pls stop this.

A popular claim about the flag of Ukraine is that it stands for a sky over a grain field. It doesn't. That's just one of many instances of people sharing made up flag facts.
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Sources and further info:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of...
#Ukraine #Flag #Vexillology #Україна

[@Tapakapa]

Want more videos? Support me on Patreon to make them happen! www.patreon.com/tapakapa

[@pompomaddons]

im too poor :sob:

[@palmossi]

Lol

[@death-istic9586]

Hi.

[@palmossi]

@@death-istic9586 hi

[@jrjdnrdusj]

what do you use to animate

[@monferno1]

Any flag with red in it: THE RED SYMBOLIZES THE BLOOD OF THE PEOPLE

[@pplesandoranges]

Canada: uh

[@theodorangelos9392]

Red, the blood of angry man!

[@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru]

Any flag with white in it: “The white represents peace ☮️✌️😇”

[@rjtimmerman2861]

Blood of the enemy

[@flazzorb]

@@pplesandoranges Don't worry, the red on the canadian flag is just the blood of the natives that they pretend they treated better than the US.

[@hiimvixel6628]

Using Switzerland and South Africa to represent German and English was amazing.

[@spaghettiisyummy.3623]

Indeed. Now he needs to represent Serbo-Croatian with the flag of Montenegro. Or Swahili with Uganda or Kenya.

[@ryanrg1545]

East Timor for Portuguese Equatorial Guinea for Spanish

[@HiddenAnderKSI]

Morroco for Arabic

[@mr.netflix9149]

Not representing German with the Austrian flag is treason.

[@urkalka]

I'm still offended it wasn't Liechtenstein.

[@mdoesrandomstuff]

3:19 I thought Austria's Flag was used to symbolise a negitive sign to neutralize switzerland's positive sign, To make both countries neutral. ( To make it clear, i am joking here)

[@Tapakapa]

It's a big, fat minus, alright! How did I never see that? ^_^

[@happymerlin427]

@@Tapakapa and japan 🇯🇵 is the multiplication point (although reversed). The question is which country is divisions.

[@mertzanakia]

​@@happymerlin427In computers, / is the symbol for division and many flags have a diagonal line. Tanzania is probably the cleanest example.

[@Erased_UnityXDX]

I refuse to abide by this, if maths showed me correctly: + and - = -

[@anonymm3152]

​@@Erased_UnityXDXIf chemistry taught me correctly + and - = 0

[@PoliticswithPaint]

I think one thing that contributes to unverified information becoming so mainstream is that most people and the media hate to say 'I don't know'. As you point out, we simply don't exactly know why blue and yellow are the colours that some medieval rulers in Ukraine chose. I feel like its become more difficult to find nuanced and honest information.

[@LancesArmorStriking]

Best guess is that it symbolized power and wealth. Blue has until recently been a difficult pigment to source and gold is naturally valuable, so a blue and gold crest makes some sense.

[@sookendestroy1]

@@LancesArmorStriking it would be hilarious if it were some ancient medieval leader who wanted to signify their wealth created from an abundance of crops, looked out at his fields and said, hold my beer.

[@far_centrist]

Blue and yellow as well as the trident is copied straight out of the Galician regiment of the waffen SS unit logo. No mystery there.

[@LancesArmorStriking]

@@far_centrist But that itself was copied from the family crest of Vladimir the Great. The blue and gold are ancient East Slavic colors. I don't think the flag or the Trident is really fair to use because it assigns that legacy to a single country, but the Nazi history of Ukraine is a separate issue from the flag colors.

[@nnnota1889]

"medieval rulers in Ukraine" what medieval Ukraine? and what rulers XDD

[@ikwenmusic]

years ago in like 2nd grade, we had a Ukrainian guest come to our school to teach us about the culture of Ukraine. so, uhh, he told us that the flags meaning was the sky over a field. ive believed that for my whole life

[@Tapakapa]

I'm sure most Ukrainians actually believe it.

[@Lord_Lambert]

@@Tapakapa then... that is now what it represents. Origins are quite irrelevant.

[@addymant]

​@@TapakapaThen what was the point of any of this? If most Ukranians believe that's what their flag symbolizes, that's what it symbolizes. Authorial intent is not the only thing that matters here, and I'd argue it's among the least important things to consider.

[@markmandotcom]

thats the modern meaning

[@ikwenmusic]

@@Lord_Lambert i suppose you are correct, but the odd thing is that he said that the ORIGINAL symbolism was this sky and field.

[@benr7101]

Im ukrainian. I spent the first 5 years of my life in ukraine before moving to the US, where ive been for more than a decade now (go birds). In preschool in ukraine. we were never told the real meaning of the colors of the flag, but we were given the "sky over grain" idea as a tool to help remember which color goes where. we were never told that this was that the flag represented, it was just something our teacher taught us as a sort of mnemonic device. we also got a similar mnemonic for the ukrainian partisan flag (the one u sometimes see thats red over black instead of blue over yellow). Because of when i grew up, and because i was never taught the original meaning of the flag in my childhood, what the flag mostly symbolized for me was just a statement of independence, separating ukraine from the other post USSR countries (mostly russia). that idea really hit it out of the park for me as a kid in 2014 during the Maidan revolution. just like all flags, it symbolizes whatever people believe it to symbolize, so it kind of doesnt really matter. if someone understands it as the sky over grain design, then thats what it represents. if someone understands it as something representing ukrainian self-determination, thats what it represents. just like some americans view their flag as either a symbol of freedom or as a symbol of capitalism or a symbol of representation or a symbol of imperialism. its subjective ig. (to clarify, this whole time i've been talking about the official ukrainian flag, not the partisan flag. i just mentioned it once, nothing before or after it's mention is about that flag, chill out).

