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The flag symbol of the Swedish-Norwegian union was not very popular. In fact, the union itself wasn’t that popular either, which is probably the main reason for this. Sweden, desperately clinging on to the last remains of his reputation as a fearsome warrior great power, wanted to gain Norway and annex it to his territory, pretty much like finland had been. Norway, on the other hand, wanted to rule himself as a hip and cool new democracy like any self-respecting enlightenment-inspired newly awakened nationalist. Instead, they ended up with this weird compromise marriage in which nobody was completely satisfied, but allowed both of them some pretense of victory.
This flag was introduced in 1844 - before that, the norwegian flag looked like the danish flag but with a lion in the corner.
People generally mocked the union mark and nicknamed it “the herring salad” (after a food dish that looks sort of like that). Norwegians also complained that the union mark symbolised “Swedish dominance over Norway”. I personally find this to be utter bullshit, since i can’t imagine any way they could have made the symbol any more equal.
A couple of years back, there was a hilarious incident at some museum, when a Norwegian flag with the union mark was accidentally (”accidentally”, hehe) raised on the 17th of may, Norway’s national day. I found a link to an article, but it’s in Norwegian though: www.adressa.no/nyheter/sortron…
Also, apparently you can actually buy a Swedish flag with the mark on. I didn’t know that before - Guess what just ended up on my christmas list. The norwegian version seems a lot harder to find though. I think there’s a chance it might be illegal.

Description
The flag symbol of the Swedish-Norwegian union was not very popular. In fact, the union itself wasn’t that popular either, which is probably the main reason for this. Sweden, desperately clinging on to the last remains of his reputation as a fearsome warrior great power, wanted to gain Norway and annex it to his territory, pretty much like finland had been. Norway, on the other hand, wanted to rule himself as a hip and cool new democracy like any self-respecting enlightenment-inspired newly awakened nationalist. Instead, they ended up with this weird compromise marriage in which nobody was completely satisfied, but allowed both of them some pretense of victory.
This flag was introduced in 1844 - before that, the norwegian flag looked like the danish flag but with a lion in the corner.
People generally mocked the union mark and nicknamed it “the herring salad” (after a food dish that looks sort of like that). Norwegians also complained that the union mark symbolised “Swedish dominance over Norway”. I personally find this to be utter bullshit, since i can’t imagine any way they could have made the symbol any more equal.
A couple of years back, there was a hilarious incident at some museum, when a Norwegian flag with the union mark was accidentally (”accidentally”, hehe) raised on the 17th of may, Norway’s national day. I found a link to an article, but it’s in Norwegian though: www.adressa.no/nyheter/sortron…
Also, apparently you can actually buy a Swedish flag with the mark on. I didn’t know that before - Guess what just ended up on my christmas list. The norwegian version seems a lot harder to find though. I think there’s a chance it might be illegal.