Flag of West Virginia
Encyclopedia
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
of the state of West Virginia consists of the state's coat of arms on a white field with a dark blue border. The coat of arms, primarily consisting of the state seal, is featured in the flag's center. The coat of arms symbolizes the state's principal pursuits and resources. The obverse side of the seal bears the legend "State of West Virginia" together with the state motto, Montani Semper Liberi ("mountaineers are always free"). A farmer stands to the left and miner to the right of a large ivy draped rock bearing the date of the state's admission to the Union, June 20, 1863. In front of the rock lie two rifles upon which rests a red Phrygian cap
Phrygian cap
The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus,...
, or cap of liberty. The lower half of the coat of arms is wreathed by the rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
, the state flower. The white stands for purity while the blue border represents the Union
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The current flag was adopted by the West Virginia legislature on 7 March 1929.
In 2001, the North American Vexillological Association
North American Vexillological Association
The North American Vexillological Association is a membership organization devoted to "vexillology as the scientific study of flags." Flag researchers, designers, collectors, activists, merchants, and other enthusiasts from the United States and Canada meet annually at NAVA meetings in order to...
(NAVA) surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 U.S. state, U.S. territorial and Canadian provincial flags. The survey found West Virginia's flag to be barely out of the bottom 20, as NAVA ranked it at 51 out of the 72.
See also
- State of West Virginia
- Symbols of the state of West Virginia
- Great Seal of the State of West Virginia
- Symbols of the state of West Virginia