[@ccdsds3221]

Red over black flag is not ''Ukranian partisan flag'' hahahahaha. It's literally a collaborist flag used by nazis...

[@konplayz]

if the flag of a genocidal movement of nazis and fascists symbolises “separation from the ussr” then the swastika flag can also just symbolise “being fed up with the versailles treaty”

[@portalboy.]

@@konplayzкремлебот detected

[@konplayz]

@@portalboy. ah yes, i detest national socialists and am therefore a robot under the control of an it worker in moscow.

[@konplayz]

@@farkon00 This situation is absolutely hilarious. Some mindless Ukrainian telling an Austrian that he is russian because of his name. As if me being Russian somehow changes the current predicament..? you have only reinforced my current beliefs.

[@8is]

The symbolism and designs of flags change. If enough people believe that the Ukrainian flag represents a blue sky and a yellow grain field, then that is what the flag now represents.

[@Tapakapa]

I'd say the associations and myths around a flag can change. The historic symbolism - or lack therof - behind the design stays the same forever, though. It's regrettable that the myth so often overshadows the historic facts.

[@8is]

@@Tapakapa I'm sure symbolism have and will change over time. Perhaps in a few hundred years, vexillologist will look back at the symbolism of the Ukrainian flag and see a dramatic change in the way people attributed the symbolism of the flag today. There are probably very few flags with very long historic ties that had (or that we know of) clearly defined symbolism. The symbolism of today's flags are the culmination of centuries of historic development, all of which were important in the way we view the flags of today, not just their fuzzy origins. The original flag and its meaning is a mere snapshot in a flags long and changing history.

[@8is]

@@MrDutch-ex9eh I agree, and this particular interpretation of the Ukrainian flag is actually very popular among Ukrainians today.

[@4ndr0m3d4n]

Agreed with 8is, in that times change, and it would be naïve to think in the first place that people in the 14th century regarded symbols the exact same way as those today. For those living today, if the blue color reminds them of the sky and the yellow one a field, as opposed to anything else of lesser value, then who is to say, "Well, you're all wrong 'cause some king 700 years ago maybe wouldn't have agreed with you."

[@jlust6660]

@@8is I'd say that misses the point the video was trying to make. The issue is that these stories are told as if they are the origin of the flag, which they just aren't. The symbolism associated with a flag today is almost completely separate from its historic origins.

[@apollo5668]

I am Ukrainian, and I was always told that the flag symbolizes the sky and the wheat fields, from strangers and parents, to even being taught that in schools. And I believe so myself. Hot topic my friend! Love your videos

[@stargazer-elite]

Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦 Glory to hero’s 🔱💪 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦 love from America

[@saebre.]

Exactly it matters more what it means to Ukrainians now, than some random ruler from hundreds of years ago

[@Leroy-Jenkem]

@@stargazer-elitecringe westerner

[@stargazer-elite]

@@Leroy-Jenkem cringe Ruzzian bot

[@LoveOverwhelming]

@@saebre. Incorrect, the Ukrainians (including this one) who believe that's what it means are just wrong. Simple as.

[@lftoscano]

Brazilian Republicans came with the "green for forests, yellow for gold and riches" when in truth it was just the flags of the habsburgs and orleans-bragança families over one another used by the Empire of Brazil that the Republicans were just too lazy to replace 🤪

[@ethandouro4334]

That's another lie, the new meaning wasn't made by republicans, but by post dictatorship democratic activists who wanted to take warning about the Amazon rainforest and Mata Atlântica being cutted down. The original meaning was always about the Bragança and Habsburgs, but the sky meaning was the Anil blue sky of Rio de Janeiro when Marechal Deodoro proclaimed the Republic.

[@vulpes7079]

They weren't lazy, they didn't want to replace the colours that our soldiers flew in Paraguay to something completely different. Deodoro and Floriano were very adamant about this

[@ethandouro4334]

@@vulpes7079 yes, this too

[@canad3nse]

Yeah, it's pretty much it

[@krimzon7622]

Ukraine: "The flag is blue and yellow." People: "Ohhh, the blue represents the sky and the yellow grain fields!" Ukraine: "No, the flag is F*cking blue and yellow."

[@farkon00]

Don't pretend like we Ukrainians don't like this story, we also think of it as grain and sky. That's, in fact, how I learnt what color goes where, when I was like 5 yo.

[@akirachisaka9997]

Honestly I would say, the story is told by Ukraine. As in, having a meaning behind the flag would make the country feel much more like a country. Instead of a, well, random spare part that fell off from the collapse of USSR.

[@Frontline_view_kaiser]

Ukrainians: "The Flag represents the sky and the fields" Idiots in the KZbin comment sections: "Ukrainian dont belive that the flag represents the sky and fields" Ukrainians: "Що?"

[@paulseed1065]

exactly. here is one worse. ran into a video ranting about how the red and black flag was a Ukranian national flag at one time :). made me giggle. Slava@@Frontline_view_kaiser

[@haven_lady675]

​@@paulseed1065the UPA flag?

