History / Nordic connection at heart of suggested new Shetland flag design
DOES the Shetland flag need a refresh?
The answer from Whalsay’s Magnus Hutchison is a yes – and his proposed design appears to be getting a fair bit of support on social media.
He came up with a design which takes the current Shetland flag but emboldens the Nordic cross and adds white lines – essentially making it a blue version of the Norway flag.
Explaining his thinking, Hutchison said Shetland’s “native culture is overwhelmingly Norse” – and suggested that the flag should better represent this.
An image of the proposed design was put on a local Facebook group a few days ago beside the current flag, and most people preferred Hutchison’s idea.
The current flag was introduced in the late 1960s, and it uses the blue and white colours of the Scottish saltire on a Nordic cross.
It was designed by Roy Grønneberg and Bill Adams in 1969 to commemorate 500 years of Shetland transferring from Norway to Scotland, although it was not until 2005 that it was formally recognised.
Hutchison claimed that the pawning of Shetland to Scotland was a “breach of Norway’s constitutional law – the act that severed us from our own country and opened the door to centuries of oppression and cultural loss”.
“Why should we commemorate the very act that led to such awful treatment of our ancestors?” he questioned.
Hutchison added that the current flag is often described as giving equal symbolic weight to Scotland and Norway.
But he said: “Why would we do that when such symbolism doesn’t reflect the truth of our history and culture”.
Hutchison added that “to be clear, this isn’t about disliking Scotland — that would be very immature”.
“This is simply about being honest about our own story. Standing up for our identity isn’t hateful. I’m grateful we have a Nordic cross. It gave Shetlanders a flag of our own. But it can be much better.”
He suggested that one flaw of the current Shetland flag is that when it hangs limp, it can be mistaken for the Saltire.
Hutchison added that the “whole point of having our own Nordic cross is to show who we are”.
“If our flag can be mistaken for a Scottish one, it fails at its most basic job.”
Regarding his suggested design, Hutchison said he kept the familiar colours of the current flag because many Shetlanders feel a strong attachment to it.
“That attachment is preserved and even strengthened by a deeper Norwegian blue and new colour meanings that better reflect who we authentically are — not who we’ve been made to be,” he added.
“That said, I might be wrong. Maybe Shetlanders would prefer an entirely new design, and I’m personally very open to that.”
But he said each colour on his idea carried a “meaning rooted in our heritage”.
Hutchison said the white represents purity and protection, inspired by Heimdall, who is described in Norse tradition as “the white god” and is a watchful protector.
He added that the lighter blue represents the sea, while the deep inner blue is “Norwegian blue, representing our original nation and the roots of our cultural heritage”.
“We’re not representing somewhere outside ourselves,” Hutchison said. “We’re honouring that our origins are Norse and putting that truth at the core.”
After totting up the responses to the post on Facebook, he said more 90 per cent of the 150-plus Shetland respondents preferred the suggested new design.
“Our flag is massively significant,” Hutchison added. “It’s the image we show the world. I think it would be amazing for ours to say clearly and proudly: this is Hjaltland.
“That’s exactly why I’ve named the flag Hjaltlandsmerki.”
Hutchison said this means “Hjaltland’s banner” or “Hjaltland’s flag” — a nod to the raven banner (Old Norse: hrafnsmerki).
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