Do you know the proper etiquette to follow when the National Anthem is performed or played? Whether you are attending a sports game, concert, funeral, etc., you will probably find yourself in this position at some point or another.

The National Anthem is a patriotic song that symbolizes America’s core value: freedom. Therefore, it’s important for men and women to know the rules established under US Code 301 for showing respect in conduct when it is performed.

Proper Anthem Protocol

Stand

Before the National Anthem begins, crowds will usually be asked to stand. Why stand? It is a sign of appreciation for our nation and its core values. Is standing for the National Anthem a law? No, it is not mandatory. But Americans owe a great debt to those who have paid the ultimate price to win and protect our freedom, which is why it’s important to follow proper etiquette and stand for the Anthem. The entire Anthem should only last for a couple of minutes, so standing isn’t going to leave you “winded.”

Face the Flag

Many people assume that they should face the person who is singing the National Anthem, but this isn’t necessarily true. If there’s an American Flag being displayed — and there usually is — you should face it instead. If there is not a flag on display, you should face the person whom is singing the National Anthem, giving them your full attention.

Remove Your Hat

If you are wearing a hat, you should remove it for the duration of the National Anthem (unless it’s being worn for religious purposes). This tradition goes back more than a century, a time when wearing a hat indoors was considered rude.

Place Right Hand Over Your Heart

Next, place your right hand over your heart. Assuming you are wearing a hat, remove it with your right hand and place it over your heart.

What About Military Service Men and Women?

Military service men and women should perform the military salute at the beginning of the National Anthem, holding this posture until the end.

Did You Know?

Here’s a fun fact that not many people know: the Star Spangled Banner had been around for 75 years before it became the National Anthem. It wasn’t until 1889 when Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed an order to make the Star Spangled Banner the official tune for raising the American flag. Fast forward to 1916 and President Woodrow Wilson declared the Star Spangled Banner to be played at military events and other occasions as well.

National Anthem Lyrics

If you need a crash course on the National Anthem lyrics (the Star-Spangled Banner), here you go:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

A national anthem (also state anthem, national hymn, national song, etc.) is generally a patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions, and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. The countries of Latin America, Central Asia, and Europe tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare.^[1] Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them (such as with the United Kingdom, Russian Federation, and the former Soviet Union); their constituencies' songs are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are not sovereign states.

Languages[edit]

A national anthem, when it has lyrics (as is usually the case), is most often in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Most commonly, states with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem, for instance:

• The 'Swiss Psalm', the national anthem of Switzerland, has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages (French, German, Italian and Romansh).
• The national anthem of Canada, 'O Canada', has official lyrics in both English and French which are not translations of each other, and is frequently sung with a mixture of stanzas, representing the country's bilingual nature. The song itself was originally written in French.
• 'The Soldier's Song', the national anthem of Ireland, was originally written and adopted in English, but an Irish translation, although never formally adopted, is nowadays almost always sung instead, even though only 10.5% of Ireland speaks Irish natively.^[2]
• The current South African national anthem is unique in that five of the country's eleven official languages are used in the same anthem (the first stanza is divided between two languages, with each of the remaining three stanzas in a different language). It was created by combining two different songs together and then modifying the lyrics and adding new ones.
• One of the two official national anthems of New Zealand, 'God Defend New Zealand', is commonly now sung with the first verse in Māori ('Aotearoa') and the second in English ('God Defend New Zealand'). The tune is the same but the words are not a direct translation of each other.
• 'God Bless Fiji' has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other. Although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events.
• Although Singapore has four official languages, with English being the current lingua franca, the national anthem, 'Majulah Singapura' is in Malay and by law can only be sung with its original Malay lyrics, despite the fact that Malay is a minority language in Singapore. This is because Part XIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore declares, “the national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script […]”
• There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their national anthems. One of these is the 'Marcha Real', the national anthem of Spain. Although it originally had lyrics those lyrics were discontinued after governmental changes in the early 1980s after Francisco Franco's dictatorship ended. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held, but no lyrics were chosen.^[3] Other national anthems with no words include 'Inno Nazionale della Repubblica', the national anthem of San Marino, that of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that of Russia from 1990 to 2000, and that of Kosovo, entitled 'Europe'.
• The national anthem of India, 'Jana Gana Mana', the official lyrics are in the Devnagari (Hindi). The lyrics were adopted from a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore.
• Despite the most common language in Wales being English, the Welsh regional anthem 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' is sung in the Welsh language.
• The national anthem of Finland, 'Maamme', was first written in Swedish and only later translated to Finnish. It is nowadays sung in both languages as there is a Swedish speaking minority of about 6% in the country.

