🇱🇦 The colours of Laos
3 meanings recorded and 1 colour city.
Laos uses a flag with red, blue, and white. Red stands for the blood shed for freedom, blue for the Mekong River and prosperity, and white for unity and the full moon. These colours reflect the country's history and its hopes for unity and well-being.
Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.
- The blue stripe is twice as wide as the red stripes.
- The white disc represents both unity and the full moon.
- Red symbolises blood shed for independence.
- The flag was first adopted in 1945, then again in 1975.
- Earlier royal flags featured a white three-headed elephant.
The colours of the flag of Laos
The flag of Laos features three horizontal stripes: red at the top and bottom, and a blue stripe in the middle that is twice as wide. In the centre sits a white disc. According to the flag's creator, the red stripes recall the blood shed by the Lao and Isan people in their struggle for independence. The blue stripe stands for the Mekong River, seen as a source of prosperity. The white disc symbolises the unity of the Lao people and the hope for reunification with those across the Mekong, as well as representing a full moon over the river. These meanings are based on the intentions of the flag's designer and are widely accepted.
How the colours were chosen of Laos
Maha Sila Viravong designed the current flag in 1945 for the Lao Issara movement, aiming to set it apart from the royalist flag, which featured a white three-headed elephant on red. The design drew inspiration from Thailand's tricolour flag. After brief initial use in 1945–46, the flag was adopted by the Pathet Lao and became the national flag in 1975 when the monarchy ended. Before this, the royalist flag symbolised the monarchy and Hindu traditions. The current flag reflects a break from royal and colonial symbols, focusing on unity and independence.
Official shades and rules of Laos
The flag has a 2:3 ratio. The blue stripe is twice the height of each red stripe, and the white disc in the centre has a diameter four-fifths the height of the blue stripe. No official colour codes or further specifications are given in the sources.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Flag of Laos", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
What colours mean in Laos
Customs vary by region, faith and family; these are the meanings most often recorded.
At dawn in Luang Prabang, lines of monks in orange robes walk the streets to receive sticky rice from kneeling townspeople.
Sacred and holyCalmSource: Luang PrabangThe flag has a wide blue band between two red ones, with a white disc. Blue is for the Mekong and for prosperity, and the disc for the full moon over the river.
Politics and protestSource: Flag of LaosIn the baci ceremony, elders tie white cotton threads around a person's wrists to call back their wandering spirits and wish them well. The threads are left on for three days.
Protection and healingLuck and prosperityHopeSource: Baci
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Luang Prabang La: Shelly Zohar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source