Some time ago I talked with a German girl about the use of flags in Germany. She told me that the only time it is seen as okay to be waving the German flag is at sport events and official buildings. The rest of the time the fear of feeling national pride is too big. It is in fact so bad that some Germans even feel uncomfortable when they see other countries waving it at hotels and the like.In Scandinavia we use our flags completely different, but it’s not like in North America where you see flags everywhere as a sign of national pride.Every time we have a celebration of any kind we raise the flags, because here our flags doesn’t so much symbolise national pride as much as it has become a symbol of happiness, joy and having a good time. And something I haven’t seen in other countries is that we use it when celebrating birthdays. So if you walk by a house here and see 20 small flags in the front yard, it’s not because the people living there are nationalists. It just means someone is celebrating their birthday.We even put the flags on Christmas trees like so http://www.museum-sonderjylland.dk/BILLEDERNE/web-dansk-juletrae.jpg http://naturvern.imaker.no/data/b/0/98/41/7_2701_0.jpg http://www.airynothing.com/photos/2005_Christmas_Montreal/2005_Christmas_Montreal-Thumbnails/108.jpg