🇧🇾 The colours of Belarus

Belarus’s flag features red and green bands with a red-on-white ornamental pattern at the hoist. Officially, red is said to honour the nation’s history and sacrifices, while green stands for life. The decorative pattern is rooted in Belarusian folk art and traditions.

Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.

• The flag’s pattern is based on folk embroidery from 1917.
• Red and green have been used since the Soviet era, with minor changes.
• The white-red-white flag is now banned in Belarus.
• The ornamental stripe is one-ninth the flag’s length.
• The flag must be flown daily at official sites, weather permitting.

The colours of the flag of Belarus

The Belarusian flag is made up of a wide red stripe above a narrower green one, with a vertical band showing a red pattern on a white background at the flagstaff. There is no official government explanation for the colours, but the president has said red stands for freedom and the sacrifices made by earlier generations, and green represents life. The pattern is based on traditional Belarusian designs, often seen in ceremonial cloths. The flag’s design is rooted in earlier Soviet-era versions, but without communist symbols.

How the colours were chosen of Belarus

Belarus’s current flag design was introduced after a 1995 referendum, modifying the Soviet-era flag by removing the hammer, sickle, and star, and reversing the colours in the ornamental pattern. The decorative motif was created in 1917 by Matrona Markevich and is based on local plant-inspired folk art. Before 1995, a white-red-white flag was used at various times, including after independence in 1991, but it is now banned by the government, which associates it with wartime collaboration. The red and green flag, with its folk pattern, has been in use since the Soviet period, with only minor changes.

Official shades and rules of Belarus

The flag’s proportions are set at a width-to-length ratio of 1:2. The red band takes up two-thirds of the height, and the green one-third. The vertical ornamental pattern at the hoist covers one-ninth of the flag’s length. Technical details, including colour standards and the pattern’s size, are set by national regulation. The flag must be displayed daily at key government buildings and on special occasions.