How to Celebrate Flag Day

Unless you live in Pennsylvania, where it's an official holiday, you probably won't get the day off on June 14. But wherever you are, you can celebrate the day in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the pattern for our national flag.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• American Flags

1. Fly the flag. If you don't know how to do it properly, learn how; a code passed by Congress in 1942 governs the handling and display of the U.S. flag. See Related eHows for help, or call your local American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars post or scout troop.

2. Visit the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and watch as conservators restore Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner." Repairs are scheduled for completion in 2002. You can also catch glimpses of the work in progress on the Smithsonian's Web site.

3. Attend the Flag Day festivities in your town.

4. Hold your own festivities. Have a barbecue, play rousing marches, wave Old Glory and burn sparklers - it's a great way to placate kids who can't wait for the Fourth of July.

5. Read about the history of the flag and play flag trivia games. Sample questions: Who was Francis Scott Key anyway? Who was William Driver? Why red, white and blue?

Tips & Warnings

• Francis Scott Key was an attorney who traveled to Baltimore to negotiate the release of an American being held captive by the British during the War of 1812. Key performed his mission but was detained on a truce ship while the British bombarded Fort McHenry. Heavy shelling continued through the night of September 13, 1814. At dawn, Key caught sight of the flag, still flying high over the fort, and he began writing the poem that became our national anthem.

• William Driver was a young sea captain in Salem, Massachusetts, who bestowed the name "Old Glory" on a flag given to him in 1831. Old Glory accompanied Captain Driver throughout his long career and into retirement in Nashville, Tennessee.

• To the members of the Continental Congress who established the first flag, red stood for hardiness and courage, white for purity and innocence, and blue for vigilance and justice. The 13 stars and 13 stripes represented the original states.