Vikings and Celts meet in new official flag for Skye
● Schoolboy’s design unveiled ● ‘Pulls together elements of island’
It represents the past, the present and the future of Skye with the official flag of the island unveiled for the first time.
The flag was revealed at a ceremony at the Nicolson Memorial in Portree yesterday, when it was unfurled before a small selection of guests.
Raising the flag was Calum Alasdair Munro from Kilmuir, nine, whose winning design will represent the island after it won more than 7,000 votes in a competition organised by West Highland Free Press.
The boy’s design beat more than 360 entries, some from around the world, and has received official approval from the Court of the Lord Lyon, which regulates heraldry in Scotland.
The flag brings together elements of the island’s Viking and Celtic heritage and depicts a birlinn boat with five oars – one for every area of the island.
Calum was sworn to secrecy about his winning design - and had to keep the secret longer than expected with the great reveal delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “I was feeling very happy, but I haven’t told any of my friends in school. I have just told Granny. She was very happy.”
On his design, he added: “First, I thought of the Birlinn boat and I was thinking about the Macleods and Macdonalds and the Mackinnons – the first Clans on Skye.
“I thought about the Celtic Heritage, the Viking heritage and the history of Flora Macdonald. In my flag, in the Birlinn, there are five oars representing Trotternish, Waternish, Duirinish, Minginish and Sleat. I thought about yellow for the Macleods and blue for the Macdonalds.”
Island leaders hope the design will become as recognisable as flags for Cornwall, Orkney and Shetland. It will be used to sell merchandise on Skye and promote the island’s unique identity with the competition following on from similar projects to find flags for Barra and the Uists.
The process to design a flag for Skye has been overseen by Philip Tibbets, the Honorary Vexillologist Court of the Lord Lyon.
He said: “This Skye flag is a testament to engaging the creativity of the community itself. The design not only meets heraldic best practice but puts a unique and new spin on a traditional style - and combines the Scottish, Gàidhlig and Norse heritage of Skye.”
Keith Mackenzie, the editor of the West Highland Free Press, said: “It is a tremendous design but the other thing that struck people is what it meant.
“It pulls together so many elements of Skye.”