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The Flag of Galland[]

The flag of Galland is a Celtic Cross (also known as a Brigid's Cross) sporting the national colors of Galland, green, red, and white.

Brigid's crosses are associated with Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland, and the Celtic Cross flag originates in Ireland, with the symbolism later adopted by Gallish revolutionaries.

The Brigid's Cross symbol itself dates back to the era of the Kingdom of Galland as an emblem closely associated with the Uínéill Dynasty (in Gallish Úinal), as monarchs of Ireland and Galland.

The Emblems of Galland[]

The three principal emblems of Galland are Brigid's Cross (or the Celtic Cross), the Red Boar, and the Gallic Rooster.

The Celtic Cross[]

The Celtic Cross originates as the emblem of Saint Brigid (in Irish Bríd, in Gallish Brída, in Latin Brigida), Patron Saint of Ireland. The presence of Brigid's cross in Ireland is far older than Christianity. The Goddess Brigid was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Irish hagiography makes her an early Irish Christian nun and foundress of several monasteries of nuns, including that of Kildare in Ireland, which was famous and was revered.

Brigid's Cross in general found its way into Gallish heraldic imagery with the ascent of the Irish Uínéill Dynasty (or Úinal Dynasty) onto the Gallish throne. The latter flag is actually unrelated to the previous use of the symbol in Galland, though likely eased its use due to familiarity. The creation of the design in Ireland was a direct imitation of the older Nordic Cross flags used by many Germanic nations and was sought as a unified Celtic symbolic tool.

The Red Boar and the White Boar[]

The Wild Boar is intended as a symbol to represent the Ancient Gallians and re-emerged as a common symbol during the Middle Ages, arriving adjacent to the frequently found Cockatrice and Gallic Rooster at the time.

The Red Boar was meant to represent the 'realm' of the Gallians. The color red is, so legend says, the blood of the Gallians that soaks the earth they call home, thus represents the land and the realm the Gallish people reside in, symbolic of the nation, or the state is it were. Thus the Red Boar is the representative of the Land of Galland.

The White Boar was meant to represent the 'people' that are the Gallians. The coloration of the white Boar was meant as a reflection of the Hellenistic folk etymology connected the name of the Galatians (Γαλάται, Galátai) to the supposedly "milk-white" skin (γάλα, gála "milk") of the Gallians. Thus the White Boar is the representative of the People of Galland.

A cult of a Celtic swine-god Moccus has been referred to. The boar was a divine symbol on standards, coins, and altars, and many bronze images of the animal have been found. These were temple treasures, and in one case the boar is three-horned. But it was becoming the symbol of a goddess, as is seen by the altars on which it accompanies a goddess, perhaps of fertility, and by a bronze image of a goddess seated on a boar. Bones of the swine, sometimes cremated, have been found in Celtic graves in Britain and at Galland , and in one case the animal was buried alone in a tumulus in Galland, just as sacred animals were buried in Egypt, Greece, and elsewhere. When the animal was buried with the dead, it may have been as a sacrifice to the ghost or to the god of the underworld. It is considerd that the boar in Celtic religious contexts represents both "war, because of their ferocity and indominability", and "prosperity, because pork was a favourite Celtic food and played an important part in feasting". Celtic warriors sported boar motifs on their helmets, standards, and carnyxes.

Gallic Rooster[]

During the times of Ancient Rome, Suetonius, in The Twelve Caesars, noticed that, in Latin, rooster (gallus) and the Latin name for the Gallians (Gallus) were homonyms. A closer review within that religious scheme indicates that "Mercury" was often portrayed with the cockerel, a sacred animal among the Continental Celts. Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico identified some gods worshipped in Gallia by using the names of their nearest Roman god rather than their Gallish name, with Caesar saying "Mercury" was the god most revered in Gallia. The Irish god Lug identified as samildánach led to the widespread identification of Caesar's Mercury as Lugus and thus also to the sacred cockerel, the Gallic rooster, as an emblem of Galland.

The Cockatrice was found in heavy use during the Middle Ages as well.

Brigid[]

The imagery of Brigid arrived in Medieval times after the Brigid's Cross, but the woman herself evolved (or rather devolved) from a Christian Saint back to the imagery of a Celtic goddess, again introduced via the long ruling Úinal Dynasty.

Imbolc was traditionally a time of weather divination, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is the forerunner of the holiday Badger Day in Galland. Among other things, the Celtic goddess Brigid was said to be associated with serpents, whence in Gallish imagery she always held a serpent.

Historical and Current Flags and Emblems of Galland[]

Historical and Current Emblems of Galland[]

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