Vexed, am I. But with what?

Vexeth me why vexillology is called so. At first glance, it sounds like a term you’d use to describe the study of why people are annoyed. Naturally, right - vex + < some random letters > + logia?

But of course, that’s incorrect; if it really were the study of vexation I wouldn’t have framed the question such!

But now, what really is this vexillology?

Well…it is the study of flags. If not for a specific subreddit I wouldn’t have come across this term or even known that it really was a thing!

(Vexillum = Latin word for “flag”)

Flags are quite interesting in a lot of senses - not only in terms of national symbolism, but also as indicators of values, culture, and aesthetics. Maybe the study of flags seems too specific a topic to find interesting but the fact that flags are universal - not only geographically speaking, but also as per their usage in multiple domains - is quite intriguing.

Think about the flag of your country - why is it the way it is? Who made it? And does the symbolism fit well with the local culture and traditions? If not, should it be changed?

These questions, if pondered upon, could give some interesting answers. Given the subjective nature of symbolism, those answers would certainly not be right or wrong, but more a matter of perspectives - think about how you’d design a flag to represent some abstract notion that binds a group of people together - one notion for a nation. It’s not so easy to feel for a collective graphic, right?

Then you have some observations when it comes to national flags and their pecularities.

Just when one would think that all flags are rectangular, you have the land of the Everest and its very oddly-shaped flag!

Or flags that have been scrapped over time for some new designs.

These seemingly simple pieces of art are not really simple after all and are quite heavily-laden with stories. It’s worth getting into vexillology, methinks.

Flags are far more than mere national symbols!

Check out this interesting YouTube playlist relevant to this topic!