The unofficial contest for the world’s most beautiful flag finished on July 7th. A reader of 20Minutos.es, a Spanish daily, came with the idea to give other people the possibility to choose the most beautiful flag in the world.
The reader created an online poll to make the voting possible. The idea has become incredibly popular among the readers. During the first four days over 2,000 comments were left on the page and approximately 100,000 people voted. The voting took place in rounds. The voters could give their favorite flag one to five points. Each round lasted two days and at the end of each round five flags with the least points were eliminated.
What is the most beautiful flag in the world? After 48 days of voting Mexico has become an obvious winner with striking 901,627 points. Number two was Peru with 340,901 points and number three was Guatemala with 272,541 points. Then came Dominican Republic, Brazil, Spain, Uruguay and Argentina respectively. The ninth position was gained by the only non Hispanic country in the top 10, by Canada. The last was Puerto Rico.
Even though the poll was unofficial, it has gained the attention of a number of Spanish-speaking media and thus provided an awareness boost to 20Minutos.es and Mexico. The poll was naturally not very representative as the majority of the voters were Spanish-speaking enthusiasts. It is apparent from the results of the poll as well as from the fact that all the instructions to the poll were provided in Spanish only and on a web portal based in Spain.
The winning Mexican flag comprises of three stripes. Green is said to represent the hope of the independence movement, white is for purity and red symbolizes bravery and blood of national heroes. In the middle of the banner is a caracara holding a snake in its mouth, perching on a cactus, it is a reference to an ancient Aztec myth.
Just like the flag of Spain, the colors and symbols of each flag usually have specific meanings. The flag design is often the embodiment of national culture and history. The flag is an important identification symbol. They are widely used in our life. We usually put flag custom pins on our clothes, bags, or caps. They are not only good decoration but also a nice identification. On National Day, you can see many custom flags stickers, or posters on the windows which show their blessings and wishes to the country. In some political activities, people express their demands with custom flag stickers or custom pins. What other interesting occasions do you see people wearing flag pins, welcome to participate in the discussion.
