Flag of Ukraine

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Flag of Ukraine
Flag of Ukraine
Use National flag and civil and state ensign. National flag, civil and state ensign
Proportion 2:3
Adopted January 28, 1992 (originally in 1918)
Design A blue and yellow bicolor.
Variant flag of Ukraine
Use Naval ensign. Naval ensign
Proportion 2:3
Adopted January 28, 1992. Dates back to 1918
Design White with a blue cotized cross that extends to the edges of the flag, and with the national bi-color in the canton.

The Flag of Ukraine (Ukrainian: державний прапор України; translit.: derzhavnyy prapor Ukrayiny; literally ‘state flag of Ukraine’) is the national flag of Ukraine. The national flag was officially adopted for the first time in 1918 by a short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic. At that time the commonly used yellow–blue flag had already turned into blue and yellow and sported a trident (tryzub) in the upper left corner. The insignia remained unchanged by the successive government of Pavlo Skoropadsky, and then by the Directorate of Ukraine.

Under Soviet rule, Bolsheviks had been using red and later red-blue flags as the official Flag of Ukrainian SSR. The blue and yellow flag was forbidden as a symbol of nationalism. It was officially restored in 1992 following Ukrainian independence.

Article 20 of the Constitution of Ukraine states “the State Flag of Ukraine is a banner of two equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow colour.”

Contents

[edit] History

Yellow–blue and red-black Cossack flags at Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks painting by Ilya Repin, 1880-1891.
Yellow–blue and red-black Cossack flags at Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks painting by Ilya Repin, 1880-1891.
Yellow–blue flag at Ukrainian People's Republic Poster, B.Shippikh, Kiev, 1917.
Yellow–blue flag at Ukrainian People's Republic Poster, B.Shippikh, Kiev, 1917.

The roots of Ukrainian national symbols come from before Christian times when yellow and blue prevailed in traditional ceremonies, reflecting fire and water.[1]

In Kievan Rus' times, yellow and blue continued to be popular. These colours were used on the banners of the Halych-Volhynia principality in the 13th–14th centuries.

Yellow–blue, red-black, crimson-olive and especially raspberry color banners were widely used by Cossacks between 16–18th centuries. These were not the only possible combinations, since normally Cossacks would fly their hetman's banners, which were similar to the coats of arms of the nobility. Also, yellow and blue were the colours common on coats of arms in Galicia. In fact, the coat of arms of Lviv to this day remains a golden lion on a blue field.

Some put the starting point of the current national flag of Ukraine in year 1848, when during the Spring of the Nations a yellow and blue banner flew over the Lviv magistrate for the first time. Although this move didn't have significant consequences, the newly formed Ukrainian divisions in the Austrian army used yellow and blue banners in their insignia.

It has to be noted that although most Ukrainians identify their flag in the verbal language as "yellow and light blue" (Ukrainian: жовто-блакитний, zhovto-blakytnyy), the current flag in reality is blue (the top string) and yellow (the bottom string). The issue is quite notable, because the historical rotation of the flag (from yellow–blue to blue–yellow) did not affect the spoken language. Back in 1848 the flag was indeed yellow and blue, and it was later rotated to blue and yellow to be appealing to a common person. The common explanation of "blue sky above yellow field of wheat" was invented around that time, and, although it has nothing to do with the choice of colours and the history of the original yellow and blue banner, it certainly formed the flag as we know it today.

In the late 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was much more tolerant toward the Ukrainian national movement than the Russian Empire concerning the flag. A lot of literary work was done there, thus spreading the idea to the rest of Ukraine.

[edit] Short independence: 1917–1920

Flags of Ukraine across time

Halych-Volhynia

Cossack Hetmanate

Ukrainian People's Republic (naval flag; 1917–1921)

West Ukrainian National Republic (1918–1919)

Ukrainian SSR (1919–1937). In 1937 golden hammer and sickle were added to the inscription.

Ukrainian SSR (1949-1991)

Both, blue–yellow and yellow–blue flags were widely used during the Ukrainain struggle for independence in 1917-1920.

At present, there are no reliable sources that indicate that an official flag was declared by the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1917-1918. Some sources mention that the yellow–blue was adopted by Tsentralna Rada on March 22, 1918[2] Other sources point out that no hard proof of such decision exists.[3] Instead, they refer to the decision on the Fleet Flag, which was set to be light blue–yellow[4] as an indication that the official flag was light blue–yellow.[5]

The official flag of Pavlo Skoropadsky's Hetmanate was blue–yellow and became light blue–yellow under Semen Petlura's Directorate. The flag of West Ukrainian National Republic was blue and yellow.