History[edit]

National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, but some originated much earlier. The presumed oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the 'Wilhelmus'. It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt and its current melody variant was composed shortly before 1626. It was a popular orangist march during the 17th century but it did not become the official Dutch national anthem until 1932.

The Japanese national anthem, 'Kimigayo', has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period (794–1185) poem, yet it was not set to music until 1880.^[5]

The Philippine national anthem 'Lupang Hinirang' was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire. The Spanish poem 'Filipinas' was written the following year to serve as the anthem's lyrics; the current Tagalog version dates to 1962.

'God Save the Queen', the national anthem of the United Kingdom and the royal anthem reserved for use in the presence of the Monarch in some Commonwealth realms, was first performed in 1619 under the title 'God Save the King'. It is not officially the national anthem of the UK, though it became such through custom and usage.

Spain's national anthem, the 'Marcha Real' (The Royal March), written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, 'Kong Christian stod ved højen mast', in 1780; and 'La Marseillaise', the French national anthem, was written in 1792 and adopted in 1795. Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – 'Rise up, Serbia!' – in 1804.^{[citation needed]}

'Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu', the national anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifically commissioned. It was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963 to serve as the anthem after independence from the United Kingdom.^[6]

The Welsh National anthem 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' was the first such to be sung at an international sporting event when it was sung in a Rugby game against New Zealand in Llanelli. This was done to counter the famous New Zealandhaka.

'Hativkah', the national anthem of Israel, was written as a poem in 1877 by Naftali Herz Imber, and set to the melody of the Italian song 'La Mantovana' in 1888 by Samuel Cohen (the melody was used for many folk songs throughout Europe).

Usage[edit]

National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a country's anthem. These usually involve military honours, standing up/rising, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal. There may also be royal anthems, presidential anthems, state anthems etc. for special occasions.

They are played on national holidays and festivals, and have also come to be closely connected with sporting events. Wales was the first country to adopt this, during a rugby game against New Zealand in 1905. Since then during sporting competitions, such as the Olympic Games, the national anthem of the gold medal winner is played at each medal ceremony; also played before games in many sports leagues, since being adopted in baseball during World War II.^[7] When teams from two different nations play each other, the anthems of both nations are played, the host nation's anthem being played last.

In some countries, the national anthem is played to students each day at the start of school as an exercise in patriotism, such as in Tanzania.^[8] In other countries the state anthem may be played in a theatre before a play or in a cinema before a movie. Many radio and television stations have adopted this and play the national anthem when they sign on in the morning and again when they sign off at night. For instance, the national anthem of China is played before the broadcast of evening news on Hong Kong's local television stations including TVB Jade and ATV Home.^[9] In Colombia, it is a law to play the National Anthem at 6:00 and 18:00 on every public radio and television station, while in Thailand, 'Phleng Chat' is played at 08:00 and 18:00 nationwide (the Royal Anthem is used for sign-ons and closedowns instead).

The use of a national anthem outside of its country, however, is dependent on the international recognition of that country. For instance, Taiwan has not been recognized by the Olympics as a separate nation since 1979 and must compete as Chinese Taipei; its National Banner Song is used instead of its national anthem.^[10] In Taiwan, the country's national anthem is sung before instead of during flag-rising and flag-lowering, followed by the National Banner Song during the actual flag-rising and flag-lowering. Even within a state, the state's citizenry may interpret the national anthem differently (such as in the United States some view the U.S. national anthem as representing respect for dead soldiers and policemen whereas others view it as honoring the country generally).^[11]

Creators[edit]

Most of the best-known national anthems were written by little-known or unknown composers such as Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, composer of 'La Marseillaise' and John Stafford Smith who wrote the tune for 'The Anacreontic Song', which became the tune for the U.S. national anthem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' The author of 'God Save the Queen', one of the oldest and most well known anthems in the world, is unknown and disputed.

Very few countries have a national anthem written by a world-renowned composer. Exceptions include Germany, whose anthem 'Das Lied der Deutschen' uses a melody written by Joseph Haydn, and Austria, whose national anthem 'Land der Berge, Land am Strome' is sometimes credited to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The 'Anthem of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic' was composed by Aram Khachaturian. The music of the 'Pontifical Anthem', anthem of the Vatican City, was composed in 1869 by Charles Gounod, for the golden jubilee of Pope Pius IX's priestly ordination.

