The original

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

flag of

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

( Kirundi: ''ibendera ry'Uburundi'') was adopted after the country's independence from Belgium on 1 July 1962. It went through several revisions and now consists of a white saltire which divides the field into alternating red and green areas. The center of the saltire merges into a white disk, on which there are three red solid six-pointed stars outlined in green. The current ratio is 3:5, which was changed from 2:3 on 27 September 1982.

Symbolism

The flag is divided into four parts by a white saltire. The upper and lower parts are red in color, while the left and right ones are green in color. The white color of the saltire represents peace, green represents the nation's hopes placed on future development, and red symbolizes the suffering of the nation during its freedom struggle. The three

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s in triangular configuration stand for the three ethnic groups of

: the Hutu, the

Twa Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

and the Tutsi. The three stars also stand for the three elements of the national motto: ''Unité, Travail, Progrès'' ("Unity, Work and Progress"), which can be seen on the coat of arms of Burundi.''Guide to the Flags of the World'' by Mauro Talocci, revised and updated by Whitney Smith (), p. 153. They also represent the loyalty that the citizens of the nation have pledged to their God, king and country.

Colors

The colours are defined in the constitution as simply green, white, and red. Nowhere does the government document any specific colour shades. For lack of any official standard, the colours used at the 2012 Olympics are shown in the table below.

Construction Sheet

History

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0804-0748, Berlin, 10

When the monarchy ruled over Burundi a variant flag featuring a '' karyenda'' (a drum said to have divine power) was used. It was believed that the drum's messages could be understood only by the ''

mwami ''Mwami'' () is an honorific title common in parts of Central and East Africa. The title means ''chief'' or ''tribal chief'' in several Bantu languages. It was historically used by kings in several African nations, and is still used for traditi ...

'' (rulers) who made it the laws of the state. Following the abolition of the monarchy in November 1966, the ''karyenda'' was removed from the flag and the other flag was adopted soon after. The ''karyenda'' was replaced with a

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

plant which is an important agricultural product of the country. File:KingdomofBurundi.svg, Flag from 1 July 1962 to 28 November 1966 (Drum variant) File:Flag of Burundi (1962–1966).svg, Flag from 1 July 1962 to 28 November 1966. File:Royal Standard of Burundi (1962–1966).svg, Royal standard from 1962 to 1966. File:Flag of Burundi (1966).svg, Flag used on 28 and 29 November 1966 File:Flag of Burundi (1966–1967).svg, Flag from 29 November 1966 to 28 June 1967 File:Flag of Burundi (1967–1982).svg, Flag from 28 June 1967 to 27 September 1982 File:Flag of Burundi.svg, The current national flag, adopted on 27 September 1982 features slightly different dimensions to the 1967 flag

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burundi, Flag of Flags introduced in 1967 Flags introduced in 1982

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...