Editing Aalst, Belgium (section)

==Symbols==
===Flag===

Description: ''A rectangle of proportions 2:3, with three vertical bands of red, white and yellow, with a red sword in the middle band pointing upwards.'' In Dutch: ''"Drie even lange banen van rood, van wit en van geel, met op het wit een rood zwaard paalsgewijze geplaatst."''

Heraldic blazon: ''Terciated by pale Gules, Argent and Or, a sword of the first pointing upwards.''

===Coat of arms===
Those arms were granted in 1819 and confirmed on 6 February 1841. The oldest known seals of Aalst (13th–14th centuries) show a knight holding a sword in one hand and the Flemish banner in the other, but there is a seal dated 1237 showing the banner with the sword, and even an older seal, dated 1174, with the same features. A later version of the seal (1339–1559) shows a local banner with the sword. A seal from 1407 adds a small shield with the Flemish arms.

The arms of Aalst were first shown in the roll of arms of Gaillard (1557). The sword is probably taken from the old seal with the knight. The two shields show the Imperial eagle and the Flemish lion, recalling the odd status of the Country of Aalst.

Description: ''The municipal arms of Aalst show on the chief of a white shield two smaller shields separated by a red sword pointing upwards and dividing the whole shield; on dexter, the shield is yellow with a black double-headed eagle with red tongues and claws (Holy Roman Empire); on sinister, the shield is yellow with a black lion with a red tongue and claws (Flanders).''

Heraldic blazon: ''A [[Modern French shield]] Argent ensigned by a crown Or and divided in half by a sword palewise pointing upwards Gules between two smaller shields Or; on the dexter shield, a double-headed eagle displayed; on the sinister shield a lion rampant; both Sable armed and langued Gules.''