The committee charged with choosing a national anthem for Malaysia at independence decided to invite selected composers of international repute to submit compositions for consideration, including Benjamin Britten, William Walton, Gian Carlo Menotti and Zubir Said, who later composed 'Majulah Singapura', the national anthem of Singapore. None were deemed suitable.

A few anthems have words by Nobel laureates in literature. The first Asian laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, wrote the words and music of 'Jana Gana Mana' and 'Amar Shonar Bangla', later adopted as the national anthems of India and Bangladesh respectively. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote the lyrics for the Norwegian national anthem 'Ja, vi elsker dette landet'.

Other countries had their anthems composed by locally important people. This is the case for Colombia, whose anthem's lyrics were written by former president and poet Rafael Nuñez, who also wrote the country's first constitution. A similar case is Liberia, the national anthem of which was written by its third president, Daniel Bashiel Warner.

Modality[edit]

While most national anthems are in the major scale, there are a number of notable exceptions. For example, these anthems are in the minor scale:

• 'Mila Rodino' (Bulgaria)
• 'Nad Tatrou sa blýska' (Slovakia)
• ”Els Segadors” (Catalonia)
• 'Hatikvah' (Israel)
• 'Surudi Milli' (Tajikistan)
• 'Azərbaycan marşı' (Azerbaijan)
• 'Mawtini' (Iraq)
• 'Deșteaptă-te, române!' (Romania)
• 'Meniń Qazaqstanym' (Kazakhstan)
• 'Shche ne vmerla Ukraina' (Ukraine)
• 'Sayaun Thunga Phool Ka' (Nepal)
• 'Afghan National Anthem' (Afghanistan)
• 'Cherifian Anthem' (Morocco)
• 'İstiklâl Marşı' (Turkey)
• 'Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu' (Kenya)

These anthems use pentatonic scales:

• 'Kimigayo' (Japan)
• 'Wodefit Gesgeshi, Widd Innat Ityopp'ya' (Ethiopia)
• 'Ertra, Ertra, Ertra' (Eritrea)
• 'Qolobaa Calankeed' (Somalia)
• 'Djibouti' (Djibouti)
• 'Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu' (Kenya)
• 'Druk tsendhen' (Bhutan)
• 'Nokor Reach' (Cambodia)

And these anthems have unique modes/modulations:

• 'Garaşsyz, Bitarap Türkmenistanyň Döwlet Gimni' (Turkmenistan) uses the Mixolydian mode
• The 'Afghan National Anthem' uses parallel key modulation^{[original research?]}
• 'Forged from the Love of Liberty' (Trinidad and Tobago) starts in the minor key and then modulates to major key
• 'Humat ad-Diyar' (Syria) (Modulates repeatedly between major and minor)
• 'National Anthem of Mauritania' (Mauritania)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Burton-Hill, Clemency (21 October 2014). 'World Cup 2014: What makes a great national anthem?'. BBC.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
2. ^'Census of Population 2016 – Profile 10 Education, Skills and the Irish Language - CSO - Central Statistics Office'. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
3. ^'Spain: Lost for words - The Economist'. The Economist. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
4. ^M. de Bruin, 'Het Wilhelmus tijdens de Republiek', in: L.P. Grijp (ed.), Nationale hymnen. Het Wilhelmus en zijn buren. Volkskundig bulletin 24 (1998), p. 16-42, 199–200; esp. p. 28 n. 65.
5. ^Japan Policy Research Institute JPRI Working Paper No. 79. The Indian National anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' was transcribed from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore. Published July 2001. Retrieved 7 July 2007
6. ^'Kenya'. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
7. ^'Musical traditions in sports'. SportsIllustrated.
8. ^17 June 2013 (17 June 2013). 'Tanzania: Dons Fault Court Over Suspension of Students (Page 1 of 2)'. allAfrica.com. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
9. ^'Identity: Nationalism confronts a desire to be different'. Financial Times. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
10. ^Yomiuri ShimbunFoul cried over Taiwan anthem at hoop tourney. Published 6 August 2007
11. ^'How national anthem became essential part of sports'. USA TODAY. Retrieved 27 September 2017.

External links[edit]

• NationalAnthems.me, national anthems of every country in the world (and historical national anthems) with streaming audio, lyrics, information and links
• Nationalanthems.info, lyrics and history of national anthems
• Recordings of countries' anthems around the world by the United States Navy Band