Bulgaria Flags – Bulgarian Flag, Bunting & Hand Flags

The Bulgarian flag: white, green and red

Bulgaria’s flag is a horizontal tricolour of white, green and red in equal bands. It was adopted in 1879 by the Tărnovo Constitution of the newly autonomous principality after the liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878, and the model was the Russian white, blue and red, with the blue swapped for green in a nod to the agricultural wealth of the country and, by one account, to the green of the earlier Bulgarian Legion banner. White is taken to stand for peace, green for the fertility of the land and red for the courage of those who fought for freedom. From 1948 to 1990 the communist state emblem sat in the white band at the hoist; it was removed when the constitution was changed, and the plain tricolour was confirmed in law in 1998 with a ratio of 3:5. Our Bulgaria flag is the plain post-1990 tricolour with no emblem.

3 March, Baba Marta and the Lions

Liberation Day on 3 March, the anniversary of the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, is the national day and the date the flag is flown most widely; 6 September, Unification Day, and 22 September, Independence Day, are the other civic dates, and 24 May, the day of Bulgarian education and culture and of Saints Cyril and Methodius, is marked by Bulgarian schools everywhere. The red and white martenitsa threads exchanged on 1 March for Baba Marta are the other colour tradition. Bulgarians are one of the larger eastern European communities in Britain since 2007, with Bulgarian Sunday schools, churches and shops in London, Manchester, Leeds and across the Midlands, and 3 March concerts and Easter gatherings are where flags and bunting are needed. In sport, the Lions’ fourth place at the 1994 World Cup is still the high point of the football, Grigor Dimitrov has carried the flag at Wimbledon, and the rhythmic gymnasts, wrestlers, weightlifters and volleyball teams fly it at every championship.

Picking a size and a grade

The Bulgaria flag is stocked in 20x12in, 3ft x 2ft, 5ft x 3ft and 8ft x 5ft and in two grades. Flagtex is a printed woven polyester for indoor display and occasional use outside; DuraFlag is the heavier knitted polyester with a double-stitched hem that is intended to stay on a pole all year. 5ft x 3ft suits a garden pole, a shop front or a school hall, 3ft x 2ft a window or a short wall pole, 8ft x 5ft a stage at a concert or a large fixed pole, and 20x12in a car or a hand pole. Both grades have a sewn header with brass eyelets; the DuraFlag is also offered with clips or rope and toggle.

Bulgaria bunting

Bulgaria bunting is sold in 3m and 9m lengths with the tricolour printed on rectangular polyester pennants sewn to a tape. 3m covers a shop counter or a classroom door; 9m goes round a church hall for 3 March or along a bar for a match. It is weatherproof, so a garden run for a name-day party is fine, and lengths join together. Plain white, green and red lengths from the bunting section match the colours.

Hand flags and table flags

Bulgaria hand flags on wooden sticks come in 9x6in and 18x12in for school concerts, parades and the stands. The Bulgaria table flag is a 6x4in flag on a base for an office, the 9x6in wooden table flag and the 18x12in large wooden table flag suit a reception or a shop counter, and the sleeved satin table flag is for a formal table. Romania, Greece, Serbia, North Macedonia and Turkey are under world flags.

Bulgarian flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Bulgaria Flag (20x12in to 8x5ft, 2 grades)from £6.99
• Bulgaria Bunting (3m or 9m)from £9.98
• Bulgaria Hand Flagsfrom £5.99
• Bulgaria Table Flag with Basefrom £1.98
• Bulgaria Large Wooden Table Flagfrom £3.98