Symbols of Latvia are items or symbols that have symbolic meaning to, or represent, Latvia. These symbols are seen in official capacities, such as flags, coats of arms, postage stamps, and currency, and in URLs. They appear less formally as recurring themes in literature, art and folk art, heraldry, monuments, clothing, personal decoration, and as the names of parks, bridges, streets, and clubs. The less formal manifestations may be classified as national emblems.
During the occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union and briefly by Nazi Germany during World War II, the anthem, coat of arms and flag were prohibited from display and the Soviet versions of the flag, coat of arms and the anthem were used during its rule as a Soviet republic. All national symbols of Latvia were reinstated in 1990 before Latvia restored its independence a year later which are considered the continuation of the Latvian state before its occupation in 1940. The public display of the Naziswastika and the Soviet hammer and sickle along with other symbols associated with them are now banned in Latvia in 2014.[citation needed]
Official symbols
Flag
The Flag of Latvia
The national flag of Latvia is a carmine red field with a narrow white stripe in the middle. The flag was created in 1917, inspired by a 13th-century legend from the Rhymed Chronicle of Livonia that a Latgalian leader was wounded in battle, and the edges of the white sheet in which he was wrapped were stained by his blood with the center stripe of the flag is left unstained. It was officially adopted in 1921 but suppressed after the country was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, and officially restored in 1990.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Latvia
The coat of arms of Latvia is used new symbols for the nation's freedom and elements from coats of arms of Polish and Swedish Livonia and the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. It was adopted in 1921 along with the national flag, but abolished in 1940 after Soviet occupation started, and officially restored in 1990.
National Anthem
Instrumental version
Dievs, svētī Latviju! is the national anthem of Latvia. It was initially created in 1873 as a patriotic song, and in 1920 became the national anthem.
The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue at the top, black in the centre, and white at the bottom. The flag is called sinimustvalge in Estonian.
The national flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colours are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colours. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white fess is legally reserved for official use abroad and at sea. A similar flag with the addition of a white eagle is used as the naval ensign of Poland.
The coat of arms of the Philippines features the eight-rayed sun of the Philippines with each ray representing the eight provinces which were placed under martial law by Governor-General Ramón Blanco Sr. during the Philippine Revolution, and the three five-pointed stars representing the three major island groups of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The Singing Revolution was a series of events from 1987 to 1991 that led to the restoration of independence of the three Soviet-occupied Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania at the end of the Cold War. The term was coined by an Estonian activist and artist, Heinz Valk, in an article published a week after the 10–11 June 1988 spontaneous mass evening singing demonstrations at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.
The national flag of Latvia was used by independent Latvia from 1918 until the country was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. Its use was suppressed during Soviet rule. On 27 February 1990, shortly before the country regained its independence, the Latvian government re-adopted the traditional red-white-red flag.
The national flag of Lithuania consists of a horizontal tricolour of yellow, green, and red. It was adopted on 25 April 1918 during Lithuania's first period of independence (1918–1940), which ceased with the occupation first by the Soviet Union, and then by Nazi Germany (1941–1944). During the post-World War II Soviet occupation, from 1945 until 1988, the Flag of the Lithuanian SSR consisted first of a generic red Soviet flag with the name of the republic, in 1953 that was changed to the red flag with white and green bands at the bottom.
The national flag of Ukraine consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow.
A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. It has been widely used in flags, state emblems, monuments, ornaments, and logos.
The Coat of arms of the Republic of Latvia was officially adopted by the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia on 15 June 1921, and entered official use starting on 19 August 1921. It was created using new national symbols, as well as elements of the coats of arms of Polish and Swedish Livonia and of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. Thus, the coat of arms combines symbols of Latvian national statehood, as well as symbols of its historical regions. The Latvian national coat of arms was designed by Latvian artists Vilhelms Krūmiņš and Rihards Zariņš.
The state flag of Ingushetia, a republic in the Russian Federation, is a horizontal tricolour that shows a red triskelion solar sign on a white background, with narrow green horizontal stripes above and below. The white symbolizes purity of thoughts and actions, the green—the awakening of nature, abundance, fertility of the land of Ingushetia, as well as Islam, which the Ingush profess, red—the difficult struggle of the Ingush people against injustice, for the right to live on the land of their ancestors in peace and harmony with neighboring peoples throughout centuries; the solar symbol symbolizes the endless development leading to the prosperity of the Ingush people.
The flag of Crimea is the flag of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine and the Republic of Crimea controlled by Russia. The flag was officially adopted on 24 September 1992 as the flag of the Republic of Crimea, readopted on 21 April 1999, then readopted on 4 June 2014 as the flag of the Republic of Crimea, annexed by the Russian Federation.
The Emblem of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted in 1940 by the government of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem was designed by Vsevolodas Dobužinskis based on the State Emblem of the Soviet Union. The new coat of arms replaced the traditional coat of arms of Lithuania, known as Vytis, which was restored when Lithuania declared its independence in 1990.
The national symbols of Lithuania are used in Lithuania and abroad to represent the country and its people, history, culture, and nature. These symbols are seen in official capacities, such as flags, coats of arms, postage stamps, and currency, and in URLs. They appear less formally as recurring themes in literature, art and folk art, heraldry, monuments, clothing, personal decoration, and as the names of parks, bridges, streets, and clubs. The less formal manifestations may be classified as national emblems.
Upon the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union, the country resurrected national symbols that were used before the Soviet era. These included a flag of red and white stripes and a coat of arms consisting of a charging knight on horseback. These national symbols were replaced by Soviet-era symbols in a disputed 1995 vote. Those two symbols, along with the national anthem, are the constitutionally defined national symbols of Belarus.
The national symbols of Estonia are flags, coat of arms, icons or cultural expressions that are emblematic, representative or otherwise characteristic of Estonia or Estonian culture.
The national flag of Mexico is a vertical tricolor of green, white, and red with the national coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War of Independence, and subsequent First Mexican Empire.
The flag of Riga is one of the official symbols of Riga, along with the coat of arms of Riga. The flag consists of a horizontal bicolour of blue and white, with the coat of arms of Riga in the middle.
The coat of arms of Courland (Kurzeme), a historical region in western Latvia, has been known since the 16th century and depicts a lion gules on a silver background.
The coat of arms of Vidzeme, a region in central Latvia, depicts a white griffin in a red field. It is a version of the earlier coat of arms of Livonia granted in the 16th century.
Fraternitas Lataviensis is a student organization, known as a corporation, which differs from American fraternities. Its goals as formulated in 1939 are: “To gather under our flag students from the University of Latvia, to raise in tradition and garner national and cultural unity as good citizens and public figures, to consciously hone responsibility within community, honour the mind, togetherness and friendship and tactful social values, to encourage towards knowledge and art, as well as Sporting activities encouraging members' physical development.”
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