Flags have always been something I loved. They symbolise unity between a common nation, people, or cause. It’s an emblematic banner that can sometimes be a beacon in the worse of times although sometimes the message uniting people might not be so positive. Anyway, this week let’s look at some interesting flags of native people of the world.

Iroquois Confederacy:

• The flag above is the flag of the Iroquois Confederacy. A confederacy consisting of six different native American peoples.

• They are made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora people.

• They mainly resided in what is modern day upstate New York, the confederacy was founded somewhere between the 15th -17th century.

• The flag is based on a Hiawatha belt with each square and the pine tree in the middle representing the 5 original peoples that form the federacy before the addition of the Tuscarora people in the 18th century.

• The Iroquois confederacy played an important part in the colonial history of the United States and was a major power when Europeans first landed.

Australian Aboriginal Flag:

• This next flag might be more familiar to some of us as it represents the Australian Aboriginals.

• The flag was first designed for the land rights movement which states that land rights of indigenous people should remain customary even after colonisation.

• The black half of the flag represents the aboriginal people of Australia while the red half represents the red earth that is used in ceremonies as a symbol of the spiritual relation to the land.

• The yellow circle represents the sun and symbolises the giver and protector of life.

Tino Rangatiratanga Flag:

• I know that the name of this flag is a mouthful but staying with the oceanic theme, this flag is more commonly known as the Māori flag.

• The Māori people are the indigenous people of New Zealand who make up more than 15% of the population.

• The colours used on the flag represents the national colours of New Zealand.

• The design of the flags is inspired by the Maori creation story whereby the realm of light and being was created when Rangi (the Sky) and Papa (the Earth) were physically separated.

I hope this week’s issue has given you some new information on some lesser-known flags and hopefully in the future, I’ll keep making these if they are received well.

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This series is brought to you by Adrian Fok (@adfok15). He will be writing about fascinating stuff that will help you to have a more insightful conversation in pubs or mamaks.