Every year on June 14, the United States of America celebrates Flag Day, which Americans love and honor.
On this day, Americans decorate their houses with flags, thereby showing their patriotism. A particular surge in «stars and stripes» was observed in the United States after the infamous events of September 11, 2001.
The Stars and Stripes was approved as the official flag of all free states of America by the Continental Congress in 1777, at the height of the Revolutionary War. And the idea of annually celebrating Flag Day, in all likelihood, dates back to 1885. When B. J. Seagrand, a school teacher, organized it for students in Fredonia, a comprehensive school in Wisconsin, to celebrate June 14 (108th anniversary of the official approval of the Stars and Stripes) as «Flag Birthday». In subsequent years, in numerous articles in magazines and newspapers, in personal letters, Seagrand continued to enthusiastically promote the celebration of June 14 as «Flag Birthday» or «FlagDay».
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a junior high school teacher in New York City, planned a beautiful ceremony for the children of his school, and his idea of celebrating Flag Day was later adopted by the Board of Education in New York State. On June 14, 1891, the city of Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia supported the celebration of Flag Day, and a year later the Society of Sons of the New York Revolution celebrated Flag Day.
Adults also took part in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Minister of the Area, gave a Flag Day speech in 1914 that included the following words on behalf of the flag: «I am what you made me. I swing before your eyes like a bright reflection of light, I am a — symbol of you ».
Due to these decades of celebrations in the states and parts of the country, the anniversary of the flag's approval in 1777 was officially proclaimed Flag Day in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson. After this, Flag Day was celebrated for many years in different communities. In 1949, President Truman signed an Act of Congress that approved June 14 as National Flag Day.
Currently, the week in which this holiday falls is proclaimed as «National Flag Week», during which the national flag is welcomed to be hung everywhere and throughout this week. The flag must be hung on all government buildings.
About the flag: 13 identical horizontal stripes of red alternate with white stripes; in the upper left corner there is a blue rectangle with 50 small stars arranged in such a way that nine lines of stars alternate six and five offset through one row; 50 stars symbolize the 50 states, 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies.