Types of ribbons and streamers

Everyone seems to have their slightly different version of these. The basic design is a narrow piece of fabric or ribbon attached to some kind of handle.

The handles of both streamers and ribbons can be made of carbon fibre, wood or metal. Many of them are straight thin rods or poles however sometimes ribbons are attached to rings or other handles shapes to make them easier for children to use. Ribbons and streamers attached to poles normally have some kind of swivel fitting to make them easier to use

The original meaning of the word streamer was a flag that was 7 metres broad and 20 to 60 metres long and used on a ship while it was a sea. Streamers used in church are flags of similar proportions but rather smaller. They can be bought in a variety of sizes as can be seen in the following table.

Ribbons, as used in church, are adapted from the ribbons used by gymnasts. These are often 6 metres long, but those used in church are often half that length for safety reasons. Ribbons tend to be a bit narrower than streamers, often only an inch (2.5 cm) wide. Sometimes, ribbons are put together in such a way that they can be attached to either rods or tambourines. On the other hand, the same rods or handles can have bundles of lametta attached to them to create an effect of using shiny ribbons.

Both ribbons and streamers can be bought as single or multiple colours. For example, the Glorious Creations web site sells a streamer they call the Sword of Grace, that is made of panels of iridescent, silver and gold. WC Pageantry offer streamers made of either satin or lame.

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