[@Lord_Lambert]

Might not be what it meant originally, but if that is what it represents now to a great number of Ukrainians, then that is what it means.

[@MaxUKR]

exactly

[@ccdsds3221]

uhmmm. No, you can't change meaning of things just because a number of people think differently...

[@sevware]

@@ccdsds3221 sure you can

[@Lord_Lambert]

@@ccdsds3221 I think you will find that you can

[@notwithouttext]

@@ccdsds3221 they're not changing the meaning they're ADDING a meaning

[@bernydellaca7898]

If that's what most people believe, including Ukrainians, then they have ascribed that meaning to the flag a posteriori, regardless of what it meant originally. Meaning is socially constructed, not something intrinsic to the object

[@runningoncylinders3829]

It’s incidental symbolism. Chicken crossing the road was a simple antijoke with a mundane answer, and the way of it being about the afterlife caught on and is recognized as one of the meanings.

[@mrcat5508]

@@runningoncylinders3829what are you talking about

[@runningoncylinders3829]

@@mrcat5508 Same as OP, if anything or any idea takes on new meaning over time it now has that too.

[@mrcat5508]

@@runningoncylinders3829 ok I didn’t understand you talking about the afterlife of chickens

[@LoveOverwhelming]

Incorrect. Those people are simply wrong.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Exactly, nowhere in Ukrainian law does it say what the flag stands for, just that the colors are blue and yellow. Other countries of course are more than happy to explain the symbolism of their flags within their laws. My favorite flag symbolism is Bhutan's. The orange half represents Buddhist tradition while the yellow represents civil tradition and temporal authority, with the dragon between them to show their equal importance and evokes the strength of the sacred bond between sovereign and people. But the dragon is of course the coolest part! In Dzongkha, dragon is druk, and the country is known as Druk Yul or Dragon Country. It being white signifies the purity of inner thoughts and deeds that unite all the linguistically diverse peoples of Bhutan. The jewels held in Druk's claws represent Bhutan's wealth and the protection of its people, while the dragon's snarling mouth symbolizes Bhutanese deities' commitment to defense. Why a druk? According to traditional accounts, when the sect's founder, Tsangpa Gyare, 1st Gyalwang Drukpa, began to build Ralung Monastery, there was a violent storm. Thunder, or the "Cloud-Voice," is seen as the roar of the dragon. Deciding that this was an omen, he named the monastery Drug-Ralung, adding the word "thunder dragon" to the name. The disciples were known as Drugpa, or "Those of the Thunder."

[@aidanpysher2764]

If I were to take a shot for every random video I've seen you on, I'd have died of liver failure a while ago.

[@Jukanella]

Our history teacher told us that back in 18th century during the Northern war, sometime around Poltava battle some cossacks betrayed Russian troops, and adopted nowadays Ukrainian flag just for it to have same colors as Swedens flag had cuz at the time they were allies.

[@alexandertoucan4956]

Why are the Austrian and Latvian flags so similar? Could you maybe do a video about that?

[@ikwenmusic]

qatar bahrain poland indonesia

[@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru]

Chad Romania is literally the same haha

[@ikwenmusic]

@@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru oh yeah thats the best example

[@vocative-name]

Different shades of red 👌🏻😄

[@XnoobSpeakable]

​@@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru no, just similar Different shades

[@IRosamelia]

The swiss flag to symbolize the german language and the south african to symbolize English were funny, unexpected and spot on!

[@hydromic2518]

❤🇿🇦

[@ampjam]

it completely threw me for a loop! i was under the assumption that romanish and afrikaans were the languages of the countries, respectively. i was very much wrong with south africa, but still, english wasn’t the top language, so still confused nonetheless but hey, i’m not from either place, so who am i to say what’s right and wrong. if you say it’s spot on, that just means there’s something i don’t get yet :)

[@IRosamelia]

@@ampjam ampjam, the joke, it's what you don't get 🙄

[@franciscoflamenco]

@@IRosamelia Not the joke, but the concept that nations, countries and languages do not have a 1:1 correspondence. But to be fair, it's a pretty ingrained concept so I can't blame someone for completely missing their lack of awareness about this.

[@IRosamelia]

@@franciscoflamenco francisco, you might not be aware that German is an official language of Switzerland and English is an official language of South Africa.

[@ThePrinceofParthia]

This has the same attitude as prescriptivism in languages. Did the word "terrible" exclusively mean "something that causes terror" in the past? Yes. Does it exclusively mean "very very bad" now? Yes. One wouldn't say the meaning of the word is not "very very bad" now and instead people are using in all wrong, or that they are misinformed. In the same way, the meaning of the Ukrainian flag is now seen by the majority of people as "blue sky on grain field", or one of the other interpretations that you mentioned. Therefore, that is a completely valid interpretation of the flag's symbolism.

[@Tapakapa]

Fair point. The myth certainly is widely popular. It's just important to point out, that it is in fact a myth and not the actual reason for the flag's design; something that's hardly ever done.

[@paradoxmo]

There’s a difference between interpretation and origin/etymology. People often claim original intent when it’s a folk etymology, and this is actually false. That’s not to say blue sky over grain field isn’t a valid interpretation of the flag now, it just doesn’t accurately describe the origin of the flag.

