Top Ten Facts about the Thai Flag


 

Image by Zscout370

The people in Thailand are seemingly highly patriotic towards their national flag. This is one of the reasons why it can quite commonly be seen on display, as well as the fact that it is symbolic of various aspects of Thai culture and society.

Although the Thai flag does form an integral part of many official and formal ceremonies (of which there are a wide range in Thailand), it’s not only official, government buildings that have the flag flying, as is the case in many other countries.

In fact, in Thailand the national flag can be seen in cars, on boats, on tuk-tuks, in roadside restaurants, and in food stalls. It may also be on show in some private businesses, homes, and various forms of transportation. Indeed for many people in the country of Thailand the flags are seen as a proud emblem of the nation.

The Thai flag has a few stories behind it in historical terms. The first official flag was actually accredited to King Mongkut (King Rama IV), who was in fact responsible for many other modernisations of the nation.

The Thai flag may oday be seen either on its own, or it may also quite commonly be flown with other flags which have their own meaning.

For instance, the national flag may be flown alongside a coloured flag with the royal insignia. This is the King’s flag with a colour to represent the day he was born on. Similarly, the queen will also have her own flag, again with a specific colour to address the day she was born on. (In Thailand a colour coding system is used for specific days of the week i.e. blue is for Friday.)

Sometimes flags flown beside the national one are likely to be yellow (and yellow actually represented the day that Thailand’s last, late king was born on), and especially at temples and other cultural or social gatherings like festivals it is common to see a Thai flag alongside a yellow flag which has a round symbol on it.

This yellow flag though is actually a Buddhist flag, with the circle being a representation of the Dharmachakra in Buddhism, which is also known as known as the Wheel of Life or Wheel of Doctrine in Buddhist terms.

So let’s take a look at some aspects of the actual national flag of Thailand with the top ten facts.

1. The first flag was one colour

Thailand’s original, first flag, which would have been used during the reign of King Narai in the mid to late 17th century when the country was known as Siam, was plain red.

Apparently though, other states and regions were also displaying similar flags at this point in time, and as commercial affairs were also on the increase, it was deemed necessary to add something extra to the plain red flag. This was done by way of adding a symbol to the design, making it more readily identifiable.

So in 1782, a white wheel (known in Thai as a chakra), was added to the flag. This was a symbol of the ruling Chakri dynasty, and was first applied to the flag of navy vessels.

However, this design was also considered too weak for the purpose of burgeoning international relations, and so in 1855 King Mongkut (Rama IV), decided on a red flag with a white elephant symbol in the centre.

Image by Sodacam sourced from wikimedia commons

The rare white elephant served as a symbol of good fortune in the nation of Thailand, and with this adjustment the king created the first official flag, which both the navy and privately owned vessels had on display.

Further to that, on November 21, 1916, more changes in the design occurred. The elephant was taken out and instead replaced by two horizontal white stripes against a red background.

This design formed the main part of what is now regarded as the modern-day Thai emblem.

Image by Sodacam sourced from wikimedia commons

2. The current flag is 103 years old

The current Thai flag as it stands is actually one of the oldest flags in the world, having been officially acquisitioned via Royal Decree issued by the king, Rama VI, on September 28, 1917. However, to further coincide with this officiation, there were yet more minor changes to be made to the existing design.

The red stripe in the centre was now changed to blue, and the country adopted the flag design that has remained unchanged to this day.

Some historical notes purport that the middle stripe was changed from red to blue to represent King Rama VI himself, who was born on a Friday, and hence according to Thai tradition of having colours for days of the week, blue was his colour.

However, other historians claim a different reason for the change in colour that may put the last explanation into some dispute, which will be examined more closely another one of the following points.

Image by Zscout370

3. The colours of the flag have specific representations

The colours of the flag in general terms stand for nation, religion, and king.
In slightly more detail, the red stripe is seen as a symbol of the blood of the Thai people who shed it for the greater good of their country.

The white stripe is to represent religion – specifically Buddhism in Thailand – along with the purity, and the moral codes and laws that signify and form an integral part of Buddhism.

Blue stands for the institution of royalty that provides the foundation and guides the nation, and as previously stated, the choice of this particular colour is said by some historians to stem from the fact that the king who decided upon it was born on a ‘blue’ day – although the next interesting fact about the flag does put that into some degree of dispute.

4. The colours were influenced by the flags of other nations

Thailand was one of a handful of SE Asian countries to escape the grip of European imperialism and colonisation. It did, however, establish and maintain close relations with the West World throughout World War I, resulting in the nation becoming one of the Allies.

And so another storyline relating to the flag and its colours is that King Rama VI changed the colour scheme of the national flag to honour the relationship of his country with the Western allies, and also to give it a more ‘modern’ look.

This then endowed the Thai flag with the ‘colours of liberty’ used by its Western allies, namely Britain, France, Russia, and the United States.

The Thai navy adopted the same flag with a slight variation by adding a red central disk with a white elephant, and this design of flag remains in use today.

Image by Zsoy sourced from wikimedia commons

5. The flag is known in Thai as ‘Thong Trairong’

The term ‘Thong Trairong’ means ‘tricolour flag’ in the Thai language, although the rectangular flag is considered as actually having five horizontal stripes (including the white ones) with the central blue stripe being twice as wide as each of the other four, apparently for the purposes of symmetry.

In terms of dimensions the flag has a nine-part length and a sixth-part width separated into the five stripes.

6. Thailand has a National Flag Day

Thailand has many special days with national holidays to accompany them, and National Flag Day is one of them.

Many Thais celebrate the inaugural Thai National Flag Day, which falls on September 28, when the current flag was officially adopted. In 2017, the date commemorated the 100-year-anniversary of the decree by King Rama VI making the trai rong (three-coloured) flag the new flag of the nation.

7. The flag goes up and down every day

In every school, university, government institution or just any establishment with a strong patriotic bent, the flag will be raised, come rain or shine, at 8am in the morning.

It will also be lowered at 6pm in those places that are still populated by people, and certainly in public areas such as parks this practice is commonplace, usually accompanied by the playing of the Thai national anthem, at ultra-high volume, through loud speakers.

In fact, anyone having visited Thailand on occasion may have noted with some surprise or even confusion how, at both 8am in the morning and 6pm in the evening, everything just ‘stops’ (literally) while the national anthem is played (in areas with speakers) and respect is paid to the flag and nation.

8. There are strict laws related to the Thai flag

The criminal law in Thailand states that ‘anyone found guilty of desecrating flags is subject to a jail term or a fine’. There you go.

Apparently the term ‘desecration’ deems that the flag should not be used, fastened, displayed or stored in any way that could be regarded as damaging or disrespectful.
Further to that, nor is anyone allowed to add or attach anything to the flag such as letters, pictures, insignias or other kinds of mark, which may be considered as derogatory in any way.

Maybe that is food for thought for any tourists in the habit of using flags as bandanas in the hot tropics.

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