Wikipedia Trail: from Saint John's Day to Dr. Whitney Smith

I started with the article about the origin of Saint John the Baptist's Day which I used while researching information for my project. I learned that it is held on June 24, also called Midsummer, because it is the day that marks the Summer Solstice.

I then clicked the link that led me to an article about dragons because apparently one of the traditions of Saint John's Day is to build a large bonfire that was supposed to ward off dragons. There, I learned that dragons appeared relatively often on various European coat of arms.

Following the link to the article about coat of arms, I learned that the practice originated from the Romans painting their unit's insignia on their shields. The study of coats of arms is closely related to vexillology, which I am already interested in, so I followed the link.

There, I found that the International Federation of Vexillological Associations has their own flag. I also discovered that Dr. Whitney Smith formalized the field of vexillology.

Flag of the FIAV. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Following the link to the article about Dr. Whitney Smith, I learned that he designed the national flag of Guyana that they still use today.