Brittany
The Gwenn-ha-du ('white and black' in Breton) is the modern flag of Brittany, designed in 1923 by Morvan Marchal. It features nine horizontal stripes alternating black and white, representing the nine traditional dioceses of Brittany — five black stripes for the French-speaking dioceses (Dol, Nantes, Rennes, Saint-Malo, Saint-Brieuc) and four white stripes for the Breton-speaking dioceses (Tréguier, Cornouaille, Vannes, Léon). In the upper-left canton, a field of ermine spots (hermines) on white recalls the ancient heraldic arms of the Duchy of Brittany. The ermine symbol derives from the ducal motto 'Potius mori quam foedari' — rather death than dishonor.
The ermine symbol comes from a legend that a duchess, watching an ermine refuse to cross mud to avoid soiling its white fur, adopted the motto 'Rather death than dishonor.'
Adopted: 1923
