CIRCA - 1992/ '95 🇲🇰 - a stylized yellow sun disc centered on a red field, from which 8 broadening rays extend, out to the banners edges & corners
HISTORY: Sun ☀️ icons in Macedonia trace back to at least the revolutionary banners of the uprising of 1903, (when Ottomans
crushed the short-lived Kruševo Republic) And the radiant ☀︎ suns became an enduring symbol of resistance.
The red field behind it has been a part of every (independent) Macedonian flag since 1914. Both
were revived in 1991 when the country proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia.
The modern flag, adopted in 1995, replaced an earlier version using a Vergina ✺ Sun, as it was
vehemently contested by Greece, (the new stylized 𖤓 sun has no specific ancient associations.)†
† The Vergina Sun, aka Star of Vergina, is a sun symbol used in ancient Greek (6c - 2c BC.) with 16 triangular rays. Greece contested it's use as an appropriation of ancient Macedonian
royal tombs in its territory. They imposed an economic embargo until it was changed. (Part of a broader naming dispute, rooted in Greek claims to the legacy of ancient Macedon.)
Intended not have ancestral lineage some still try to link the new 8-rayed sun to prehistoric Balkan🔍 solar motifs, such as 8-rayed pendants (Late Bronze Age- unearthed in central
North Macedonia,) attributed by some to local Paeonians or Thracians rather than Hellenic Macedonia, thus asserting a 3,000 year "Macedonian" cultural tradition from pre-Slavic🔍
inhabitants. And yet, others criticize the design for the opposite; echoing Ottoman or regional influences rather than purely local heritage
VEXILLOLOGY:* Representing post-Yugoslav national distinctiveness, freedom & hope;
The YELLOW "new 𖤓 SUN of liberty," viewed the dawn in the 1903 revolt, is referenced in the national anthem as; 'a rising sun heralding freedom and national awakening' following centuries of subjugation.
The 8 SYMMETRICAL ˗ˏˋ 🟡 ˎˊ˗RAYS denote unity among diverse ethnic groups and national rebirth movements interpret their extending to the edge of the flag as expanding prosperity & enlightenment for future generations.
The RED Field represents strength, sacrifice, resilience, revolutionary heritage & the blood 🩸 shed by partisans & revolutionaries for independence (against Ottoman rule and in World War II)