We Bulgarians love the celebrations. We have personal, national, calendar, church holidays. There is nothing wrong with us and our families celebrating them all. It is good to honor traditions, but we must also know the history around them. Here I raise the question of history, Bulgarianness and symbolism and open the topic of the Bulgarian tricolor. On the national holiday – March 3 – many Bulgarians will fly the national flag in expression of patriotism and deep respect for those who gave their lives for the freedom of Bulgaria. But how many of them know why our flag is exactly in these three colors, what is their symbolism?
The science of making flags and all kinds of flags is called Vexillology. The word comes from the Latin vexillum, which translates as a military flag used by Roman legions. The prototypes of modern flags in Europe and the Middle East were mostly wooden, metal and leather images, and in the Far East – multicolored canvases. Today, the symbolic weight of flags is performed by colors and their combinations, the most common shape being rectangular. The first flags were made 5,000 years ago in Egypt. They were used by the ancient Egyptians to show that certain personalities or gods were present at an event. Flags were also a hallmark of shipping. Gradually, with the emergence of nation-states and the establishment of statehood, the first national flags emerged.
Everywhere in the literature there will be phrases such as “… from the earliest times the flag has been considered an expression of national identity and a symbol of the power and sovereignty of a people. No country was a name. There is no army without a flag. ” It is true … If the functions of the coat of arms are mainly related to the legal characteristics / freedom, property, identity /, then the flag with its historical development accepts the meaning of power and especially of belonging. In the colors of their flag, ancient peoples encode the memory of their past and the essence they must preserve.
Many national flags rely on tricolor symbols aimed at emphasizing civic values. The crescent moon has become a symbol of Islam and is often found on the national flags of Muslim countries. Colors can express different things – nature, sky, sea or in abstract terms such as faith, peace, unity of the nation.
Today the Bulgarian flag is composed of white, green and red, located respectively horizontally below each other. It was officially declared the flag of the Principality of Bulgaria in 1879, and it was not clear what exactly the colors should symbolize. To this day, there is no consensus on what each of them means.
Today’s textbooks state: “White symbolizes freedom, green – the green forests and fields of Bulgaria, and red – the blood of the heroes and victims who died for the freedom of Bulgaria.” In the first place is white – a symbol of spirit and spirituality. Although militant under duress, but in fact a peaceful people, we have left the red to stand at the bottom of our flag. Thus, our flag truly becomes a symbol of our national identity, ancient origins and power.
According to one of the less common legends, our tricolor is directly related to the military glory of our army. The color flag is associated with the ancient Bulgarian army. Her left wing had white strips of hooves tied around it. These were lightly armed cavalry, famous for their speed and surprise attack. The right wing was composed of heavily armed cavalry, which had red ribbons tied. In the middle were the elite Bulgarian troops, with green stripes on their hooves. White symbolizes peace and a pure and holy republic, green – the fertility of the Bulgarian lands and the forest – the protector of the Bulgarian rebels during the Renaissance, and red – the courage and hope of the people.
