Symbols: Difference between revisions

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==="Ben" symbol===
==="Ben" symbol===
In Ár Päts (2005),[[King Robert I]] recounts the selection of this central symbol of [[Talossa]]:
In ''[[Ár Päts]]'' (2005), [[King Robert I]] recounts the selection of this central symbol of [[Talossa]]:
<blockquote>Ben had also discovered a Chinese character pronounced 'Ben,' which means 'energetic, strenuous, brave,' etc. For obvious reasons, this character, 'the Ben Symbol,' became our coat of arms.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Ben had also discovered a Chinese character pronounced 'Ben,' which means 'energetic, strenuous, brave,' etc. For obvious reasons, this character, 'the Ben Symbol,' became our coat of arms.</blockquote>



Revision as of 16:55, 10 August 2012

Talossa has had numerous national symbols since the first day of its founding. These include, most prominently, the national flag and the national coat of arms.

Flag

National flag

That national flag, or the bicoloreu, consists of a green field over a red field (formally described as ("Per fess vert and gules"). The green in the flag symbolises the monarchy and its magnanimity, while the the red stands for the people and their tenacity.

The flag was adopted on March 2nd, 1981/II. Initially, it also possessed a white stripe, but this was considered to be too similar to other sorts of flags, and abandoned.

Coat of Arms

Arms of the State

The current coat of arms of Talossa, as maintained and described by the Royal College of Arms, is an image of a shield with the Chinese symbol for "Ben," surrounded by a circle inscribed with the date of the founding of the nation and topped by a crown. Formally, it is "argent the Chinese character 'Ben' sable," mantled by "an annulet azure fimbriated or bearing the words 'Regipäts Talossán Kingdom * 26.12.1979 *' Or," and topped with "a royal crown proper."


Greater Arms of the State

The Greater State Arms is slightly more grand: the coat of arms is also supported by two squirrels standing on a ribbon bearing the national motto of "A Man's Room Is His Kingdom," in Finnish. It is formally described as "two Talossan squirrels proper standing upon a ribbon argent fimbriated at the chief vert and at the base gules bearing the motto Miehen Huone on Hänen Valtakuntansa ('A Man's Room Is His Kingdom')"

"Ben" symbol

In Ár Päts (2005), King Robert I recounts the selection of this central symbol of Talossa:

Ben had also discovered a Chinese character pronounced 'Ben,' which means 'energetic, strenuous, brave,' etc. For obvious reasons, this character, 'the Ben Symbol,' became our coat of arms.

Chinese characters (or sinographs) are the oldest form of writing still used today, and are employed in various forms by such cultures as China, Japan, and Korea. Originating in small part as pictograms (simplified visual representations of the word) or in the larger measure as ideograms (representations of abstractions) and associated compound words, Chinese characters have an extremely rich and elaborate history.

King Robert I used the traditional script version of 賁, rendered on many computers as Unicode "U+8CC1. In modern, simplified Mandarin, the symbol appears as a more stylized "贲." In Chinese, it does indeed mean "energetic," and additionally means "to forge ahead [through adversity]." It has also been used as a surname, most notably by as the pre-enthronement first emperor of Vietnam, Lý Nam Đế (李南帝), who was born Lý Bôn (李賁) and is remembered for his unification of the Vietnamese armies and repelling of the invading Chinese Liang dynasty.

Interestingly, this symbol is also the title for one of the hexagrams (or chapters) of the I Ching. This ancient book is frequently used for divination, with each hexagram giving a general prediction. Hexagram 22, 賁, is translated as "Grace" or "Luxuriance;" as translated by Wilhelm, it predicts for the divinator:

Grace has success.

In small matters

It is favorable to undertake something.

History

The national coat of arms has gone through a long series of variations over the years, some of which are recounted in King Ben's 1992 pamphlet, Clashing Symbols.