Massachusetts Seeks Public Input on New State Flag, Motto, and Seal
Massachusetts will implement a new state flag, motto, and seal. Voters have narrowed down the choices to three options for each category. Following a process that took more than four…
Photo: Mass.gov
Massachusetts will implement a new state flag, motto, and seal. Voters have narrowed down the choices to three options for each category.
Following a process that took more than four years, the Massachusetts Seal, Flag, and Motto Advisory Commission has received over 1,150 submissions. The finalists of each category acknowledge Massachusetts' ideals and heritage, including references to Massachusetts as the sixth state in the Union, its Indigenous history, and terrain.
According to a Boston.com report, Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism Executive Director Kate Fox said that the nine designs are still subject to changes based on public feedback.
The final three options will be shared at public meetings across the state, where residents can provide feedback and “help inform the Commission's final recommendations,” noted Abigail Phillips, director of communications at the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. A final recommendation will be submitted to the state by Dec. 15.
Flags
- One of the top three designs being evaluated for the new Massachusetts state flag includes a gold star and waves.
- A second top option for the new Massachusetts flag includes a flower on a field of blue.
- A third option includes a circle of feathers on a field of crimson.
Mottos
- “Multa Voces, una res publica” (Many Voices, One Commonwealth) reflects “modern Massachusetts while honoring its rich, multifaceted past,” according to one submission.
- “We honor all life guided by the First Light” honors the Wampanoag and other Indigenous tribes who were known as “People of the First Light.”
- “Bono publico laetamur” (We Rejoice in the Public Good) is taken from The Beverly Public Library. This sentiment “expresses a hopefulness and joy about building things for communal benefit, which I think captures the best of Massachusetts,” another submission said.
Seals
- The first top design consideration uses the phrase "Lighting Our Way Forward" and features the original state flag's star now becoming a sun set against a landscape of water, hill, and mountain shapes.
- The second seal choice uses the phrase "Peace With Liberty" and includes a white star symbolizing peace, the chickadee (Massachusetts' state bird), and the North Atlantic right whale, the state's official marine mammal.
- The third seal is similar to the crimson and feather flag design, with six turkey feathers and a diamond symbol used by Indigenous people.
