SW EW-450 & CA-499397 The Maple Leaf Flag of Canada

The National Flag of Canada also known as the Maple Leaf and l'Unifolié (French for "the one-leafed"), is a flag consisting of a red field with a white square at its centre.  In the middle is a stylized, 11-pointed, red maple leaf. The Maple Leaf was adopted in February 15 1965 to replace the Union Flag and it is the first ever specified by statute law for use as the country's national flag. February 15 is now celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day.

The ratio of the red and white portions of the flag is 1:2:1.  The red came from the red of St George’s cross and the white came from the French royal emblem.  As early as 1700, the maple leaf began to serve as a symbol celebrating Canada's nature and environment. The maple leaf on the flag is a sugar maple leaf. Sugar maples are native to Canada and have brilliant fall foliage. The number of points on the leaf has no significance; they do not, for instance, represent the ten provinces plus the federal government. In fact, some of the very first Canadian flags made had maple leaves of 15 points.

Before the Maple Leaf Flag, the Canadian Red Ensign, since the early 1890s, had been unofficially used to represent Canada.  This Red Ensign was approved by a 1945 Order in Council for use "wherever place or occasion may make it desirable to fly a distinctive Canadian flag".

 

I received 2 copies of this flag postcard from 2 senders (a) Robyn H. (6 February 2015) Swap-bot and (b) Richard (27 January 2015) Postcrossing.