On Sat, 11 May 2024 18:10:09 -0700, Jim Vassilakos wrote:

>For example, in military funerals in the USA, the flag is folded in 13
>places, until it resembles a small triangle. The 13 is apparently symbolic
>of the 13 colonies in the War of Independence. How many times would a flag
>in an Imperial Navy funeral be folded and why?

Is folding and presenting the flag even a tradition in the Imperial Navy?
While the US does so, I can't find any reference that suggests that the
Royal Navy or any of the Commonwealth Naval Services do, nor other major
present or former foreign navies such as the French, Indian, former Red
Navy or present Russian Navy, PLAN, former IJN or present naval component
of the JSDF, the naval component of the IDF, et multae ceterae. That's not
to say that none of these present a flag, folded or otherwise; just that
it's not considered enough of a tradition to find easily with a quick
inquiry to the bingleduck.

The gun or small-arms salute might well be a tradition in Imperial services
(it seems to be nearly universal on present-day Terra, even to the number
of guns), but perhaps the presentation of a flag is replaced by some other
Imperial service symbol.

This, of course, assumes that Solomani cultural influence on the Imperium
is that strong (effectively, the "Yanks in Space" meme); it is entirely
possible that Imperial Services' funerary customs might derive from the
Vilani - or perhaps that the funerary customs of the deceased's homeworld
are followed.

Having said that, there might be some significance to seven of something,
since there are seven Domains defined in the Third Imperium (Deneb, Vland,
Antares, Ilelish, Sylea, Gateway, Sol), or perhaps 29 (the number of
sectors with Imperial stars).

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