Not everything blue and yellow is the flag

On Aug. 23 1991, after the failure of the coup d’etat in Moscow, a group of parliamentarians carried the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag into the Verkhovna Rada’s session hall. The next day Ukraine declared its independence. On Sept. 4 the flag was flying above the dome of the parliament building. The Presidential Ukase on the annual celebration of State Flag Day on Aug. 23 was signed in 2004. In previous years, State Flag Day was celebrated as a municipal holiday only in Kyiv, and on a different day — July 24.

The Ukrainian authorities decided to celebrate the flag holiday only this year. It was a sad start, however. On their “birthday,” the blue-and-yellow cloths, numbering 300,000, according to state advisor Markian Lubkivsky, were lowered to half-mast and tied with black mourning ribbons to commemorate the victims of the Russian plane crash.

Celebrations were limited to purely protocol activities: the president and some other statesmen laid flowers at the monuments of some outstanding Ukrainians — Saint Volodymyr, Taras Shevchenko, and Mykhailo Hrushevsky — and unveiled a monument to Viacheslav Chornovil, one of those who carried the national flag into parliament 15 years ago. All the events planned for National Flag Day were cancelled.

A few days after the celebration of National Flag Day the Ministry of Justice suggested the adoption of a standard state flag for Ukraine: this should be a cloth consisting of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one blue, and the lower one yellow, with a ratio of 2:3 of width to length.

This description is part of the draft law “On the State Flag of Ukraine,” which has been posted for discussion at the Ministry’s official Web site. Anyone can send a suggestion about the draft law to [email protected] before Oct. 1. The Constitution of Ukraine defines the state flag as a cloth of two identical blue and yellow horizontal stripes.

The draft law prepared by the Ministry of Justice also defines the state policy principles for using and defending the state flag of Ukraine. These principles, as listed in the draft, include inculcating respect for the state flag of Ukraine and ensuring its obligatory and proper use in cases defined by law.

The draft mentions in two place that the displayed state flag must be clean and undamaged. The cloth should not touch the ground or water, the floor, trees, or any other objects.

The draft also establishes the use of Ukraine’s state flag in cases of mourning, permanent and temporary placement of the state flag, its placement in offices and other rooms, use of the state flag’s images, and so on.

A BRIEF DIGRESSION INTO HERALDRY

Banners were greatly respected in ancient Rus’. They featured images of heavenly bodies, crosses, and the princes’ symbols — tridents and didents. An army would not have set out on an expedition or into battle without a banner.

Today’s color combination was widely introduced in Rus’. The blue and yellow colors symbolized the Kyivan State even in pre-Christian times. These colors were frequently sanctified by the holy image of the Lifegiving Cross. There was no state flag as such, only princes’ banners. However, over the course of time these two colors acquired state significance.

After the invasion of the Tartar hordes led by Baty, these symbols disappeared, only to be restored later in church ornaments and on the coat of arms of Ukrainian towns and cities. Practically all the coat of arms of cities in the Kyiv region and throughout Ukraine were framed with yellow and blue colors.

The Ukrainian national tradition of symbolically representing the world was formed over a period of several millennia. The key to understanding the national, religious, and state aspects of the nation are its symbols: the blue and yellow colors. The combination of these colors is one of the oldest among modern national flags. It descends from the coat of arms of the Galician-Volhynian Principality whose lands were called “Ukraine” by 13th-century chroniclers.

The process of developing external attributes continued in the 20

th century. On March 22, 1918, the Central Rada adopted the yellow-and-blue flag as the symbol of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian National Republic. That decision was initiated by Mykhailo Hrushevsky. After Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky’s military coup the order of colors was changed to blue and yellow, which remains in force today.

As in many other countries, the colors of Ukraine do not have any official explanation. The informal one has changed over the course of time and has always depended both upon the tastes of contemporaries and political fashion. Even now everyone interprets them individually, according to one’s own priorities.

But the flag is the symbol of peace for everybody, and everyone associates it with our summer, when the sky all over Ukraine is as blue as Saint Mary’s cloth, and our fields are as gold as the Easter paskas on mother’s table.

The blue-and-yellow flag became widespread in the 1990s among national democrats, and later throughout Ukraine. But the state was in no hurry to change its symbols. At the moment of the USSR’s collapse the state flag of Ukraine was the Soviet one. But on July 24, 1990, the Presidium of the Kyiv City Council of People’s Deputies decided to display the blue-and-yellow flag alongside the state red- and-blue one in front of City Hall on Khreshchatyk Boulevard.

On Aug. 24, 1991 the Act of Ukraine’s Independence was declared, and the blue-and-yellow flag was raised over the Verkhovna Rada building.

Use of the state flag during protocol events acquires special significance, since it symbolizes the nation. The world community has developed a special system of rules for using national flags, so-called “flag etiquette.” The order in which they are displayed is nuanced, depending on their placement. It is the custom to raise the flag between dawn and sunset. In such places as the head of state’s residence, government offices, or the parliament building the flag may be flown permanently if properly lit at night.

The Ministry of Justice has also drafted the law “On the National Hymn.” The melody of Ukraine’s national hymn was composed by Mykhailo Verbytsky, set to a poem written by Pavlo Chubynsky: “Ukraine’s glory hasn’t perished, nor her freedom, Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more. Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun, And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own. The refrain is: “We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom, And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.”

The hymn must be sung in C-flat major. The standard version of the hymn is the one by Myroslav Skoryk and Yevhen Stankovych whose text and notes are stored at the Verkhovna Rada.

Furthermore, the state protects its musical symbol from denigration. Naturally, this does not mean that it is forbidden to use the music or words of the national hymn in other artistic forms, but under no circumstances can the hymn be the object of vilification. Anyone found distorting or changing the words of the hymn will be prosecuted.

The Ministry of Justice has also introduced a suggestion to revamp the calendar of state holidays. The staff of Ukraine’s main juridical department is proposing to consider as state holidays “historically important dates in the establishment of Ukraine as an independent state and significant historical dates (events) that took place prior to the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence.” This initiative is mentioned in the new version of the draft law “On the State Holidays of Ukraine,” which is also posted for discussion on the ministry’s Web site.

According to the draft, the following days have been proposed as state holidays: Jan. 22 (Unification Day), March 9 (Shevchenko Day), May 9 (Victory Day in World War Two), and July 16 (Act proclaiming Ukraine’s state sovereignty). Two events that took place after the declaration of independence have been included in the roster of state holidays: Constitution Day (June 28) and Day of National Unity (Dec. 1), the latter in connection with the national referendum confirming the Act of Ukraine’s Independence.

The draft law on state holidays does not indicate what will happen to current holidays, like New Year’s Day, Christmas, Workers’ Solidarity Day, and International Women’s Day.