Green

A green kerchief is the sign of the campaign for legal abortion. Huge crowds wore it in 2018, and the movement was called the green wave.

Green and gold have been the official national colours since 1984 and are worn by national sports teams. They echo the leaves and flowers of the golden wattle.

A Test cricketer is given a dark green cap, the baggy green, on first playing for Australia. Many players wear the same faded cap for a whole career.

The green field of the flag stands for the land and its rice fields. Many people also read it as the youth and vigour of the country.

The flag is white, green and red. The green band, which took the place of the blue in the Russian flag, is read as the country's forests and farmland.

The green field of the flag is commonly said to stand for the forests. It was first the colour of the House of Braganza, the family of the first emperor.

The official flag is red and green with a red and white strip of traditional ornament at the hoist. It is based on the Soviet-era flag of the republic.

The national football team, the Indomitable Lions, plays in green shirts, red shorts and yellow socks, the colours of the flag.

To "wear a green hat" is a Chinese phrase for a man whose wife is unfaithful. For that reason men avoid green hats, and they make a poor gift.

The mines of Muzo and Chivor produce emeralds prized for their deep green. The Muisca people traded them long before the Spanish arrived.

The Thursday before Easter is called Green Thursday. By custom people eat something green, such as spinach or herbs, and some pubs serve green beer.

Green is the colour of Alliance 90/The Greens, one of the first environmental parties to enter a national parliament, in 1983.

The flag is half green and half white with a red crescent and star. The green stands for Islam and the white for peace.

In ancient Egypt green meant new growth and life after death. Osiris, god of the dead and of rebirth, was painted with green skin.

Green has a bawdy sense in Spanish. A chiste verde is a dirty joke, and a viejo verde is a lecherous old man.

The green band at the top of the flag stands for the land and its fertility. Green, yellow and red are also the colours of sashes and umbrellas at Orthodox church festivals.

British racing green is the dark green of British motor racing cars. It dates from the early 1900s, when each country's cars raced in a national colour.

The green band of the flag stands for the forests and farmland. In kente cloth, green threads mean planting, harvest and growth.

Green is the colour of PASOK, the socialist party that led many governments after 1981. Its symbol is a green rising sun.

The ancient Maya prized green above all colours. Jade and the long green tail feathers of the quetzal were kept for kings. The quetzal is the national bird and gives the currency its name.

On the south coast of Java, visitors are warned not to wear green to the beach. Folk belief holds that it is the colour of Nyai Roro Kidul, the Queen of the Southern Sea, who takes those who wear it.

Green stands for Ireland itself, the Emerald Isle, and for Saint Patrick's shamrock. On 17 March people wear green and a sprig of shamrock.

The green stripe of the flag stands for the older Gaelic and Catholic tradition. Green was the colour of the United Irishmen, whose 1798 rising is recalled in the song The Wearing of the Green.

The green band of the national flag stands for the country's tie to the soil and to plant life, as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan explained it when the flag was adopted in 1947.

Green flags fly over the Shia shrines of Najaf and Karbala. Green is tied to the family of the Prophet, and pilgrims tie strips of green cloth to the grilles of tombs.

The flag is green, white and red. The green is linked with Islam, and the phrase Allahu Akbar is written in white along the edges of the green and red bands.

In the disputed 2009 election, supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi wore green wristbands and scarves. The protests that followed are known as the Green Movement.

For Nowruz, the new year at the spring equinox, families grow a dish of green sprouts called sabzeh for the haft-sin table. It stands for rebirth.

The flag is green, white and red. A common reading gives green to the plains and hills, white to the snow of the Alps and red to the blood of the wars of unification.

The flag is green, gold and black. The official reading is: hardships there are, but the land is green and the sun shineth.

The green band of the flag stands for the land and its natural wealth. In Maasai beadwork green is the grass that feeds the cattle after rain.

A green cedar tree stands at the centre of the flag. The cedars of Lebanon are named in the Bible and stand for holiness, endurance and peace.

The green stripe on the flag stands for the Muslims, known as Moors. Green is also the colour of the United National Party.

From 1977 to 2011 the flag was plain green with no design at all. Green stood for Muammar Gaddafi's political ideas, set out in his Green Book.

Green is the colour of Islam. The roofs of mosques and of the shrines of saints, such as the Moulay Idriss shrine in Fes, are covered in green glazed tiles.

The green band of the flag is read as hope. When the colours were chosen in 1821 it stood for independence from Spain.

Green is the colour of Islam, the religion of the federation, and of the Islamic party PAS, whose flag is a white circle on green.

The flag has two green bands with white between them. Green stands for the country's farmland and natural wealth, and white for peace. It was designed by a student, Taiwo Akinkunmi.

The national football team, the Super Eagles, plays in green. Before 1988 the side was known as the Green Eagles.

Strings of Buddhist prayer flags come in five colours in a fixed order: blue for sky, white for air, red for fire, green for water and yellow for earth.

Pounamu, greenstone, is found only in the South Island. Maori carve it into pendants such as the hei-tiki, which are treasures handed down through families and are usually given, not bought for oneself.

The dark green of the flag stands for the Muslim majority. The crescent on it is for progress and the star for light and knowledge.

The national cricket team plays in green and is known as the Green Shirts or the Men in Green. Fans paint their faces green and white for big matches.

The flag has black, white and green bands with a red triangle, the colours of the Arab Revolt of 1916. Green is also the colour of Hamas banners, and yellow of Fatah.

The green of the flag stands for hope. Green and red were the colours of the republican movement and replaced the blue and white of the monarchy.

The lower bands of the flag are yellow and green. Yellow stands for economic development and green for the hope of prosperity, and the sun in the corner for enlightenment.

The flag is green with the Muslim declaration of faith and a sword in white. Because of the sacred text it is never flown at half mast.

The national football team plays in green and white and is called the Green Falcons. On National Day, 23 September, cities are lit in green.

The flag is green, yellow and red with a green star. Green is read as the colour of the Prophet by Muslims, of hope by Christians and of fertility by followers of older religions.

The flag is green with a white crescent and five stars. Down the hoist runs a red band with five carpet patterns, one for each of the main tribes.

Green is linked with Islam and with holy men. Tombs of saints are draped in green cloth, and the Green Mosque and Green Tomb in Bursa are named for their tiles.

The Pan-Green camp, led by the Democratic Progressive Party, stresses a separate Taiwanese identity. Its green comes from the party flag.

At Pentecost, called the Green Holidays, homes and churches are decked with birch branches and sweet-smelling herbs spread on the floor.

Paper money is nicknamed the greenback, after the green ink on the backs of notes first issued during the Civil War. Green has stood for money ever since.

On Saint Patrick's Day, Chicago dyes its river bright green, a custom begun in 1962, and people who wear no green risk a playful pinch.

Green and gold are the sporting colours. The Springboks, the national rugby team, play in a dark green jersey with a gold collar.

The six colours of the flag adopted in 1994 have no official meanings. Black, green and gold echo the African National Congress, and red, white and blue the older Boer and British flags.

The green field of the flag stands for the land and its natural wealth. Red is for the freedom struggle and black for the people.

The flag has green for farming, yellow for minerals, red for blood shed in the liberation war and black for the people. A white triangle stands for peace.