CORRECTION: Thank you to readers of this blog who pointed out a mistake that before the country was wrongfully stated as Latvia and the date of the mourning day was wrongfully written as well. Correct country – Lithuania. Correct date – June 14th. It is something that is remembered in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
A flag is a symbol of a country and if mistreated, it maybe taken as an offence. Usually it happens because people don’t know any better.
Let’s say that there are cases of ships entering a foreign port with the flag upside down. Or an embarrassing case of outsourcing gone wrong, such as a batch of Israeli flags that were made in China arrived with the Star of David shifted by a 30 degree rotation, which for whatever reason was not rejected and filled the air on the 2008 Independence Day in Tel-Aviv.
Alright, we can perhaps assign such cases to a staff member who didn’t check the drawing or a young sailor who has has no idea which colour of the French striped flag should face the top. We all make such mistakes.
But what would you say about a man who purposely ties a pair of black pantyhose over the Lithuanian flag instead of a black ribbon? It is a common custom in the Baltic countries to tie a ribbon on the flag on the days of mourning.
So in this case on June 14, 2013 – Anniversary of Deportation (mourning in memory of victims of communist genocide), a worker of a store called Maxima tied a pair of black pantyhose over their flag.
Let’s just say that not only the worker got fired for such a deed, for which no explanation was released, the owners of the store are hoping to pursue this matter in court as a criminal offence.
Even though I believe that any flag should be treated with respect, I should point out that such a deed made it to a newspaper, thus informing the whole world about this Lithuanian day of mourning. I would probably have no idea about such tragedy suffered in the Baltic countries in 1941 if I wouldn’t stumble upon that note online.
For sure the worker didn’t raise the flag properly, but he (or she) for sure raised some awareness as a result.
*Friends, the only funding for this blog is from the shop section. Please indulge your pantyhose obsession and show some support for my work! Your purchases make this blog possible.*
Recently I’ve been visiting Victoria, BC for the weekend. It’s a city on Vancouver island, full of local artists. Maybe I would not even mention this fact, but coincidentally I was just reading about how their local band called Hot Hot Heat got one of their songs copied by a famous European singer.
