The art of flag throwing dates back to medieval guilds (principally in Italy). A guild's banner or flag was considered a symbol of purity, and as such it was not allowed to touch the ground.
There a two major categories of flag throwing: classical and acrobatical. In classical flag throwing, the flag is turned left and right around the body in a standing posture. In acrobatical flag throwing, the thrower uses both hands to move the flag in a sitting, laying, or kneeling posture.
Famous quotes containing the words flag and/or throwing:
“Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow—red, yellow, brown, black and white—and we’re all precious in God’s sight.”
—Jesse Jackson (b. 1941)
“Nothing more powerfully excites any affection than to conceal some part of its object, by throwing it into a kind of shade, which at the same time that it shows enough to prepossess us in favour of the object, leaves still some work for the imagination.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)