The Secret History Behind Latvia's Flag
Latvia's flag is said to come from a dying chief and a white sheet.
The legend tells of a mortally wounded leader of a Latvian tribe, wrapped in a white sheet. The part of the sheet where he lay stayed white, and the two edges were soaked in his blood. In the next battle, that bloodstained sheet was used as a banner.
There is also a written record: the medieval Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, which covers the years 1180 to 1343, tells of a battle around 1279 in which tribes from the area of Cēsis marched under a red flag with a white stripe.
The flag is carmine red with a narrow white stripe, in a 2:1:2 ratio. It was used as the national flag after independence in 1918, officially adopted in 1921, and readopted on February 27, 1990.
The date printed on every Latvia design in our catalog, November 18, 1918, is the day Latvia declared independence.
A white stripe between two reds, and a legend that has survived seven centuries.
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