The Finnish flag: A brief history

“Swedes we are not, Russians we do not want to become, let us therefore be Finns”, said the Finnish writer J.V. Snellman in 1861.

While the yellow lion on a red background – as seen in the coat of arms – has been a symbol of Finland for centuries, the now-emblematic blue cross on a white background is a relatively new invention. The Finnish flag is effectively a compromise reflecting the political fault lines of 19th-century Finland, then an autonomous part of the Russian Empire.

Red and yellow were favoured by Swedish speakers and those who took a hard stance against Russian influence. In turn, blue and white symbolised an accommodating stance towards the tsar, given that these were the colours of the Russian navy. As for shapes, the cross would tie Finland with Sweden and the West, while two horizontal stripes were a distinctive design somewhat reminiscent of the Russian tricolour – itself inspired by the Dutch flag.

In the end, a combination of a Scandinavian cross and Russian-friendly colours was selected. After the Russian revolution and the Finnish Civil War of 1918, fought between the Reds and the victorious Whites, the red colour had taken on new, negative meanings. To this day, the unofficial flag of Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority is a yellow cross on a red background.

Estonia: a cross as an alternative to the tricolour?

Like Finland, Estonia once was a part of the Swedish Kingdom until it was conquered by Russia and finally declared independence after the Bolshevik revolution. Though cross designs were proposed at the time, in the end Estonia decided in favour of three stripes. From World War II onwards, the decades-long Soviet occupation and the suppression of Estonian national symbols would strengthen Estonians’ emotional ties to the national flag.

At the same time, critics have pointed out that the tricolour design masks Estonia’s cultural, historical and linguistic connections to Finland and other Nordic countries, unfairly branding Estonia as an ‘Eastern European country’ with the negative mental images the status entails.

Replacing the tricolour entirely is out of question, but proponents of the cross design would envisage it as an alternative flag to be used in contexts such as marketing. Supporters of a cross shape include the former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, also known for his bowties.

The idea for a cross flag resurfaced at the turn of the millennium, and again more recently as activists founded a website for ordering an alternative Estonian flag. The site is called “Estland.org” – besides the flag, the country’s avid Nordicists believe that finishing the country’s English name with -land, as in Iceland or Finland, would be better PR than ending it with -nia, as in Romania or Lithuania.

To design a flag is to brand a nation

The purpose of all national flags is to symbolise the values the state upholds, and often to position the country in a geopolitical bloc. A red-gold-green combination means Africa, a combination of red and yellow connotes communism, while a red-white-blue flag reminds you of the West.

We might not all know what each colour or element in our flags is meant to stand for, but a flag is not mere decoration – it’s a strategic choice. No wonder, then, that a revolution is often accompanied by a brand new national flag.

Guest article by Juuso Järviniemi. This content does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of My Country? Europe. Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author.

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This year, in Lisbon, the country will be represented by Elina Nechayeva, an estonian soprano graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2016 where she studied classical singing.

Elina is a hardworking professional and aims to perform opera on the largest stages in the world. On 3 March 2018, Nechayeva won Eesti Laul 2018 with the Italian-language song La forza, and she will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The lyrics, of the song “La Forza” was written by her alongside fellow soprano Ksenia Kuchukova, with the aims to spread the message that love heals and lifts us.

Did you enjoy this article? You may also like  Bulgaria: Road to Eurovision and  Belgium: Road to Eurovision

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1 –  After being deposed by the Soviet Union in 1940, the President of Estonia was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Russia for “persistent claiming of being the President of Estonia”.

2 – In 1962, a factory in Põltsamaa started producing food in tin-packaging that could be sent to space. It was the first country to produce food meant for space travel.

3 – In Estonia, kiiking is very popular. This extreme sport sees people swinging on swings all the way, a full 360 degrees. As a sport, it is fairly young, having first been introduced in the early 1990s. However, it has deep roots as wooden swings are traditionally a big part of Estonian culture. 

4 – It is home to thousands of stateless people, most of them ethnic Russians who found themselves on the wrong side of the border after the country acquired independence from the Soviet Union. Estimates put their number between 80,000 and 90,000 – a visible minority in a country of only 1.3 million – the world’s 10th largest stateless population.

5 – In 2015, Estonia found out its territory was larger than what it thought it was, when cartographers discovered 800 previously unrecognised islands. After that, the country has learnt it is made up of 2,222 islands, or 2,355 if those in lakes are included – not the 1,521 that has been taught in schools for more than two decades.

6 – A whopping 34% of all alcohol sold at liquor stores in the entire country of Estonia is bought by people from Finland.

7 –  Kihnu, one of Estonia’s islands, is one of the last matriarchal societies in the world. The men of Kihnu, mostly fishermen, go out to sea for months at a time, leaving wives and children behind. Women govern the island in their absence and act as guardians of its traditions and culture.

8 – There is a road in Estonia that goes through 900 meters of Russian territory before going back into Estonia. Russia doesn’t require any permit for driving through the area. However, it is forbidden to pass through the area on foot or stop one’s car. People who stop their car are arrested and released after interrogation and payment of a fine.

9 – A group of Estonians was fundamental to the invention of Skype. In fact, 44% of the company’s employees are still based in Tallinn and Tartu. Thanks to it having the highest number of startups per capita, Tallinn is sometimes dubbed the Silicon Valley of Europe. This is not too surprising if you think that since 2014, Estonian primary schools have been teaching children as young as seven computer coding.

10 – Estonia has the lowest male-to-female ratio in the world, with only 0.84 men per every 1 woman. However, Estonian women live 10 years longer, on average, which might help explain why.

Did you enjoy learning more about Estonia? Try also our Top 10 Curious Facts about Lithuania or Kosovo!

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