We took you through the interesting history behind the colourful flag of Peru in our previous edition. As promised last time, this time we are back with another fascinating story about the colourful flag of Zimbabwe! Read on…
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa. Home to several ancient ruins and incredible natural formations, Zimbabwe is a fascinating place to explore.
The flag of Zimbabwe was adopted on April 18 in 1980 and is composed of seven horizontal stripes. The colour sequence is axially symmetrical around the centre black stripe. Coming from the black stripe, there are red, yellow and green stripes. There is a white wedge on the left side of the flag that carries a symbol of a bird carved in soapstone in the red five-pointed star.
The Soapstone Bird is the national emblem of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe bird featured on the flag represents a soapstone statuette of a bird found at the Great Zimbabwe ruins in the late 19th century. All the carvings were taken away from the country and all but one have been given back. Legend has it that peace will never return to Zimbabwe until all of the artefacts have been returned to their rightful place. It is believed the colours are the traditional Pan-African colours. The colours originated from the flag of Ethiopia, the oldest independent nation in Africa.
According to Ancient and Heraldic traditions, a lot of symbolism is associated with the flag’s colours.
The colours of the Zimbabwe flag are inspired by the flag of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, which pushed for independence of the former Rhodesia from Great Britain. Black represents the African population, the colour red stands for the blood shed during the struggle in the Chimurenga, or the wars. It also stands for bravery, hardiness, strength and valour, yellow stands for the country’s mineral wealth and green stands for the fruitful landscape. Traditionally, the white colour symbolizes peace. The red star in the flag located behind the Zimbabwe bird represents the country’s aspirations, internationalism and the ruling party’s socialist goals and credentials.
We hope you found this blog about the symbolism and stories associated with the colourful flag of Zimbabwe interesting and informative!
We will be back with a colourful flag of another country next month in our Colour and Culture series! Stay tuned…
1 comment
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