[@IllidanS4]

1) (opinion) Prescriptivism is good. 2) (observation) It is ambiguous what symbolization means ‒ a color can mean a lot of things to many people, make it "stand for" anything, subjectively, so at worst saying "The flag stands for sky and field." is vexillologically wrong, at best it is incomplete (to whom does it stand for that?).

[@notwithouttext]

also terrific, which went the opposite way

[@reed6514]

​@@Tapakapayou assert sky/grain is not the origin, but don't prove it. You don't have proof that sky/grain was the original intent, nor do you have proof otherwise. Therefore you can't rightly assert either way.

[@sttthr]

A lot of people in the comments are missing the point and saying that it's valid symbolism now if people believe it. True, but the video is about a situation like this: "Hey, do you know where the colors of the Ukrainian flag CAME FROM?" "Oh, of course, they COME FROM the symbolism of the the blue symbolizing the sky and yellow a wheat field". No, that is incorrect. The colors might symbolize those things now, but that is not their origin. It isn't the reason the colors are what they are. And it's so often said that it's the reason, which is a misconception. It's nice to say that it's still valid symbolism/meaning, but that's not relevant to this video at all.

[@peculiarcandlestick]

i like this comment a lot, really puts what i was thinking into words perfectly! ❤

[@shaesmith2831]

Thank you, I felt like I was losing my mind or missing the actual point of the video

[@floppyearfriend]

90% of the people who comment on youtube have severe comprehension issues. Wouldn't be surprised if this video got posted on some ukrainian social network and caused idiots to flood it en masse.

[@oliverrapp93]

I have gotten into arguments about this

[@aidanpower7115]

Hi :D

[@palmossi]

What how

[@LoveOverwhelming]

There is no argument to be made. Whoever claims this is what the Ukrainian flag represents is simply wrong

[@pevalho]

Since September 7th is Brazil's independence day, the staff put a ton of flags all over my school and the goddamn History teacher told us the flag colours meant "Green = Amazon // Yellow = Gold // Blue = Atlantic Ocean" when they actually mean "Green = Bragança Family (Dom Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil) // Yellow = Habsburg (Maria Leopoldina, Empress of Brazil) // Blue = Night Sky over Rio de Janeiro". He got corrected by half of the class LOL The popular flag colours tale is the most stereotypical thing possible like it was created by a tourist who knows nothing about our country

[@cuidadocomomatheus]

I don't even think he's wrong, the symbolism changed

[@tophatowl6724]

I think, across all of society, we need to emphesize more that "its okay to not know"

[@billzoidis]

greek flag has deliberate and nice meaning: The nine blue-and-white horizontal stripes of the flag stand for the nine syllables of the Greek motto Eleftheria i Thanatos (Greek for Freedom or Death). On the top left, there is a blue square canton with a white cross, a symbol of Greek Orthodoxy, the established religion of the Greeks. However, there is the rumor that white stands for the sun and blue for the sea, although the truth is a very similar one to Ukraine's flag

[@Niamhvnl]

I grew up in Ukraine and that was actually presented as to how to remember the colours of the flag instead of a theory, i think once people grew up and had to explain why to foreigners they just used that because its easy to remember

[@vocative-name]

True

[@landon8214]

1:25 This is why flags shouldnt be used to represent languages. Because, he's technically not wrong...

[@ohajohaha]

_All_ languages? Nothing wrong with using the Japanese flag for Japanese, Czech flag for Czech and Mongolian flag for Mongolian.

[@armaansahgal6449]

@@ohajohaha Considering that the majority of Mongolians live in Inner Mongolia (China), one could argue that the Chinese flag would represent more Mongolian speakers than the Mongolian flag.

[@ohajohaha]

​@@armaansahgal6449 tell that to a Mongolian

[@armaansahgal6449]

@@ohajohaha To the more than the two thirds of Mongolians who live in China and who use the Mongolian script or the less than a third who live in Mongolia and use the Russian Cyrillic script?

[@landon8214]

@@ohajohaha but if you do with one, you kind of have to be consistent. cant just leave a flag out!

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

This. If a country does not officially state what the colors mean, then said symbolism that people claim is true, simply isn't. The symbolism of St. Lucia's pretty flag for example is stated that the light-blue background is for the sky and Caribbean Sea, the triangles representing the Pitons (two volcanic cones; Gros Piton and Petit Piton) with the volcanic cones rising towards the sky symbolizing the hope and aspirations of the people, gold representing prosperity and Caribbean sunshine, and black and white to represent racial unity with the black part being bigger to symbolize the majority. It was first adopted in 1967, modified it when they got independence in 1979, then changed the color to a lighter blue in 2002. Kiribati also has one of the coolest flags around! So the flag is the expansion of the coat of arms of the former Gilbert and Ellice Islands colonial flag, like how the flag of Maryland is just an expanded version of the banner of arms of Cecil Calvert, the 2nd Baron Baltimore. The insignia was designed by Sir Arthur Grimble in 1932. The bird on the flag is a frigate bird which represents power, poise, freedom and Kiribati cultural dance patterns. The sun rising refers to Kiribati's location astride the Equator. It has 17 rays to represent the Gilbert Islands and Banaba. While the waves are of course the Pacific Ocean!

[@korterkaks]

It doesn't really matter whether it "officially" symbolizes that or not. It's a very cool symbolization especially when considering the upside down version could symbolize sunset over the Azov sea so their both Ukrainian flags but in two different parts of Ukraine. The Estonian flag 🇪🇪 has a similar "problem", I'd like to hear your thoughts on it as well. I as an Estonian very much love and embrace the idea of it being a winter field in Estonia and the flag being blue black white because it is such a common sight here for half a year. Most here do not care whether it's an official story but they still roll with it and claim that it is what "the flag means".

[@lilernecgs7946]

For me, the analogy helps me to be 100% sure, which way around the colours are (blue at the top, yellow at the bottom). Before hearing it, I was always unsure about the order (at least in my head), but with it, I can always remember

[@gavinthecrafter]

1:24 Bold move of you to use the Swiss and South African flags to represent German and English

[@radio_marco]

and the Bing translate logo for Artifical Translation

[@kamilstenzel3929]

Did a quick read of the Ukrainian constitution (as one does on a Sunday afternoon). Not a word is mentioned about the skies and grain. In fact no reason is given Article 20: [...] The State Flag of Ukraine is a banner of two equally-sized horizontal stripes of blue and yellow. [...]

[@jwhite5008]

Edit: I thought constitution is the last place to discuss color symbolism but was later proven very wrong! Sorry. Original comment remains here only for context and to shame me for mocking something I have full knowledge of. -Did you expect the constitution to say "...and the yellow represents the color of a cloth on which X-century king of Y spilled their tea on, so it got incorporated into Z-century flag meaning Lets Have Dinner, which 100 years later someone mistaken as a flag of nearby city and copied it because it looked kind of cool, then ...." Jokes aside, why in the world would any constitution describe the meaning of colors of a flag?!-

[@Tapakapa]

Some constitutions actually do just that, no joke.

[@ccdsds3221]

yes@@jwhite5008

[@jwhite5008]

@@Tapakapa REALLY? That sounds very weird! Do you happen to remember an example?

[@Tapakapa]

@@jwhite5008 Hungary: "The flag of Hungary shall feature three horizontal bands of equal width coloured red, white and green from top to bottom as the symbols of strength, fidelity and hope respectively." Ethiopia: "The national emblem on the flag shall reflect the hope of the Nations, Nationalities, Peoples as well as religious communities of Ethiopia to live together in equality and unity."

[@Alorand]

It's a bit of broken telephone situation - in Ukrainian kindergartens the story is used to make sure that the kids don't draw the flag upside down. So when foreigners draw the flag upside down many Ukrainians will repeat the story to them. But I wouldn't be surprised if instead of thinking that this is a handy mnemonic device they assumed that it was the intended meaning.

[@daddyleon]

Estonia sitting in the corner whistling.

[@grissee]

hello Tapakapa, can you (or someone) do the fact check for Estonia too? how Estonia flag is their skyline, treeline, and snow (I checked their coat of arm and it's blue yellow just like ukraine, not suprising since they are also in general vicinity of Kievan Rus)

[@J_Gamer_Mapping]

It seems to be actually true, that Estonias Flag is partially inspired by it's Nature/Landscape! University students in Tartu got together in 1881 and rebranded a lose students' society (which originally formed in 1870), to "Vironia" (today Estonain Students' Society). At this meeting the idea of their flag apparently was already black-blue-white and very much inspired by the poem "Eesti Lip" (The Estonian Flag) by Martin Lipp who was in the society aswell. In this Poem he refferences the blue sky, black soil and dark estonian coats and randomly the white aswell. Between 1881 and the official regristration in 1883 one member got beaten up and suspended for a year because he wore white and blue, the colours of an unautherized fraternity. This would still be illegal after 1883. The very first flag was made in 1884 by Paula Hermann, the wife of a honorary fraternity member and blessed in a protestant church the same year. Interestingly: The Estonian Students' society seems to use a Coat of Arms, which is credited to 1890 but I couldn't figure out where it comes from. I'll comment the websites I used in an additional comment in case links are banned in the comments

[@eksiarvamus]

As an Estonian - originally the student organization that picked the flag in the late 1860s did not use such symbolism. In the 1920s a popular poem/song indeed did link blue with the sky and black with the soil. There have been a ton of other such interpretations though. This blue sky, black forest, snowy ground landscape is only an Internet thing and in no popular symbolism is white associated with snow.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

The yellow and blue of the coat of arms come from Denmark, though.

[@eksiarvamus]

@@troelspeterroland6998 Yep, the coat of arms of Estonia is very identical to the Danish coat of arms.

[@brunothedev]

Brazil is the best example of this, it used to mean the house of habsburg and Bragança, but they changed to mean gold and forests

[@kurteisner67]

I would say that the Ukrainian flag folk etymology is way more widespread and taken for real though. Even though I'm not only not from Ukraine, but not from Eastern Europe at all, I've heard it first in kindergarten and innumerable times since. Sure, I've heard the Brazilian one also occasionally later on, but just as often or even more often that it connects to the dynasty of Bragança, and even quite a few times by the same people explaining the etymology with forests and gold that this is not the _real_ etymology, but a popular image. On the other hand, I've never seen anyone who's not a history or vexillology buff starting discussions about the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia or what not.

[@brunothedev]

@@heitors.3917didn't they change it because the monarchy got abolished?

[@looijmansje]

When the Dutch farmers protested, their main symbol was an upside down Dutch flag. As far as I can tell this is something that they copied from right-wing protests in the US, who themselves copied it from naval flags; where an upside down flag means "We're in distress!", to show their country is in distress. Instead of just admitting they copied it though, they came up with an entire story like "blue represents the monarchy/government on our flag, and its supposed to be below the people, but with how theyre acting now they think theyre above us", and hence the blue stripe is on top. Anyone with any knowledge of the Dutch flag will tell you that is completely wrong; the basic design predates the Dutch monarchy by a good 2-3 centuries.

[@TheBleggh]

Is the "flag upside-down = protest" symbolism normally limited to the Anglosphere? I had no idea it wasn't a universal thing.

[@looijmansje]

@@TheBleggh I have only seen it here after the major right wing protests in the US a few years ago. Not saying for sure it wasn't used earlier, of course. Also until relatively recently, an upside down Dutch flag had a different meaning (i.e. Yugoslavia).

[@thelemonaut]

Ukrainian here. I don't think I've ever heard anything beyond the "sky over wheat field" version in school. Whenever the symbolizm was mentioned, it was always explained like that. It's definitely a very popular perception

[@FrutoseDeMorango]

Make one about Brazil's flag history. People say that the colors are because of the forests, the gold, the sky and peace or something like that, but the true story is very different. Also, Brazil is the only country in the world to have a feminine heraustic on it's flag.

[@romandboiko]

I am Ukrainian, and this video questions the accuracy of the attributions made to the meanings of our flag's colors. However, it doesn't specify who may have incorrectly attributed these meanings. This omission leaves the point rather unclear. Let's examine information from a few sources: - The Wikipedia page about our flag in the English language doesn't mention anything about the interpretation discussed in the video. However, it does provide accurate historical information about the use of these colors. - The Ukrainian-language version of the Wikipedia page mentions the interpretation discussed in this video as a popular one. However, it doesn't claim that this interpretation has a historical basis. - When I was in school, this interpretation was also part of our curriculum. However, I understood it at that time as one of several current interpretations or simply a pleasant association. We also studied the historical usage of yellow and blue colors in our region, going back several centuries.

[@wojtdid4700]

There is an interesting story in the Silesian community on the internet, saying that the medieval ruler actually came from Silesia and used the Upper Silesian colours for his symbol I don't know whether it's true or not, but same as the grain story, it's getting popular because of how catchy it is

[@Aeduo]

I use the sky and field as an analogy to remember what direction the colors go.

[@Pelior]

the colors were chosen from the most influencial guy that rulled ruthenia, he was a Silesian piast and his coat of arms was Golden/yellow eagle on blue field, so when he was awarded the Kingdom of Ruthenia as a steward he created a new coat of arms based off of his own Piast coat of arms.

[@joaovitormatos8147]

this video is basically "who was crazy enough to use symbolism in a symbol?"

[@Taladar2003]

It is a bit like those poetry interpretation bits in language classes where every little shape, colour, order,... is described as symbolizing something when in reality the author probably just needed the right number of syllables, wanted it to rhyme and have some meaning vaguely resembling what they wanted to say.

[@matyasfukk3270]

Fun fact: the colours in the Hungarian flag supposedly red for strength, white for honour and green for hope

[@Jaycobb07]

I think people are just saying that so they can remember how the ukrainian flag looks like more than what is symbolizes. It often happens that you don't exactly remember how a flag looks like because it's just 2 stripes and you flip them. Look at Poland, their flag upside down is Monaco or Indonesia, but you can easily mistakenly flip it withou realizing

[@zennayo1]

I'm Brazilian. We have a similar case to what happens to the Ukrainian flag. Here, there's a very widespread myth that the colours of the Brazilian Flag represent the forests and gold, which is completely made up, the colours actually come from the royal houses of Braganza and Habsburg.

[@D.S.handle]

Yeah, perhaps unexpectedly Brazil’s flag preserves a lot of imperial legacy.

[@nutsi3]

When I first heard that it was ‘a way to remember which way around the *colours* go is blue sky over wheat field’

[@deemuss]

This is fabulous. Actually I think this explanation appeared at schools as a way to make it easier to memorise the colours and their order

[@Meg_A_Byte]

I live in Estonia and most people might say that the colors represent the blue sky, dark forest and snowy landscape. But if those people knew that there is no sun in the winter, they would maybe change their mind :D

[@Artur_M.]

And Polish flag is white and red because the coat of arms (which is much older) is white eagle on the red shield. Simple as that. But of course people later attributed a bunch of symbolic meanings to both colors. Classic heraldy is known to use a rather limited number of combinations of colors, refered to as tinctures. Unusually one of four/five basic colours: blue, red, black, green and sometimes purpure, combined with one of the "metals": gold = yellow, and silver = white. They all btw technically have fancy names from Middle French, but nobady has time for that. Fun fact: the same combinations of colors are used in many modern brand logos, or in most trafic signs, because they look good and 'pop out'. They are easily recognizable, even from a far. Which is something you want the symbol on your shield or banner to be.

[@fryfly5599]

I always remembered this to know which colour is above the other. I've never heard of it being used as an explanation as to why they chose these colours specifically.

[@warman1944]

I'm an American, and before the invasion I honestly wouldn't even have known which way was up. I very quickly figured out that "sky over grain" was a handy trick to remember, but I had no idea that this was a common misconception! My favorite flag myth (joke) is about Israel: The White, their Jewish faith. The Blue, the Mediterranean Sea. The Yellow, their friendly neighbors.

[@kalyka98]

All symbols were just given a meaning at some point out of the blue, there is no such thing as a reason why, most times it's a matter of trial and find which sticks around more. The blue and yellow was recognisable so they used it but if you look for Ukraine and every other countries they had many other variants of their flags and symbols which didn't stick around because they were not memorable enough.

[@mmmellowbite]

I‘m Ukrainian and I just love idea that my flag is sky and field. It‘s just so calm and relaxing. Love it. 🇺🇦

[@leonid707]

So Ukrainian here. The origins of the exact flag are disputed and there are many versions, most likely the current variation got popular around the beginning of the 19th century. The wheat and blue sky version of the flag's meaning is the most popular today, though no one here claims that it was the meaning from the very beginning, just that it is it's meaning now (for most Ukrainians)

[@gromar3]

I'm from Slovenia and we have a similar story. Our colours come from the old Carniolan coat of arms that was adopted as the ducal/regional flag in the Habsburg monarchy. The coat of arms was a blue eagle on a white background with a red and gold checkerboard. Even so they're widely considered to be panslavic in origin. That meaning has been widely circulated for more than a hundred years now. I suppose anyone can just pick whichever story they like better as I don't see a reason why the meaning of colours couldn't change.

[@markoolenchyn917]

As ukranian I can confirm the blue symbolises the sky and hope, and the yellow symblolises the wheat fields

[@stargazer-elite]

Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦 Glory to hero’s 🔱💪 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦 love from America

[@D.S.handle]

In the popular consciousness, but in the historical record.

[@adambrande]

​​@@D.S.handleyeah why don't Ukraine just change their flag to actually mean something instead of pretending there's meaning to what they have. You got a lot of nations with either badass and interesting histories of their flags so why not make history now and change it for the future generation? A flag after all is quite an important identity for those from a country.

[@D.S.handle]

@@adambrande regardless of its historical meaning, the current Ukrainian flag already means a lot to Ukrainians. Hence the significance of the need of changing the flag is not very clear.

[@adambrande]

@@D.S.handle well I suppose allowing Ukrainian citizens to argue what their country's flag means is a good idea to keep everyone socializing and keep suicide rates down so whatever, I'm just gonna keep admiring my own country's flag which has a fixed meaning.

[@1furious]

Myths can take on a reality of their own when they predominate in a society, because how a country and its people come to view themselves and their past will influence how they view the future and their actions in the future. Most historians of Rome would probably argue that Romulus and Remus weren't real people, weren't sons of Mars and a Vestal Virgin, weren't nursed by the She-Wolf, and that Rome wasn't really founded in 753 BC, and there has indeed been archaeological evidence pointing to settlement and fortification at the oldest areas in Rome for around a century before its traditional founding, if not earlier. But what do these facts of negation tell you about Roman civilization itself? Very little. What does clue you in to Rome are the stories of Rome, sons of the wolf and the War-god, divine kings, and heroes of the republic. A sanction of sovereignty without end given by Jupiter himself. That's what motivated Rome. Wrong information might still be wrong, but boring information doesn't inspire. Myth as narrative will always be more attractive. Maybe Ukraine's flag isn't a particularly important or paradigm-deciding example of this, which is why I referred to Rome, as an example of how a "myth" (what most would call 'wrong information') nevertheless shaped the world we have today.

[@coolguyjki]

The mythologies that Roman culture told itself tell us much about what motivated Roman society and what their culture believed about itself, but the fact that we're relatively certain most of what is written about Rome's sort of primeval, kingly past is just not true clues us into a lot, actually. The fact that Rome spent a lot of time mythologizing itself, baking that mythology into every facet of its culture, to the point that ancient Roman kings are more likely representational than historical, informs us firstly that post-regal Romans likely knew next to nothing of their own history, and that their post-hoc mythologization of this period was an exercise in the long tradition of history as propaganda. Romans weren't alone in this practice and it was a regular occurrence in much of the ancient histories we have access to, which leads us to beg the question of just how much history we know is factual and how much is mythologized? The most important thing that Roman mythology and its nature of being interwoven into the underlying fabric of the Roman psychology tells us is that Rome enjoyed telling stories about itself, and importantly, it considered those stories vital to the maintenance of its culture by nature of ensuring the people understood that their forebears had, through a process of blood, piety, and virtue, created for them a socioculture which was built on a solid, easy to understand foundation. The fact that ancient Roman history has a tendency towards exaggeration, towards simplification, towards exoneration of figures considered virtuous is important to understand the later history that we *do* know happened. Understanding the gritty reality of a society that was incredibly superstitious, contradictory in its love of virtue and acceptance of corruption, and violent to its core, based on the fact that it reinforced those things in the mythology it created for the basis of Roman society is valuable because it explains why figures like Octavian can be remembered as both violent, childish sociopaths, and the father of an Empire.

[@deleted-something]

didn't even know what was vexilology before this lol

[@lucaarmillei1682]

I heard a lot of myths like these about my homecountry country Luxembourg's flag 🇱🇺. The biggest misconception is that it is directly derived from the dutch flag 🇳🇱, because Luxembourg was long time under dutch rule or part of entities lile the spanish netherlands, which can't be true, because it has it's origins in the anti-dutch belgian revolution, where Luxembourg rose up to some part as well. I have also seen some people doing the typical "red symbolizes the blood of the people, white means peace" thing, but these are literally just the colours of our century old coat of arms: a red lion on a white and blue striped ground, which is sometimes used as an alternative flag as well.

