Three vertical stripes in green, white and orange, born in 1848 with one idea: peace between the two great traditions of the island.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Civil, state and military, on land and at seaFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 1:2 ratio and three equal vertical stripes.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
In 1848 Europe was living through a wave of revolutions
It became very well known in 1916
From 1922 the new Irish Free State used it, though with no law defining it
The Constitution that came into force on 29 December 1937 finally declared it the national flag
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Ireland has three vertical stripes of the same size: green, white and orange. In Ireland it is simply known as “the tricolour”. Its design tells a simple idea: two different traditions living together in peace.
In 1848 Europe was living through a wave of revolutions. Thomas Francis Meagher, a young leader of the Young Ireland movement, travelled to Paris and came back with a tricolour inspired by the French flag. In March of that year he showed it in public for the first time in Waterford, his hometown. A little later, in Dublin, he explained the sense of the design: the white of the centre represented a lasting truce between the orange and the green.
The design has been the same since 1848, but it took almost a century to become official. It became very well known in 1916, when it flew over the General Post Office in Dublin during the Easter Rising. From 1922 the new Irish Free State used it, though with no law defining it. The Constitution that came into force on 29 December 1937 finally declared it the national flag.
The Constitution only says that it is green, white and orange. The Irish Government explains that it expresses the wish for unity between the different traditions of the island:
Green
the Gaelic tradition, Catholic majority.
Orange
the Protestant tradition, whose name comes from William of Orange, a seventeenth-century king.
White
the peace and understanding between the two.
It is sometimes seen with a yellow or gold stripe. The Government asks that this be avoided, because it changes the meaning of the flag. Until 1923 it was not so clear, and in some places yellow was used.
The first tricolour that Meagher brought back had been sewn by some French women who sympathised with the Irish cause.
In 1848 a group of Irish people in Paris wanted to give a flag of Ireland to the French minister Lamartine. The British ambassador protested saying he knew of no Irish flag.
The flag of Côte d’Ivoire has the same colours in the reverse order, orange, white and green, and is less elongated.
Where it is and what borders it.
Test what you have read about the flag of Ireland.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Irlanda” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Éire, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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