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Lubnan, Republic of Lebanon, Al-Jumhuriyya al-Lubnaniyya
Flag and coat-of-arms adopted 7th December 1943
Description
The tree is the cedar traditionally connected with Lebanon. In the 18th century the Maronite Christians used a white flag with the cedar tree, with reference to the Bible (Psalms 92:12, "the righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon"). Later, when Lebanon was under French mandate, the French tricolour was used with a cedar tree in the middle. There is a reference in Smith 1982 to the colours, "The red and white colours are those associated, respectively, with the Kayssites and Yemenites, opposing clans that divided Lebanese society between 634 and 1711".
Zeljko Heimer, 8 August 1996
Lebanese friends told me that red might represent martyrs' blood and white snow, holiness and eternity. Most Lebanese flags hoisted or depicted in flag charts are not correct. According to the Constitution law of 7 December 1943, the three colours of the flag must be red, white and green. Branches and trunks of the cedar are usually coloured in brown for the sake of realism — or, as some friends told me, in black to celebrate the Syrian-Lebanese 'friendship'.
Ivan Sache, 12 August 1996
The Constitution of Lebanon promulgated on 23rd May 1926 said, "Article 5: The Lebanese flag is blue, white, red with a cedar in the white part". This article was changed on 7th December 1943, "The Lebanese flag is made of red, white and red horizontal stripes, with the cedar in green in the centre of the white stripe". The cedar was and is therefore officially green. As a whole green cedar is quite strange, some flag manufacturers have certainly made it green and brown — which is unconstitutional.
Pascal Vagnat, 22 April 1999
Red symbolizes the blood of martyrs who died trying to free the country from outside forces. White is a symbol of purity of course but is here connected with the snow-capped Lebanese mountains.
Hala Abi-Saleh, 13 September 1999
The official explanation of the colours' meaning is:
White is snow, where cedars are, on snowy mountains, which symbolize purity.
Red is the blood of the victims of independance against Ottomans, French and the rest of colonizers.
Fadi Bassil, 25 February 2000
The Lebanese flag is derived from the French tricolor. The cedar was placed in the white of the French flag. When Lebanon pronounced its independence, the men who declared independence drew a color pencil sketch [image here]. They got rid of the blue and made the stripes horizontal. The vertical stripes became horizontal to move away from the French vertical design. In my recollection, the official description of the flag does not mention proportions, something I have always noted curiously. I believe that the proportions were simply taken from the French flag (2:3).
Neda Juraydini, 25 September 2000
According to Nehme 1995, adapted in Lebanese Parliamentary Elections 2000 website [broken link]:
National Flag: White and Red with a cedar in the center. The Cedar consists of two thirds of the size [sic — 'one third of the length' probably intended] of the white band.
The Lebanese Flag consists of three horizontal bands, red, white, and red, with a green cedar in the center, i.e. the white band that amounts to the size of both red bands put together. The tip and root of the green Cedar both stretch towards the edge of the red areas. The red bands symbolize the pure blood, shed in the aim of liberation. The white band symbolizes peace. As for the green cedar, it symbolizes immortality. The Lebanese flag was raised in Bashamoun on the 21st of November 1943 at 11:20 pm. It is believed that this same flag is now kept in the National Museum, although it may have been transported to the Governmental Palace in Bteddine.
Santiago Dotor, 26 September 2000
[The above mentioned explanations of the colours in the Lebanese flag] used to be taught in schools within 'civic instruction courses' before the start of the Lebanese war. About the white snow, the meaning of lubnan (Lebanon in Arabic) is one of the multiple derivatives of white (the word comes from milk) in Arabic and in Aramean. (...) The cedar should be 1/3 of the overall width of the flag.
J.-M. Klat, 9 September 2001
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