Draped in Honour: The Flag at Funerals

Carried, never consigned

This ribbon descends to its lowest point and holds the wheel there — a composition that bows. The flag itself bows only for its bravest and its highest, and by exact rules.

At state and military funerals, the tricolour drapes the coffin of the honoured dead — saffron toward the head — accompanying them through the final salute. Then comes the rule that defines the ritual: before burial or cremation, the flag is lifted away with ceremony. It is never lowered into the grave, never given to the fire; the flag honours the fallen, and returns.