The Flag Review: The Ancient Symbol of Belonging and Rallying

The flag is one of humanity’s most powerful symbols – of nation, identity, belonging, and the rallying point in the storm

The Flag in Clapham holds a hundred and thirty-one reviews and a 4.4 – a solid score on a fair sample – and it is named after one of humanity’s oldest and most powerful symbols: the flag, the emblem of nation, identity and belonging, and the rallying point around which people gather.

The powerful symbol

The flag is one of the most potent symbols human beings have ever devised – a simple piece of coloured cloth that can carry an extraordinary weight of meaning, emotion and identity. Flags represent nations, peoples, causes, teams, organisations and ideals, and they can stir the deepest feelings of loyalty, belonging, pride and unity. People have rallied to flags, marched behind them, fought and died for them, and felt their hearts lift at the sight of them, throughout history. Few objects carry so much meaning in so simple a form.

The study of flags even has its own name – vexillology – reflecting the seriousness and richness of the subject. Flags have their own elaborate language of colours, symbols and designs, each carrying meaning; the history of flags is woven through the history of nations, wars, exploration and identity. From the national flags of the world to the countless flags of regions, cities, causes and movements, the flag is a universal and powerful symbol of belonging and identity.

The rallying point

One of the flag’s most ancient and powerful roles is as a rallying point – the physical banner around which people gather, especially in the chaos of battle. Throughout the history of warfare, armies carried flags, banners and standards into battle, and these served a vital practical purpose: they showed where a unit was, marked the position to rally to, and served as a focus of loyalty and courage. To “rally round the flag” is to gather together in unity and support, especially in difficulty or danger – a phrase and an idea that come directly from this ancient military role. The flag held high in the smoke of battle was the point of gathering, the emblem of the cause, the thing to defend and never let fall.

This gives the flag a deep resonance of unity, gathering and belonging – people coming together, rallying around a shared symbol, standing together under one banner. For a pub – a place of gathering and belonging, where a community comes together – “The Flag” is a rather fitting name, suggesting exactly this coming-together, this rallying point, this shared emblem around which people gather. The pub as the flag, the local rallying point, the emblem of the neighbourhood community.

Flags and pubs

Flags have a particular connection to pubs, too. Many pubs are named after flags – the “Flag,” the “Ship” (with its flags), and countless pubs displaying and named after national and other flags. Pubs have long been places where flags are flown, especially for national celebrations, sporting occasions, and moments of collective feeling – the flag over the pub marking it as a place of gathering and shared identity. And the pub itself, flying its sign like a flag, has always been a kind of rallying point for its community – the local landmark, the gathering place, the emblem of the neighbourhood. “The Flag” names this beautifully: the pub as the community’s flag and rallying point.

The pub

A solid, well-regarded pub doing a fair 4.4 across a fair sample, named “The Flag” after one of humanity’s most powerful symbols – the emblem of belonging and identity, and the rallying point around which people gather.

Verdict

Solid, well-regarded, and meaningfully named after the flag – the ancient symbol of belonging, identity and the rallying point, fitting for a pub that gathers its community.

Have a pint at the Flag, and consider the power of the name – the flag, the emblem of belonging and the rallying point around which people gather, much as they gather at the good local itself.

Alan Nafzger

Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]