Belarus

3×5' nylon national flag of Belarus (state flag).

Belarus is a country with two flags in living memory. This red and green state flag, with its band of folk embroidery, was chosen by referendum in 1995; the white-red-white flag it replaced is still carried by the opposition and much of the diaspora.

Design

Two horizontal bands, red over green in a ratio of 2:1. At the hoist runs a vertical strip of white with a red ornamental pattern drawn from traditional Belarusian embroidery.

History & Symbolism

The design is based on the flag of the Byelorussian SSR (1951), with the hammer, sickle and star removed. The ornament is attributed to a 1917 embroidery pattern by Matrona Markevich and is usually called "the rising sun." Red is officially linked to historic Belarusian victories, green to the country's forests and fields. The flag was adopted on 7 June 1995 and the ornament slightly redrawn in 2012.

Flag Specifications

• Adopted: 7 June 1995; ornament revised 2012
• Official proportions: 1:2
• Colors: red, green, white
• Emblem: rushnyk embroidery band at the hoist

Vexillographer's Note

The ornament is a reminder that flags can borrow from textiles as well as heraldry. It reproduces the pattern of a rushnyk, the embroidered ritual towel of Belarusian folk tradition.

Humphrys Flag Company · Old City Philadelphia · Est. 1864