![Banners of Knights of the Thistle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Banners_of_Knights_of_the_Thistle.jpg)
A banner can be a
flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
(but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a
banner of arms
A banner of arms is a type of heraldic flag which has the same image as a coat of arms, ''i.e.'' the shield of a full heraldic achievement, rendered in a square or rectangular shape of the flag.
The term is derived from the terminology of hera ...
. Also, a bar-shaped piece of non-cloth advertising material sporting a name, slogan, or other marketing message is also a banner.
Banner-making
Banner-making is the ancient art or craft of sewing banners. Techniques used include applique, embroidery, fabric painting, patchwork and others.
Trade union banners
In the United Kingdom, the first of these banners were sometimes painted by ...
is an ancient craft. Church banners commonly portray the saint to whom the church is dedicated.
The word derives from
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...
''baniere'' (modern french: bannière), from Late Latin ''bandum'', which was borrowed from a
Germanic source (compare got, 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍅𐌰, translit=bandwa).
Cognates include
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
''bandiera'',
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
''bandeira'', and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
''bandera''.
Vexillum
The vexillum was a flag-like object used as a
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
standard by units in the
Ancient Roman army.
The word ''vexillum'' itself is a diminutive of the Latin ''velum'', meaning a sail, which confirms the historical evidence (from coins and sculpture) that vexilla were literally "little sails" i.e. flag-like standards. In the vexillum the cloth was draped from a horizontal crossbar suspended from the staff; this is unlike most modern flags in which the 'hoist' of the cloth is attached directly to the vertical
staff.
Heraldic banners
A heraldic banner, also called a
banner of arms
A banner of arms is a type of heraldic flag which has the same image as a coat of arms, ''i.e.'' the shield of a full heraldic achievement, rendered in a square or rectangular shape of the flag.
The term is derived from the terminology of hera ...
, displays the basic
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
only: i.e. it shows the design usually displayed on the
shield and omits the crest, helmet or coronet, mantling, supporters, motto or any other elements associated with the full
armorial achievement
In heraldry, an achievement, armorial achievement or heraldic achievement (historical: hatchment) is a full display or depiction of all the heraldic components to which the bearer of a coat of arms is entitled. An achievement comprises not onl ...
(for further details of these elements, see
heraldry). A heraldic banner is usually square or rectangular.
A distinction exists between the heraldic banner and the
heraldic standard
In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification.
Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, and ...
. The distinction, however, is often misunderstood or ignored. For example, the
Royal Standard of the United Kingdom
The Royal Standards of the United Kingdom refers to either one of two similar flags used by King Charles III in his capacity as Sovereign of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies, and the British Overseas Territories. Two versions of the ...
is in fact a banner of the royal arms.
File:Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg, The full armorial achievement of the arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
of the Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a l ...
(before the Union of the Crowns
The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...
)
File:Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg, The arms as depicted on the escutcheon
File:Royal Standard of Scotland.svg, " The Lion Rampant": the banner of the King of Scots
The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin (), who founded the state in 843. Historically, the Kingdom of Scotland is thought to have grown ...
File:Wolsey banner.jpg, Banner of Cardinal Wolsey
File:Banner of Lincoln.svg, Banner of Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
File:Banner of the arms of the British Broadcasting Corporation.svg, Banner of the British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
Banners in Christianity
![Kirkkoliput](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Kirkkoliput.jpg)
In the
Old Testament, the
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
was commanded to raise a banner and exalt his voice ().
Habakkuk
Habakkuk, who was active around 612 BC, was a prophet whose oracles and prayer are recorded in the Book of Habakkuk, the eighth of the collected twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Almost a ...
received a similar order to write a vision upon tables that could be read by one who runs past it ().
Banners in churches have, in the past, been used mainly for
procession
A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner.
History
Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...
s, both inside and outside of the church building. However, the emphasis has, in recent years, shifted markedly towards the permanent or transient display of banners on walls or pillars of churches and other places of worship. A famous example of large banners on display is
Liverpool R.C. Cathedral, where the banners are designed by a resident artist.
Banners are also used to communicate the
testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter.
Etymology
The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness.
...
of Jesus Christ by
evangelist
Evangelist may refer to:
Religion
* Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels
* Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ
* Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...
s and public ministers engaged in
Open Air Preaching.
Trade union banners
The
iconography of these banners included mines, mills, and factories, but also visions of the future, showing a land where children and adults were well-fed and living in tidy brick-built houses, where the old and sick were cared for, where the burden of work was lessened by new technology, and where leisure time was increasing. The same kind of banners are also used in many other countries. Many, but not all of them, have
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
as a dominant colour.
In Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, trade union banners were unfurled with pride in annual Eight Hour Day marches which advocated ‘Eight Hours Labour, Eight Hours Recreation and Eight Hours Rest’. These marches were one of the most prominent annual celebrations staged in Australia by any group. In Sydney alone, by the early twentieth century, thousands of unionists representing up to seventy different unions would take part in such parades, marching behind the banner emblematic of their trade. Most of these banners have not survived; the Labour Council of NSW has the largest surviving collection at
Sydney Trades Hall in Sussex Street, Sydney.
The
State Library of NSW
The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...
in Sydney has a small collection of trade union banners that were donated to the Library in the early 1970s such as a Federated Society of Boilermakers, Iron & Steel Shipbuilders of Australia banner thought to have been made c. 1913–1919. The Federated Society of Boilermakers, Iron & Steel Shipbuilders of Australia was formed in 1873 and joined the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union in 1972.
