or the Confederate Battle Flag. Flags can be large and beautiful. They are also part of our identity and are therefore very personal and emotionally charged.

Flags are a central part of many historic moments. You can think of the first planting of America’s flag on the moon, raising the flag above Iwo Jima, and more recently, the flag that survived to go on tour across the country after the September 11 attacks. Many found it almost a spiritual experience.

An angry crowd will chant and shout in the streets, taking the flag that represents them. Flags are able to identify a group in situations where slogans and chants cannot be heard. People will change their flag if they feel their flag is not representing them anymore.