The title is the text in a football song from the 1980's which still lives on. Red and white being the colours of the Danish flag - the oldest national flag in the world, actually. Legend will have it that it fell from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse where the Danes were battling the Estonians. King Valdemar II the Victorious grasped the flag and showed it to the troops, giving them renewed vigour to continue, and win, the battle.
One wonders what would have happened if a gust blew the flag over to the Estonians. Or what if the flag was just a fancy kite some kid was flying nearby and the string broke. Whatever. Here's another Cycle Chic version of red and white. No less poetic but it's much more fact than fiction.
Two Danish icons. The cycling girl and the bicycle pictogram.
I love a girl who matches her outfit with her bicycle.
ReplyDeleteLovely story about the Danish flag!
ReplyDeleteYou might have some competition from the Catalan countries and Aragon for oldest flag! Their Mustie Olde Legende has it that the "Senyera Reial" was created by King Charles the Bald in 879 who, his fingers covered with the blood of Count Guifré el Pelós (Wilfred the Furry) of Barcelona, ran them down the latter's shield, creating the four red stripes on gold (Gules on Or) of today's flag of Catalonia and other lands historically connected with it Aragon, the Balearics, the Valencian Country, Lengadòc-Rosselló and Provença (or Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence if you don't like the indigenous names).
ReplyDeleteJust like with the Dannebrog, the more likely history of the Senyera is more prosaic, with somewhat similar flags showing up in sources from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Have you managed to capture anyone yet riding *parallel* to a bike pictogram (not perpendicular to one, like this cyclist is doing) so the shadow of their bike falls right over the lines of the paint? I imagine that would be quite the stroke of luck...
ReplyDeleteAh, there's the rub. It's the oldest national or state flag in the world. Which exludes the others. Wikipedia's entry
ReplyDeleteand no, i'm still waiting for that magical shot. it's a tough one.
Aye well there's the rub, the Scottish Saltire is the oldest continuously used sovereign flag in the world, having been in use since AD 832.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Scotland didn't become a fully unified country until AD 843, after Cináed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) ridded the best wee country in the world of those pesky Danes... ;-)
That red bike it quite it (not to mention it's rider)!
ReplyDeleteI came this close to getting myself an orange messenger bag to match my new "just for fun" ride. But I couldn't convince myself, I guess I still have some ways to go to truly be cycle chic... ;-)
What a kickass red outfit! So original and creative!
ReplyDeleteI was about to post the self same thing as my country men
ReplyDeleteYup the Scots SALTIRE is the single oldest national flag in the world.