Today is Flag Day! This is an oft-overlooked holiday. It seems these days even Arbor Day gets more attention. And let's not even talk about Groundhog Day. There was a whole movie about Groundhog Day. But Flag Day...no movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis...no public spectacle featuring Al Gore and the guys from Wilco. So we felt we'd take this time to teach everyone a little bit about what Flag Day is all about.
There are two recognized definitions of the term, Flag Day. The first definition is used to designate a day to fly a flag of a certain area, mostly that of nations. The second term is that a day is set aside to honour an event specifically involving a national flag (eg. creation/adoption).
Flag days are usually codified in national statutes, however, a decree by a head of state of the specific country can also order flag days. The display of the national flag on this day, mainly to fix it at either full or half staff. The locations of where the flags are flown (and how are they flown) can be also dictated by national law or decree.
In the United States, Flag Day (more formally, National Flag Day), is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.
In 1916, Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.
Flag Day is not an official federal holiday, though on June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) U.S. state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday.
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