Russia celebrates State Flag Day Aug 22
MOSCOW. August 22. KAZINFORM Russia is celebrating State Flag Day. It is a newly-introduced tradition to pay respects to the flag by singing the national anthem and attending rallies and street processions and gala concerts. In Moscow and St. Petersburg festivities will begin at noon. Similar activities are taking place in many other cities across the nation.
The holiday was introduced under a presidential decree of 1994. Although it is not on the list of official holidays and days off, the occasion is marked annually on August 22. It was on that day in 1991 that for the first time ever the Russian three-color flag was spontaneously hoisted over the white marble building of the Russian government overlooking the Moskva River to replace the Soviet Red Flag with the hammer and sickle emblem.
Although the holiday is rather young, the history of the white-blue-red flag is centuries long. It is known since 1667, when it began to be used as the identification emblem of Russia's first warship, The Oryol (The Eagle), built during the rule of Czar Alexei Mikhailovich (1629-1676). Officially, this symbol was approved by Peter the Great. In 1705 he established the order of stripes, personally drew up its sketch and ordered hoisting the flag on all Russian ships.
In modern Russia the three-color banner was established as the official state symbol in August 1991, first by a resolution of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet, and then by a presidential decree of 1993. The law adopted in 2000 ordered using it only for official purposes and on public holidays.
In the meantime, the Russians' attitude to the state flag has long ceased to be purely formal, and the state flag law had to be eventually amended last year. Sports fans were the first ones who caused the excessively formal attitude to the state flag to melt. Now the people are allowed to use the flag in any situations to demonstrate the feeling of patriotism.
The state flag has since been taken to the North Pole, to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, to the tallest peaks, to remote corners of the world and even to outer space.
This year on Russia Day, June 12, the state flag for the first time since 1991 was unfolded on the top of Moscow's Ostankino television tower - the tallest in Eurasia.
According to the latest VCIOM opinion poll, the three-colored flag is one the most popular symbols of Russia. Nearly one in three (29 percent) citizens says that the flag arouses the feeling of sympathy, and one in two (52 percent) associate the flag with far more serious emotions, such as pride and admiration, Kazinform cites ITAR-TASS.