Importance of the National Symbols

A country, a territory with identity and with a sense of belonging is not satisfied only with its citizens, but also with its history, with a culture with in which everyone feels identified, with the geographical unity of its inhabitants and their territories, with a Constitution that includes equal laws for all citizens, with an economy that supports it, with a political class that directs it wisely, etc.

However, there are a number of elements that make this country or geographical space, it can be constituted as a place of which its inhabitants feel part, identify with it and defend it against to territories other than those of which they do not feel part or towards which they do not have a feeling of belonging. The elements that achieve this and to which we refer here are the national symbols. Thanks to them one can identify himself anywhere in that territory (for example in different provinces) and know that he is being part of a broad and united community.

A little history of the national symbols. Since when do they exist?

We can say that human populations and societies since time immemorial have needed to differentiate and distinguish themselves from each other to allow its members or inhabitants to know the community to which they belong by birth or choice. Since Antiquity, Greek cities used symbols and elements that allowed knowing that one had been born in Athens and not in Thebes. Many times these symbols were linked to religion and the gods. When the Roman empire in the year 28 a. C., the successive rulers of the same learned that the war banners were essential when it came to conquering new peoples and to let them know both to them and to the inhabitants of the empire the presence and strength that the Roman army had. At the time when that empire disintegrated, in the year 476, the national symbols became essential for the new territories to consolidate and differentiate from each other.

However, it is not until the 19th century in Western history that the national symbols appear as we know them today. This is so because the idea of ​​nation arises together with them, a very abstract concept that is still difficult to define and fully understand today. The patriotic symbols that served to build modern nations are often the result of wars and battles, others of civil strife and spontaneous generation. The hymns, the flags, the cockades, the holidays are all symbols that emerged at the moment when the idea of ​​a nation and a community of united human beings began to take shape.

The national symbols that serve to generate their own identity

One of the most basic patriotic symbols and that every country with an ancient, new or recent history exposes to others is a flag. On the one hand, the flag reflects the colours, which symbolize the characteristics most important of the nation, and, in case of carrying a shield, this is a representation in a single image of history, of an action or of something that makes that country what it is. It is true that throughout history, depending on the events in the country, or due to changes in governments that may exist, this symbol can be modified depending on the needs of that moment or a decision made by a government or through a referendum popular.

In addition to this very important symbol, there are others that still make a nation what it is. One of the most important patriotic symbols that a nation can have is in its laws and, as in the case of Spain, a constitution that was voted by the majority of the people in a referendum that made this country the democracy it is at the moment. Constitutions are usually the result of long debates and many times imply confrontations due to the importance and significance they have for the inhabitants of that nation or territory.

National symbols, a phenomenon that can change because each population builds it

Basically, the patriotic symbols of a nation change throughout its history and remain there thanks to the will of the people and of the governments that are present at all times or some of them disappear when they cease to be relevant or, above all, when they are associated with negative symbols for the country itself, such as the imperial eagles in Nazi Germany or the imperial eagle on the coat of arms of Spain.

That is to say, what we consider patriotic symbols at one moment, may cease to be at another moment. The important thing is that at all times, citizens identify with them and, by extension, they manage to unite the country and its citizens under that same symbology.