POLAND FLAG FACTS

POLAND FLAG FACTS

The FLAG of Poland was officially adopted on August 1, 1919. Since 2004, Polish Flag Day is celebrated on May 2. It consists of two horizontal strips of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red.

ORIGIN                                                                                       Red and white have long been associated with Poland and its coat of arms. On the modern flag, white is said to represent the hope for peace by all of Poland’s people, white red still recalls the symbolic reference to socialism from days gone by.

The first recorded use of the coat of arms of Poland, a white eagle on a red shield, dates from the 13^th century. White and red were officially adopted as national colors in 1831.

They are the heraldic origin and derive from the tinctures (colors) of the coats of arms of the two constituent nations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, i.e. the White Eagle of Poland and the Pursuer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a white knight riding a white horse, both on a red shield. Prior to that, Polish soldiers wore cockades of various color combinations.