The banner features a kneeling figure in the centre surrounded by scroll work and is decorated with Australian native flowers and images representative of the work of the Union's members such as a New South Wales Government Railways 34 class steam locomotive, the Hawkesbury River rail bridge built in 1889, and a furnace. The reverse of the banner shows the warship ''Australia'' at sea. The banner is canvas and was painted by Sydney firm Althouse & Geiger, master painters and decorators. Founded in 1875, the company is still in operation. The banner is a powerful interpretive tool in communicating the experience and the history of the Australian labour movement.
For more on the design and making of these banners, see
Banner-making
Banner-making is the ancient art or craft of sewing banners. Techniques used include applique, embroidery, fabric painting, patchwork and others.
Trade union banners
In the United Kingdom, the first of these banners were sometimes painted by ...
.
Sports banners
![TIFO FCN](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/TIFO_FCN.jpg)
Sports fans often buy or make banners to display in the grandstands. Team banners typically contain the logo, name or nickname, motto and the team colors. Banners on individual competitors can contain a picture or drawing of the player. Sports banners may also honor notable players or hall-of-fame athletes and commemorate past championships won. These types of sports banners are typically hung from
rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as wooden beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck and its associated ...
s in stadiums and arenas. In North American indoor professional sports, the previous season's champion traditionally does not install their awarded championship banner until moments prior to their first home game of the season that follows, in a ceremony that is chiefly referred to as "raising the banner".
Uruguay's
Club Nacional de Football
Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo.
The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...
supporters made a 600 x 50 metre banner that weighs over 2 tonnes; they claim it is the largest in the world. It was unveiled in April 2013 in a
Copa Libertadores football match at the
Estadio Centenario
Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Ur ...
.
Advertising banners
Often fabricated commercially on a plastic background, the banner industry has developed from the traditional cut-vinyl banners to banners printed within large, ultra-wide format
inkjet printer
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...
s on various vinyl and fabric materials using
solvent inks and
ultraviolet-curable inks.
Banners are used in many business ventures, marketing to their potential audience. A number of British towns and cities have whole series of banners decorating their city centers, effectively advertising the town or its special features and attractions. Pre-printed banners, albeit commonly used, are simple and accessible. Banners can be printed in enormous formats, with a full range of rich colors. They can also be used in many different physical situations whether it be hanging from an existing fixture, fixed to a wall or even free standing. When an advertising banner is hung or suspended between posts, grommets or another method of attachment are necessary to prevent the banner from tearing or flying away. Aluminum grommets can be punched into the banner and used as secure entry points to tie the banner down. This installation method allows for more durable advertisements. Some vendors offer pre-installed
grommets. Another common form of free standing banners are retractable displays.
Banners can be found plastered behind a window screen, as billboards, atop skyscrapers, or
towed by airplanes or blimps. As with variable of size and quantity, the number of sides and quality of ink are as much of a crucial factor. In an instance of retail stores which purchase pre-printed clearance banners, or a variety of sale banner. A banner facing underneath or against glass is absorbing exposure from the sun. A banner printed on UV outdoor ink will last several years to a decade where cheaper ink fades, requiring frequent replacement. Being behind glass, a two-sided banner can be displayed from the inside and out, often building recognition between shoppers and caretakers. Three-sided banners are often appealing as there is dimension and can be embellished differently. The more sides that exist, the more angles the banner covers, which is a possibility where a two-sided banner doesn't face the viewer from center of the room or streets.
Another manifestation of advertising banners, unique to the 21st century, are "
banner ad
A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking ...
s", which are advertisements on websites. The banner ads contain hyperlinks to other websites. Also, on free music streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora, audio advertisements will play in between songs. One of the common tag lines is "Click the banner to learn more."
Big letter banners (China)
In China, it is common to find large red coloured banners, especially in schools, factories, government institutions and construction sites. Also called da zi bao (), these tend to be big and long, usually with red backgrounds and large Chinese characters. They tend to have motivational messages or industrial milestones on them. Historically, these
big character posters (da zi bao) were used to convey messages during the
cultural revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, but their use changed after the country's liberalization since 1979.
See also
*
Banners in Northern Ireland
Banners are a significant part of the Culture of Northern Ireland, particularly for the Protestant/Irish unionism, unionist community, and one of the region's most prominent types of folk art. They are typically carried in Parades in Northern Ire ...
*
County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...
in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
is known as the ''Banner County''.
*
Gonfalone
The gonfalon, gonfanon, gonfalone (from the early Italian ''confalone'') is a type of heraldic flag or banner, often pointed, swallow-tailed, or with several streamers, and suspended from a crossbar in an identical manner to the ancient Roman ...
*
Heraldic standard
In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification.
Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, and ...
*
Jolly Roger
Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy).
The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly ...
*
Knight Banneret
*
Nobori
is a Japanese banner. They are long, narrow flags, attached to a pole with a cross-rod to hold the fabric straight out and prevent it from furling around the rod; this way, the field is always visible and identifiable.
History of use
The ''nob ...
*
Sashimono
''Sashimono'' (指物, 差物, 挿物) were small banners historically worn by soldiers in feudal Japan, for identification during battles.
Description
Sashimono poles were attached to the backs of the chest armor (''dō'') by special fittings. ...
*
Stainless Banner
*''
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
''
*
Vexillum
The ''vexillum'' (; plural ''vexilla'') was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Ancient Roman army.
Use in Roman army
The word ''vexillum'' is a derivative of the Latin word, ''velum'', meaning a sail, which co ...
*
Vinyl banners
*
Web banner
A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linkin ...
References
External links
* {{Commons category-inline, Banners
Types of flags
Signage