I am still reviewing the Codes and Ciphers book by Agageyeff that I picked up in a stack of used books. While he is talking about the use of semaphores as a means of communications and how they were used for signaling over the ages, starting with torches in the days of the ancient Greeks used to signal from a distance at night. Then suddenly the author veers off into a completely unrelated discussion of flags and heraldry:

It may also sound rather strange to say that the use of flags had its origin in the belief in the transmigration of souls; nevertheless, this appears to be true. Certain tribes of semi-savage people believed that when they died their souls would live again in the form of an animal (primitive totemism), and to be sure that they returned into that of a worthy animal, they often wore amulets, made out of rough pottery or clay, about their person during their lifetime. The stories of the werewolf remind us of this old belief, and the practice of wearing lucky charms and carrying mascots on motor-cars may be regarded as a survival of it.

It is not surprising that whole tribes of people gradually took for their emblem the same animal— after all, if you are going to heaven, you prefer to go to the same heaven as your friends and relations are going to—and so it came about that the lion or the leopard became the sign or emblem of a whole tribe. This was the beginning of heraldry. The people of strong fighting instincts quite naturally would take a fighting animal for their souls to continue in after death, while the peace-lovers might take a dove.

These are remarkable claims. But it ties into the idea that certain animals had supernatural powers of protection to defend those in the clan or extended group who claimed that animal as their predecessor. I found out another remarkable fact that needs further investigation. He says that the American flag itself is an adaptation of President Washington's paternal coat of arms.


Then the author follows with an historic discussion of using flags in different navies and how the messages were coded for transmitting coded messages.