6 Rules for Flag Display in Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS—Flag Day is Tuesday, which celebrates the American Flag and everything it stands for.

According to the National Flag Day Foundation, Flag Day was started in part by school teacher Bernard J. Cigrand, who placed a 10-inch, 38-star flag in a bottle on his desk and asked students to write an essay on the flag and its significance. The observance commemorated Congress' adoption of the Stars and Stripes as our nation's flag on June 14, 1777.

Cingrand dedicated much of his life to bringing about national recognition and the celebration of Flag Day, until President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for a nation-wide observance of the holiday. President Harry Truman later signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 as Flag Day in 1949.

Here are some rules to follow from the official blog of the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries, citing the United State Code, about the proper display of the American Flag.

1. The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water or merchandise.
2. The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free.
3. No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.
4. The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying or delivering anything.
5. The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
6. The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides or back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat.