CIA World Factbook Flags, Part 3: Sun and the Moon and the Stars

Here are some more public domain images of flags from the CIA World Factbook. Suns, the moon, and stars are the the theme for this post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Argentina and Uruguay both use blue and white stripes and yellow suns. But I much prefer the face of Argentina’s. It reminds me of the sun that rises on The Teletubbies. Uruguay’s big nosed, crinkly chin face belongs on a grumpy old man.

The description of the flag of Bangladesh from the CIA Factbook says this red circle is the rising sun. Japan’s flag also has a red disk representing the sun, but it is against a field of white and is centered. Now look at Palau’s flag. A sun against a blue sky, right? Wrong. This circle is a moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nepal, the only country with a flag that is not a rectangle or a square, has a sun on its bottom triangular pennant, and what is described as a moon on the top one. The crescent moon design is clear, but what is behind it — the sun or a star or the sun-as-star?

The flags of the world have more stars than I want to count, some single, some mimicking constellations, some in circles. Ethiopia and Morocco have single pentacles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brazil’s 27 stars for its 27 administrative districts are arranged to suggest constellations visible in the Southern Hemisphere.

The flag for the European Union is among those that have stars arranged in a circle, as does Cape Verde’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One, that of  Bosnia and Herzegovina, has half stars:

Lots of  flags, especially those of Islamic nations, have stars and crescent moons. Flags of Comoros, Mauritania, Tunisia
and Turkey:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits for all images of flags: The CIA World Factbook.

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