Banner

Banners or Flags are tall decorative blocks, featuring a field that is highly customizable using dyes.

Obtaining
Banners can be broken with any tool, or without a tool, but an axe is fastest.

A banner will also break and drop itself as an item if the block the banner is attached to is moved, removed, or destroyed.

Crafting
Banners can be crafted from wool and a stick.

Natural Generation
As of 1.9, banners will generate on the outside of end cities. It is a magenta banner with a black chevron and black inverted chevron.

Usage
There are 16 colored blank banners, and numerous patterns each available in each of the 16 colors. A banner can feature up to 6 different patterns. The top layer of a banner (or the last pattern added) can be washed off by it on a cauldron.

Banners, much like signs, can be placed both on the ground, facing different directions, and on walls. Banners have no collision mask (they are completely non-solid), so items and mobs can move through banners. Other blocks (including other banners) can be placed on any edge of a banner's hitbox; which, despite appearing as two blocks tall, it only fills the bottom block (or the top block for banners on walls). Banners can also be placed in item frames, where they simply appear as their item model.

Water and lava will flow around banners. Lava can create fire in air blocks next to banners as if the banners were flammable, but the banners will not burn up (and can't be burned by other methods, either). Banners also cannot be moved by pistons.

Copying
Banners can be copied with a blank banner to make multiple identical banners.

Fuel
Banners can be used as a source of fuel, smelting 1.5 items per banner.

Patterns
A banner may have up to six patterns, which are overlaid with the last-crafted on top.

Any color banner can be used, the color will just be overlayed with the pattern. White banners with black and occasionally red patterns are shown here for simplicity.

Crafting ingredient
In 15w33c, shields were added which can have patterns applied using banners. The pattern has a smaller resolution, causing some patterns to look different. Also, due to numerous bugs, some of the patterns are offset.

Data values
A banner is defined by its ID, block data, and block entity. A banner also has a block state which is expected to replace the functionality of block data in a future version.

ID
A banner's ID defines whether it is standing on the top of a block or attached to the side of a block:

Block data
A banner's block data specifies the direction it is facing.

Block entity
Every banner has a Banner block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the banner.

Trivia

 * A banner is 20 pixels on the bottom, and 40 pixels on the side.
 * Banners gently sway, as if swaying in the wind.
 * However, banners lie still when in the nether.
 * With 16 blank banners, 38 patterns of 16 colors each (608 uniquely-colored patterns), and 0 to 6 patterns per banner, the number of uniquely crafted banners is 16 × ( 6080 + 6081 + 6082 + 6083 + 6084 + 6085 + 6086 ) ≈ 809 quadrillion (809,573,616,779,945,488). The number of visually distinct flags is smaller, because one or more patterns may completely cover other patterns, or the entire banner, or be duplicated due to the symmetric set of patterns (e.g. field or (yellow) + per pale azure (blue) = field azure + per pale Or inverted).
 * Although it is impossible to add more than 6 patterns to a banner through crafting, up to 16 can be added using commands. When hovered over such a banner in an inventory, only the six bottommost patterns are displayed.
 * The Mojang Logo is called "Thing" ingame, which could be considered an alternate translation for mojäng. If you use Google Translate, it translates to "thingys".
 * Banner textures are located in \assets\minecraft\textures\entity\banner.
 * There are 34 monochrome textures, each containing all 6 sides of the banner.
 * The texture of the back side is mirrored texture of the front side.
 * Textures are inverted, that's because they're not used as textures, instead they act as masks for re-colored base texture, base.png. That means white is visible, while black is transparent.
 * There are two unused item textures for the banner. Instead, the banner displays itself as if it were a block.

Commands
Banner Estandarte Drapeau 旗 Chorągiew pt-br:Bandeira Флаг 旗帜