Estonian national flag, 125th anniversary

The idea of the blue, black and white colour combination was
conceived in the spirit of the Estonian national awakening on
29 September 1881 in Tartu, at the founding meeting of the
student fraternity Vironia (later the Estonian Students’ Society).
The first tricolour was made in 1884 and was blessed on
4 June 1884 at the Otepää parsonage. Later, the flag was
associated with Estonian patriotism and was adopted as the
national flag after the Republic of Estonia declared its
independence on 24 February 1918. Although use of the
national colours was prohibited in Soviet Estonia, Estonians
carried them in their hearts, while the Estonian flag lived
on in public outside the borders of the Soviet Union.
The historical flag was brought out of hiding during the Singing
Revolution and the blue, black and while tricolour was flown
from the top of the Pikk Hermann tower once again on
24 February 1989 after a period of 45 years. Less than ten
per cent of the world’s national flags are older than 100 years.
Even more unusual, however, is the fact that people have
been able to preserve the original flag to this day, despite
the occupations that ravaged the country. Estonian people
have formed a strong emotional bond with the colours
of blue, black and white, and the country’s flag has become
one of the most important and loved national symbols.
The Estonian tricolour has been depicted on 17 postage
stamps previously issued by Estonian Post Ltd.