State decorations are orders, medals and other decorations granted by a state. International decorations are similar, but are not granted by a specific nation but rather an international organization.
Unlike non-state decorations, state decorations are regulated by the state. Such regulations may specify:
- Lists of decorations which may be worn on military and civil uniform
- The manner in which decorations are to be worn
- Restrictions on the acceptance of foreign decorations by citizens
State decorations may be divided into civil decorations and military decorations. State decorations normally include one or more of the following components:
- Broad ribands (i.e. sashes) worn over one shoulder (on which a decoration may be suspended)
- Stars (or 'plaque') pinned to the lower chest
- Neck decorations suspended from narrow ribands around the neck
- Women's decorations suspended from a bow worn pinned to the upper chest
- Decorations and medals suspended from ribbons pinned to the upper chest
Famous quotes containing the words state and/or decoration:
“No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If there be any man who thinks the ruin of a race of men a small matter, compared with the last decoration and completions of his own comfort,—who would not so much as part with his ice- cream, to save them from rapine and manacles, I think I must not hesitate to satisfy that man that also his cream and vanilla are safer and cheaper by placing the negro nation on a fair footing than by robbing them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)