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Härjedalen, unofficial flags and flag proposals (Sweden)

Härjedalen, Härjedal`n, Herjeådalen

by Jan Oskar Engene

Description of the flag
History and geography

See also:

Härjedalen
County of Jamtland (Jämtlands län)
Republic of Jamtland (Republiken Jämtland)
Norrland
Regional flags (Sweden)
Sweden

Description of the flag

In the 1980's stickers with a black and yellow flag appeared. The proportions were 10:16 (4-2-4 : 5-2-9).
Jan Oskar Engene, 7 March 1996

In the middle of the 1960's the colours black and yellow were used and the slogan "Härliga Härjedalen" (Wonderful Härjedalen) was used in tourism and by regional patriots. Gun Myhr-Andersson seems to recall that the flag was present at that time too, used e.g. at the festival "Bjônndans´n" ("The Bear Dance") in Sveg, and she thinks it was created by Hans Stergel, who was tourism manager in western Härjedalen.

The original reason for the flag and the festival was a reaction against the "Republic of Jamtland" which according to the Jamts should include Härjedalen too. The "republic" has the same borders as the administrative province/county (län) of Jamtland, so it also includes the province of Härjedalen, though these borders are not very old, the county was created only in 1810.

Information provided by Gun Myhr-Andersson, an inhabitant of Hede, Härjedalen, 30 April 2001

Yours truly was the last tourist manager of the province 1971-1973. (The Tourist Association of Härjedalen was discontinued in 1973.) The flag was produced by me to show the independence of Härjedalen vis-à-vis Jamtland during this time. The flag was available as a car sticker with the motto "Fria Härjedalen" ("Free Härjedalen"). I seem to recall the Scanian flag was seen as a model. The colours were chosen because the motto "Härliga Härjedalen" ("Wonderful Härjedalen") was presented in yellow/black. The flag was noticed by Carl-Uno Sjöblom at Sveriges Radio and Omar Magnergård at the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. The flag was printed at Made in Sweg in Sveg.
Hans Stergel, 23 November 2001 [translated from Swedish by Elias Granqvist]

History and geography

Härjedalen is a historical province of Sweden, today a part of the county (län) of Jämtland. Both these provinces border on Norway, to which they belonged to 1645. Norway was then in union with Denmark.
Jan Oskar Engene, 7 March 1996