Stars are a ubiquitous feature among contemporary world flags. Currently, according to my own count, 59 states feature at least one star on their national flags. This post explores some of these examples, along with the symbolic meaning of the stars used on each flag.
Today, the star as a symbol is generally associated with excellence or some other superlative quality – from children being awarded gold stars for scholastic effort, to football teams gaining stars for cup victories. Celebrities are also often referred to as stars, as in film stars or sport stars. In this sense, the symbolic meaning of a star is often intuitively linked to the luminous cosmic bodies we also refer to as stars. The latter’s characteristics of brightness, elevation and consistency are germane to the qualities of excellence and merit for which we award stars to winners and achievers.
Gold star stickers of the type often awarded to children
The emblem of the Spanish football team, surmounted by a star denoting the team’s 2010 World Cup victory
Despite the commonly accepted association between the star as symbol and celestial body, the star in heraldry has a different and altogether more interesting origin. A clue to the symbolic roots of the star as it is used on coats of arms, flags and rank insignia may be found in the Old French word mullet. Whereas in English mullet refers to a tasty fish and a less-tasteful hairstyle, the Old French word is used in heraldic and flag-speak in reference to five-pointed stars with straight edges (like the ones depicted in the examples above). In modern French, the word is spelt molette, and refers to a rowel, as found on riding spurs.
Boots with spurs attached. Note the eight pointed rowels that resemble stars.
Therefore, in the world of heraldry and subsequently in flags, stars recall the time of mounted combat where knights and noblemen would fight on horseback wearing spurs. Accordingly, for a gentleman to have a star on his coat of arms could evoke his status as a mounted warrior (perhaps a nobleman) or his prowess in combat during which spurring his horse into action would be required regularly. In this sense symbolic status of the rowel or mullet is contrasted with the lowly infantry footman or man-at-arms who, in lacking a wealth and social standing, would never owned a horse, much less worn spurs. In this sense, the star originally symbolised military and social distinction, from which connotations of merit and excellence were subsequently derived. Stars are still commonly associated with military status and rank.
The 1914 star. A British campaign medal from WWI
The tree stars of a Lieutenant General on George S. Patton’s helmet
Given the close relationship between war and national identity on the one hand, and the connotation between stars and merit on the other, it is therefore unsurprising that stars became popular features on national flags.
United States of America
The flag of the USA, also known as the “Stars and Stripes” and the “Star Spangled Banner” is probably the best-known star bearing flag in the world. Currently, the flag features 50 five-pointed stars, each representing a state of the Union. The firs US flag featured 13 stars (one each for the original thirteen colonies) and as subsequent states were admitted to the union, further stars were added to the flag. The flag was last adjusted in 1960 after Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state of the Union.
European Union
The flag of the EU, known officially as the “Flag of Europe” bears a circular arrangement of 12 gold stars, also of the five-pointed variety. The twelve stars do not, in fact, represent member states of the EU. Instead, twelve stars were chosen as a neutral symbol representing the “ideals of unity, solidarity and harmony among the people of Europe”. In this sense, the number twelve evokes aspects of Western religion, such as the twelve Tribes of Israel, the Twelve Disciples or the Twelve Olympian gods of ancient Greece. The number also features in European culture in the form of the Duodecim Tabulae (Twelve Tables) which were the basic laws underpinning the system of Roman Law and the Knights of the Round Table, of which there were also twelve.
North Korea
The flag of North Korea, along with those of Vietnam and China, feature the Communist Star. The Communist Star was also a prominent symbol of the Soviet Union, even though a hammer and sickle was depicted on the USSR flag itself. There are numerous symbolic interpretations of this five-pointed star, including that it represents the five fingers of a worker’s hand, the five continents to which Communism was to be spread, and the five groups that would lead a society to Communism (the military, youth, workers, peasants and intelligentsia).
New Zealand
The flag of New Zealand sports 4 five-pointed stars in red, with white borders. This is a good example of heraldic use of stars where the symbols are intended to represent actual celestial stars, in this case the Southern Cross constellation. The flag of Australia, which is similar, mixes both symbolic and celestial stars. It depicts 5 celestial stars (seven pointed) of the Southern Cross, including Epsilon (smaller, five-pointed) which the NZ flag omits and adds large sixth symbolic (not celestial) star that represents the Australian Commonwealth.
Flag of Australia
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