The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white; various interpretations are linked to the flag colors; blue represents faith, loyalty, and devotion, while also reminiscent of the sky, sea, and lakes of the country; black symbolizes the soil of the country and the dark past and suffering endured by the Estonian people; white refers to the striving towards enlightenment and virtue, and is the color of birch bark and snow, as well as summer nights illuminated by the midnight sun. Estonian it is colloquially called the “sinimustvalge” (literally “blue-black-white”). The Estonian flag first came to prominence in the 1880s as the flag of the Estonian Students’ Society at the University of Tartu and was consecrated in the hall of the pastorate of Otepää on 4 June 1884. The original flag is preserved in the Estonian National Museum. The flag became associated with Estonian nationalism and was used as the national flag (riigilipp) when the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued on February 24, 1918. The flag was formally adopted on November 21, 1918. On December 12, 1918 was the first time the flag was raised as the national symbol atop of the Pikk Hermann Tower in Tallinn.
