The Flag of the Nordic Council is white, with a stylised circular motif of a white swan upon a blue (Pantone Reflex Blue C) disk. The Swan has enough wing feathers standing for the eight members and territories of the Council: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
The swan symbol was chosen to represent the Nordic Council, and the Nordic Council of Ministers, in 1984. It is also designed to symbolise wider Nordic cooperation. The flag was designed by Kyösti Varis, an artist from Finland.
The full members of the Nordic council all use a Nordic Cross Flag. The Nordic Cross was also use in the Flag of the Kalmar Union. The Kalmar Union was the only time when all Nordic countries were under a single state - hence it has traditionally been a sign of unity before the Nordic Council adopted the swan flag.
Famous quotes containing the words flag of the, flag of, flag and/or council:
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I haven’t seen so much tippy-toeing around since the last time I went to the ballet. When members of the arts community were asked this week about one of their biggest benefactors, Philip Morris, and its requests that they lobby the New York City Council on the company’s behalf, the pas de deux of self- justification was so painstakingly choreographed that it constituted a performance all by itself.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)