Orange

The lowest band of the flag is orange, often called apricot, after the national fruit. The constitution says it stands for the creative talent and hard work of the people.

The flag is split corner to corner. The orange half stands for the Buddhist tradition, and the white dragon across the middle for purity.

On 30 September people wear orange shirts to remember the children sent to residential schools. Phyllis Webstad's new orange shirt was taken from her on her first day at one.

Orange is also the colour of the New Democratic Party. Its sweep of Quebec seats in the 2011 election was called the Orange Wave.

The flag shows the island in copper orange on white. The colour recalls copper, which was mined here in ancient times and may have taken its name from Cyprus.

The orange stripe of the flag stands for Protestants, the followers of William of Orange. In Northern Ireland the Orange Order still marches each 12 July in orange sashes.

Opponents of the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza took orange as their colour, tying orange ribbons to cars and bags. Supporters of the plan answered with blue.

Saffron is the colour of renunciation, worn by Hindu sadhus, holy men who have given up worldly life. The top band of the national flag is saffron, which stands for strength and courage.

In the 2005 referendum on a new constitution, ballots showed a banana for yes and an orange for no. The no side won and became the Orange Democratic Movement.

Buddhist monks in saffron and orange robes walk out each morning to collect food. Most Khmer men traditionally spent some time as a monk.

At dawn in Luang Prabang, lines of monks in orange robes walk the streets to receive sticky rice from kneeling townspeople.

The orange stripe on the flag stands for the Tamils. It was added, with a green stripe, in 1951 so that the minorities had a place on it.

Buddhist monks wear robes from bright saffron to deep maroon, and the shade often shows which monastic order a monk belongs to.

Amber from the Baltic shore is called Lithuanian gold. Strings of amber beads are part of women's national dress.

For the Day of the Dead, altars and graves are covered in orange marigolds, cempasuchil. Their colour and scent are said to guide the souls of the dead home.

Coral beads, in shades from orange to deep red, are the regalia of the Oba of Benin and his chiefs. Edo brides wear a crown and collars of coral.

Orange is the colour of the royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau. On King's Day, 27 April, the whole country dresses in orange for street markets and parties.

National teams play in orange and are called Oranje. The craze that takes over streets and shops during big football tournaments has its own name, oranjegekte.

On the King's birthday and other royal days, an orange pennant is flown above the national flag.

At Tihar, the festival of lights, doors and windows are hung with garlands of orange and yellow marigolds, and dogs and cows are garlanded too.

Amber washed up on the Baltic shore is called the gold of the north. Gdansk has been a centre for working it since the Middle Ages.

The ribbon of Saint George has black and orange stripes. It comes from a Tsarist military order and is worn each 9 May, Victory Day.

The Dala horse, a carved wooden horse from the province of Dalarna, is usually painted a reddish orange with a harness in white, green, yellow and blue. It is sold as a symbol of the country.

Theravada Buddhist monks wear robes in shades from saffron orange to ochre. Many Thai men ordain for a short time, so the robe is a familiar sight in most families.

Party colours are plain in Turkish elections: the governing AK Party uses orange with a light bulb, and the Republican People's Party uses red with six arrows.

In late 2004 crowds wearing orange filled Kyiv to protest against a rigged presidential election. The vote was rerun and the protests became known as the Orange Revolution.

Orange and black are the colours of Halloween, 31 October: orange for pumpkins and autumn leaves, black for night.

The flag used from 1928 to 1994 was orange, white and blue, after the old Dutch Prince's Flag. It is now tied to the apartheid years, and displaying it has been ruled hate speech.

The flag is green with an eagle and three stripes. The orange stripe is for copper, the country's main export, and the football team is called the Copper Bullets.