Alright, so the other day I was messing around with flags, specifically the Maryland flag, because why not? It’s got this cool, distinctive look that’s way different from most other state flags.
First off, I started digging into where this design even came from. Turns out, it’s based on the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore’s family. He’s the guy who kicked off the first English settlement in Maryland. A bit of history is always a good start, right?
Then, I got into the nitty-gritty of how to display it properly. There’s actually a “correct” way, believe it or not. I learned that when you’re hanging the Maryland flag, the black square should always be at the top left, with the gold square at the bottom right. A lot of folks get this wrong and flip them around.
I started to understand that the Maryland flag always needs to be raised briskly but lowered slowly and ceremoniously. It’s all about respect, you know?
After that, I went down a rabbit hole of flag etiquette. If you’re flying the Maryland flag alongside the U.S. flag on separate poles, I discovered that the poles should be the same height. And the flags? They should be roughly the same size too. It’s all about uniformity and respect, you know?
There is also this thing where if you put any ornament on top of the flagpole with the Maryland flag, you have to follow some specific rules that they talked about. I guess there are laws about this stuff, which makes sense.
While experimenting, I also found out that if you are displaying the Maryland flag with a flag from another state, they should be approximately the same size.
I tried different placements of the flag, and realized that the black stripe on the diagonal band of the first quarter should always be at the top of the flagstaff. I even found a diagram, Figure 1 they called it, that showed this clearly.
So, after all this, I finally managed to get my Maryland flag displayed perfectly. It was a bit of a learning curve, but hey, now I can impress my friends with my newfound flag knowledge.
Here’s how I ended up setting it up:
- Positioning: Black square top left, gold square bottom right.
- Raising and Lowering: Raised it briskly, lowered it slowly. Felt like a ceremony!
- With the U.S. Flag: Made sure the flagpoles were the same height and the flags were about the same size.
It’s funny how much there is to learn about something as seemingly simple as a flag. But now, I feel like a bit of a Maryland flag expert. Or at least, I know enough to not hang it upside down!
