# .font: font.text_2
2024-02-04 14:48 dustin  
# .font: font.text_1
THIS IS A KIND OF REMAKE OF "BALDERDASH 103", BUT WITH COLOURS MORE TRUE TO THE ORIGINAL AND MORE INTERESTING CAVE DESIGN (AT LEAST I HOPE SO) :D AND OF COURSE, NOW THE FLAG IS IN THIS "THE WORLD" SERIES! :)  
  
THE "SINIRISTILIPPU" (BLUE CROSS FLAG) WAS DECLARED THE OFFICIAL FLAG OF FINLAND IN 1918, WHEN FINLAND BECAME INDEPENDANT AS A RESULT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR.   
  
MEANING OF THE COLOURS:  
| BLUE: THE COUNTLESS FINNISH SEAS AND LAKES  
| WHITE: THE SNOW COVERING THE LANDSCAPE  
I LIKE THIS GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOLISM A LOT! I IMAGINE FLYING OVER THE COUNTRY IN AN AIRPLANE IN MID-WINTER AND LOOKING DOWN ONTO A WHITE-BLUE LANDSCAPE, JUST LIKE IN THE FLAG! :D  
  
OF COURSE THERE'S ALSO A COLOUR-PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING, WHICH IS ESPECIALLY INTERESTING FROM A RELIGIOUS STANDPOINT (SEE ALSO THE SECTION ABOUT THE CROSS BELOW!):  
| BLUE: VIGILANCE  
| WHITE: PURITY  
  
ABOUT THE NORDIC CROSS:  
THIS DECENTERED CROSS SYMBOLIZES THE (BY 90 DEGREES ROTATED) CROSS OF CHRISTIANITY. COMPARED WITH THE REST OF EUROPE, THE NORDIC PEOPLES ADOPTED THIS RELIGION ONLY QUITE LATELY (AROUND 1000), SO WHEN THE  NORDIC CROSS FIRST APPEARED IN THE 13TH CENTURY, CHRISTIANITY WAS JUST GETTING MORE AND MORE COMMON IN AND AROUND SCANDINAVIA AND REPLACING THE BELIEFS IN NORDIC MYTHOLOGY. SO IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE TO ME THAT THE "NEW" RELIGION WAS ALSO MANIFESTED IN FLAGS AND OTHER NATIONAL SYMBOLS!  
  
ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE CROSS IS OF COURSE THAT IT SHOWS UNITY AND A COMMON HISTORY BETWEEN NORDIC/ SCANDINAVIAN NATIONS. IMPORTANT HISTORIC MILESTONES WHICH ARE SHARED BY FINNISH, DANISH, SWEDISH, NORWEGIAN, ICELANDIC AND OTHER PEOPLES INCLUDE:  
| THE FIRST IMMIGRANTS WHO CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE 10TH MILLENIUM(!) B.C., AND WHO LIVED IN SEPARATION FROM THE REST OF EUROPE AND THE WORLD FOR SOME THOUSAND YEARS.  
| THE VIKING AGE  
| THE KALMAR UNION (1397-1523) BETWEEN DENMARK, NORWAY AND SWEDEN (WHICH INCLUDED FINLAND AT THAT TIME). THAT UNION HAD AN OWN OFFICIAL FLAG WHICH SHOWED THE NORDIC CROSS (INITIATED BY DENMARK, WHO WERE THE FIRST TO HAVE THE CROSS IN THEIR FLAG), AND THAT'S WHAT MADE THE CROSS SO POPULAR AMONG NORDIC NATIONS EVEN AFTER THE UNION WAS OVER.  
  
btw, the ΑΑΑ requirement is not a coincidence! :d  
and if Κ doesn't know where to exit, then maybe some snowballs can show him the way... ;)

# .font: font.text_2
2024-02-04 17:00 heywood  
# .font: font.text_1
i come for the caves but i stay for the vexillology.

# .font: font.text_2
2024-02-09 11:39 dustin  
# .font: font.text_1
:d

# .font: font.text_2
2024-02-15 16:36 dustin  
# .font: font.text_1
i had a solution which does not require ΘΘΘ luck at the start (like in  nicol 's run), but now i'm struggling to reproduce it :d