Flag of Estonia

The horizontal tricolour in blue, black and white was adopted on 29 September 1881 by the Estonian students’ association Virona. During the 1905 and 1917 revolutions it was adopted by the Estonian people as their national flag, and it became the state emblem when independence was proclaimed on 24 February 1918. It was readopted in 1990, when Estonia regained independence.

In Estonian folksongs blue represents the sky, black the earth and white the aspiration to freedom and hope for the future.

According to an alternative interpretation, blue symbolises mutual trust and loyalty, black the Estonians’ presumed ancestors (a people dressed in black and mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories) and white the snow which covers the country for half of the year.