Given the focus on this part of the world this year, I figured I'd feature the Ukrainian flag. I find the colors to complement each other quite nicely, and love that its a geographical flag. The yellow represents the wheat fields prevalent in Ukraine, and the blue represents the sky above it.
As a national flag, the blue and yellow bicolour was officially used since the 1848 Spring of Nations when it was hoisted over the Lviv Rathaus. It is was officially adopted as a state flag for the first time in 1918 by the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic. During the Soviet occupation, the flag was outlawed and before 1949 there was no official state flag until adoption of the red-blue flag of the Ukrainian SSR. People who were hoisting the blue-yellow flags in the Soviet Ukraine were prosecuted as criminals. The blue and yellow flag was provisionally adopted for official ceremonies in September 1991 following Ukrainian independence, before finally officially being restored in 1992.
The roots of Ukrainian national symbols come from before Christian times when yellow and blue prevailed in traditional ceremonies, reflecting fire and water. The most solid proof of yellow and blue colours could be traced as far as the Battle of Grunwald at which participated militia formations from various lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Union.
Given what is going on there, I'm sure you will all see this beautiful flag more often.
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