Colours
Tradition states that the colours of the flag were given to Malta by Roger I of Sicily in 1090. Roger's fleet landed in Malta on the completion of the Norman conquest of Sicily. It is said that local Christians offered to fight by Roger's side against the Arab defenders. In order to recognise the locals fighting on his side from the defenders, Roger reportedly tore off part of his chequered red-and-white flag. This story has, however, been debunked as a 19th century myth, possibly even earlier due to the Mdina, Malta's old capital, associating its colours with Roger's in the late Middle Ages.
The flag of the Knights of Malta, a white cross on a red field, was a more likely source of the Maltese colours, inspiring the red and white shield used during the British colonial period.
Read more about this topic: Flag Of Malta
Famous quotes containing the word colours:
“My faith is the grand drama of my life. I’m a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith. I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colours for those who see none.”
—Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
“In a borealic iceberg came Victoria; she
Knew Prince Albert’s tall memorial took the colours of the floreal
And the borealic iceberg;”
—Dame Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)
“The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite: a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.—”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)