Editing Harp (section)

=== Political ===

==== Ireland ====
[[File:Coat of arms of Ireland.svg|thumbnail|upright|[[Coat of arms of Ireland]]]]
[[File:Irish Government Logo.png|thumbnail|upright|The harp is used as the official emblem of the [[Government of Ireland]].]]

The harp has been used as a political symbol of Ireland for centuries. Its origin is unknown but from the evidence of the ancient oral and written literature, it has been present in one form or another since at least the 6th century or before. According to tradition, [[Brian Boru]], [[High King of Ireland]] (died at the [[Battle of Clontarf]], 1014) played the harp, as did many of the gentry in the country during the period of the [[Gaelic Ireland|Gaelic Lordship of Ireland]] (ended {{circa|1607}} with the [[Flight of the Earls]] following the [[Elizabethan Wars]]).{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

In traditional Gaelic society every [[clan]] and chief of any consequence would have a resident harp player who would compose eulogies and elegies (later known as "planxties") in honour of the leader and chief men of the clan. The harp was adopted as a symbol of the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] on the coinage from 1542, and in the [[Royal Standard of the United Kingdom|Royal Standard]] of [[King James VI and I]] in 1603 and continued to feature on all English and United Kingdom Royal Standards ever since, though the styles of the harps depicted differed in some respects. It was also used on the [[Commonwealth Jack]] of [[Oliver Cromwell]] issued in 1649 and on the [[Protectorate Jack]] issued in 1658 as well as on the Lord Protector's Standard issued on the succession of [[Richard Cromwell]] in 1658. The harp is also traditionally used on the [[flag of Leinster]].

Since 1922, the [[government of Ireland]] has used a similar left-facing harp, based on the [[Trinity College Harp]] in the [[Trinity College Library, Dublin|Library]] of [[Trinity College Dublin]] as its state symbol. This design first appeared on the [[Great Seal of the Irish Free State]], which in turn was replaced by the [[coat of arms]], the [[Presidential Standard (Ireland)|Irish Presidential Standard]] and the [[Seal of the President of Ireland|Presidential Seal]] in the 1937 [[Constitution of Ireland]]. The harp emblem is used on official state seals and documents including the [[Irish passport]] and has appeared on [[Irish coinage]] from the [[Middle Ages]] to the current Irish imprints of [[euro]] coins.

==== Elsewhere ====
[[File:Kangasala.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|A red eagle-headed harp in the coat of arms of [[Kangasala]]]]
The South Asian [[Yazh|Tamil harp ''yaal'']] is the symbol of [[Jaffna|City of Jaffna]], Sri Lanka, whose legendary root originates from a harp player.<ref name="BlazeBlaze1921">{{Cite book |last1=Blaze, L.E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlpLH0w6VWUC&pg=PA45 |title=The Story of Lanka: Outlines of the history of Ceylon from the earliest times to the coming of the Portuguese |last2=Blaze, Louis Edmund |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1921 |isbn=978-81-206-1074-3 |page=45}}</ref>

The arms of the Finnish city of [[Kangasala]] features a red, eagle-headed harp.