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Iceland Flags – Icelandic Flag, Bunting & Hand Flags
The blue flag with the red cross edged in white for Icelandic National Day on 17 June, the thunder clap at the football, the handball and every Northern Lights-themed night out. Find the Iceland flag in 20x12in to 8ft x 5ft, Iceland bunting for the bar or the travel agent’s window and Iceland hand flags for the terraces.
Iceland Flagfrom £6.99-
Iceland Flag
Choose size →5 sizes · 2 qualities · 3 fittingsThe price depends on the options chosen on the product pagefromAs low as £6.98
Shop Iceland in every format
The Icelandic flag: fire, ice and the sea
The flag of Iceland is a blue field with a red Nordic cross bordered in white, the upright of the cross set towards the hoist. It was first permitted as a local flag in 1915, became the national flag when Iceland gained sovereignty under the Danish crown on 1 December 1918, and was confirmed by the flag law of 17 June 1944, the day the republic was declared. The customary reading of the colours is that blue is the mountains seen from the coast, white the ice and snow that cover them and red the fire of the island’s volcanoes. The layout is the mirror of Norway’s, which has a blue cross on red, and the two are the most commonly confused flags in the Nordic set. Icelandic law fixes the proportions at 18:25 and names the blue as a specific ultramarine, and our Iceland flag is printed to that blue with a clean white border on the red, so it reads as Iceland and not Norway at a glance.
17 June, the thunder clap and the handball
National Day on 17 June, the birthday of independence leader Jón Sigurðsson, is the big day for the flag, with 1 December (Sovereignty Day) and the First Day of Summer in late April also on the Icelandic flag-day list. For most people in Britain, though, the Iceland flag means football: the run to the quarter-finals at Euro 2016, including the win over England in Nice, the thunder clap that went with it, and the first World Cup appearance in 2018. Icelandic handball and the women’s football team draw the same support, and the Iceland Airwaves festival and the Northern Lights have given the flag a place in travel agents’ windows and themed bars. The Icelandic community in the UK is small but active around the embassy in London and Icelandic societies in Scotland and the north of England.
Iceland flag sizes and grades
For a flagpole or a bar wall take the 5ft x 3ft; for a short pole or a bedroom the 3ft x 2ft; for a large fixed pole or a stage the 8ft x 5ft; and for a car or hand pole the 20x12in. Flagtex is a printed woven polyester for celebrations and short spells outdoors; DuraFlag is the thicker knitted polyester with double-stitched edges for a flag left on a pole all year. Both have a sewn header with brass eyelets, and the DuraFlag can be supplied with clips or a rope and toggle.
Iceland bunting
Iceland bunting repeats the flag on rectangular pennants in 3m and 9m lengths, sewn to a tape in weatherproof polyester, for a 17 June garden party, a travel-agent display or a football screening. For a longer run, add plain blue, white and red lengths from the bunting range.
Hand flags and table flags
Iceland hand flags on wooden sticks come in 9x6in and 18x12in, the thing to wave in time with the clap. The Iceland table flag is a 6x4in desk flag on a base for an office, a dinner party or a school project, and the large wooden table flag at 18x12in sits on a reception counter. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland are all under world flags.
Icelandic flag FAQs
What do the colours of the Iceland flag mean?
Blue for the mountains, white for the ice and snow, and red for the fire of Iceland’s volcanoes. The combination is often summed up as fire, ice and sea.
How is the Iceland flag different from the Norway flag?
They are colour-swapped: Iceland is a blue field with a red cross edged white, Norway is a red field with a blue cross edged white. Both are Nordic crosses with the upright nearer the hoist.
When is Icelandic National Day?
17 June, the anniversary of the founding of the republic in 1944 and the birthday of Jón Sigurðsson. Sovereignty Day on 1 December is also marked.
Which way round does the Icelandic flag fly?
With the shorter arm of the cross next to the pole. The design is the same top and bottom, so there is no upside down, but the cross must sit towards the hoist.
What is the Iceland thunder clap?
The slow, synchronised overhead clap and shout that Iceland’s supporters made famous at Euro 2016. It is done facing the team after a match, and a hand flag in each raised hand is the usual accompaniment.
What size Iceland flag for a telescopic pole?
5ft x 3ft on a 6m pole; 3ft x 2ft on a short pole; 8ft x 5ft only on a fixed pole of 25ft or more.
How fast is delivery on Iceland flags?
Each item on this page is stocked in and dispatched from our Stoke-on-Trent warehouse the same working day if ordered before 2pm, for delivery in 1–2 days across the UK.