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British Culture Alphabet: U
منذ ٤ أعوامHi all!
I'm writing about British culture.
I thought a cool way to introduce some British culture into the Verbling community would be to work through the alphabet and talk about a topic for each letter.
So, for U we are focusing on.....
(the) Union Jack
The Union Jack is the official name for the flag of the United Kingdom. It may look like a bunch of random lines, vertical, horizontal and diagonal but the flag actually consists of three separate crosses. The crosses are the cross of St George (for England), the cross of St Andrew (for Scotland) and the cross of St Patrick (for Ireland).
Why does the flag look like this? Why are three different crosses included in the flag and what about Wales? The flag is all about unity. The countries of Wales, Ireland and Scotland have a difficult relationship with England throughout history. England conquered Wales, Scotland and Ireland at different times but until 1800 Ireland was not a part of the same country. This all changed in the early nineteenth century with when the Acts of Union came into effect. Pursuant to these acts Ireland officially became a part of the same country. Thus, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created. The Union Jack flag was used to commemorate the moment, the flag was new official flag and a symbol of unity.
The Welsh flag, which features a dragon on a green and white backdrop, is not included because Wales had long been taken over by England (the thirteenth century) by the time the first Union Flag was created in 1606. The Welsh Flag which features the dragon was only officially recognised in 1959.
What about the inclusion of the word "jack"? This comes from a historical tradition, since before 1600, ‘jack’ has been used to describe a small flag flown from the mast of a ship.