Among Ukrainian immigrant organizations there were proponents of both blue–yellow and yellow–blue flags. Eventually, it was agreed to use the light blue–yellow flag until the issue is resolved in the independent Ukraine.

[edit] Soviet Ukraine: 1922-1991

Main article: Flag of the Ukrainian SSR

The Soviet Ukraine similarly to other Soviet republics, used a red flag with golden abbreviation "УСРР" or "УРСР" (Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, or Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1936) in the top left corner. In 1937 hammer and sickle symbol in gold was added to the flag.

[edit] World War II

Various Ukrainian nationalist movements that functioned under German occupation used a blue–yellow (more often) or a yellow–blue flag. The OUN (Andriy Melnyk's faction) added its symbol in the upper left part. Ukrainian municipal and police bodies used the same flag, but its use depended on the favor of local German (military) authorities. The police used armbands with yellow and blue stripes, which could look differently in different regions.[6]

The Revolutionary Faction of the OUN (Stepan Bandera's faction) used a different flag, red-black.

[edit] Postwar Ukraine

In 1947 Soviet republics, including Ukraine, adopted new flags instead of previous featureless ones. The new Ukrainian flag consisted of a red (top, 2/3) and a blue (bottom, 1/3) stripes, with golden star, hammer and sickle in the top left corner.

[edit] Return of the national flag

Under the influence of Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika and Glasnost years, the individual Soviet republics had strengthened their sense of national unity, which led to the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This concerned the three Baltic states and Western Ukraine, which were the last territories annexed into Soviet Union. These efforts were accompanied with attempts to restore the respective historical national symbols. In 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR re-established Lithuania's historic coat of arms as the state symbol. The Parliaments of Latvia and Estonia soon followed.

The Ukrainian flag flying on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.
The Ukrainian flag flying on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.

The events in the Baltic countries soon led to similar processes in Ukraine. Particularly, West Ukraine and Ukrainian SSR's capital Kiev (Kyiv) constantly held political demonstrations with the national yellow-and-blue flags waving above the heads of demonstrators.

  • On March 20, 1990, the town council of Ternopil voted upon the usage and re-establishment of the yellow-and-blue flag and the tryzub as well as the national anthem Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy. On the same day, the yellow-and-blue national flag was flown for the first time in about 80 years on a governmental building in Kiev, replacing the then official red-and-blue flag of the Ukrainian SSR.
  • On April 28, 1990, the oblast council (oblasna rada) of Lviv also allowed the use of the national symbols of Ukraine within the Oblast.

Flag of Ukraine - Presidential standard.

Formal naval ensign of Ukraine (2005).

The 2:3 ratio of the flag of Ukraine.

[edit] Colors

The Law of Ukraine states that the colors of Ukrainian flag are "blue and yellow", being silent on the specifics of the blue and yellow colors. Heraldic communities attempt to fill the gap and specify the "true" colors of the flag. In the table below the colors are given according to amateurs site vexilla-mundi.com:

Scheme Blue Yellow
Pantone[7] 285 C 108 C
RGB[7] 58-117-196 249-221-22
CMYK[7] 70-40-0-23 0-11-91-2

[edit] Light blue vs. dark blue

In Ukrainian and other Slavic languages, light blue (blakytnyy) and dark blue (syniy) colors are main distinguished colors. The difference is coming from ancient times. In English (Latin) culture, there are commonly six colors of rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet), while in Ukrainian (Slavic) a rainbow consists of seven colors with blue being split into two. The difference creates difficulties in translation of blue between Ukrainian and English. If blue is avoided for clarity, the colors of the official Ukrainian flag is dark blue and yellow, while in spoken language Ukrainians often name their flag as being yellow and light blue (zhovto-blakytnyy prapor).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Geraldika.ru Флаг Украины
  2. ^ State Symbols of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, website.
  3. ^ http://vexillography.narod.ru/ukraine/unr.htm
  4. ^ [http://www.history.org.ua/journal/1999/4/10.pdf Ukrainian Historical Journal, 1999, #4, ISSN 0130-S247
  5. ^ Українське військо у ХХ-ХХІ сторіччі
  6. ^ http://ffix1975.livejournal.com/1031966.html
  7. ^ a b c vexilla mundi. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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