[@pavuk357]

Actually, flag of Ukraine always was Blue on top and Yellow at the bottom. It is a common misconception that it was reversed for some time caused by flawed early photography technologies used at the time and because of most physical evidences were destroyed over the years by different regimes. However, there are enough evidences to be sure that it was never reversed, it is just such research usually not available in English or German you speak.

[@LoveOverwhelming]

Actually you are wrong and that's not true at all

[@Cheesenommer]

This reminds me a lot of the folk etymologies of placenames. Those become part of local identity and no one wants to hear that they aren't true.

[@LoveOverwhelming]

But they aren't

[@Imita0903]

The same happens with my flag. Many people says that Argentina's flag is a Sun + clouds in the sky. It is not. Light blue and white are the colors of the royal house of Bourbon in Spain and the sun is Inti, the Inca sun god. Why the Argentinian flag has this stuff, there are many theories but definitely not a sky.

[@WackoMcGoose]

I always interpreted it as a blue sky over a _sunflower_ field, but I suppose a grain field makes a bit more sense.

[@TheCheck999]

The facts guy at 0:56 is an ÖBB (Austrian railway) worker weird...

[@hans7856]

Never ruin a good story with facts.

[@mihailos8701]

Thanks for the video, I live Ukraine and fact checking. While I feel like no one in my life was taking this interpretation as fact, like the video view it as, it was still informative.

[@theconqueringram5295]

Interesting presentation. Amazing how such a simple flag can arouse so much speculation in its history.

[@sauravmenon6465]

could you make a video about why malaysia, liberia and the us flag are similar? but with a twist.. whatever that means.

[@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru]

Apparently it’s said that it was inspired by the British east India company flag, which was just the British flag at the canton with a bunch of red and white stripes. Liberias flag is directly derived from the American flag since it was an American colony. I guess the twist is that the British east India company flag was inspired by the majapahit empire flag 😱🤯🤯 /s

[@Kaspa969]

I believe that symbolism of a flag can change over time, but we should recognize the difference between historical reason why the flag is like that and It's current symbolism. Many Ukrainians recognize symbolism of their flag as blue sky and yellow fields, but it's not why the flag was created like that in the first place.

[@LoveOverwhelming]

You believe wrong

[@rateeightx]

Honestly, I never thought that was the actual origin of the flag, But it is a useful mnemonic for remembering the order that the colours go in, Like how you can remember the Estonian flag as (kind of) looking like a forest behind a white snow field with a sky above. That's not where it actually came from (I'm pretty sure), But it's useful if you're struggling to remember it.

[@Erased_UnityXDX]

Everyone having a cool flag meaning while in spain red and yellow means: "Our old flag being white made us confuse our ships by the enemy so we threw a contest and these colors won" (The story is obviously more complicated but this would be the oversimplified one)

[@johndavenport2847]

I wonder if it has anything to do with how people remember the order of the colors on flags that morphs into myths. especially in other cultures disconnected from the original, I am sometimes more focused on remembering the colors than the exact symbology

[@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru]

Kinda like how people remember the German flag to be black red gold cuz it transitioned from a dark chapter of history to Germany today, even tho it’s been around for a longer time

[@tricksor6589]

@@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru I think people remember the german flag as black-red-gold because that's the order of the colours on the flag

[@AbdulRaheem-fk8ru]

@@tricksor6589 🤯

[@pikulasty3972]

A theory I've heard of is that the original Ukrainian flag (The one used in the medieval times) Came from various rulers from Silesia (most notably Włdadysław Opolczyk, the viceroy of the region), which is known to use a yellow eagle on a yellow-blue background. Many dukes and members of their families from Upper Silesia came and went into the regions of Western Ukraine. On top of that, some relicts from the Ukrainian towns have been found in Silesian towns.

[@Grzegorz_Grabowski]

"Many dukes and members of their families from Upper Silesia came and went into the regions of [what is today a part of] Western Ukraine." It's important to point it out, because then it makes more sense.

[@lwardrop2453]

The “story” of the Blue and Yellow flag having the story of being a “blue sky over yellow fields of grain” sounds more like a mnemonic for which color is on top, now that the nation has decided on a definitive orientation (or was ‘forced’ to decide due to international bureaucracy reasons). The coats of arms you showed are much more likely to be the reason why the flag has the two colors, especially since those images show a relative consistency of why those shades/hues are chosen for the respective colors.

[@t.h.3528]

I think you already provided the explanation for where the symbolism with the sky and grain comes from. At 2:34 you explicitly said, that both the current and the color-swapped versions once were commonly used. At some point in time, the people (or a small subgroup thereof) wanted a definitive version of the flag, so they came up with this mnemonic device of sky being on top and grainfields at the bottom. (Moreover, the symbolism behind a flag always carries the reason for which the flag was created/ chosen from similar versions of flags in its respective context. So if the upper explanation would be true, the ukrainian flag stands, in fact, for skies over a grain field.)

[@timomenz6901]

as a Swiss, I'm honoured that you used our flag to represent the German language haha

[@vargasmartin7143]

I believe he's swiss too

[@jannovotny4797]

​@@vargasmartin7143he's austrian

[@ahmeder6370]

​@@vargasmartin7143 he is austrian

[@franciscoflamenco]

@@vargasmartin7143 He's Austrian, he just likes representing languages with unusual flags because, as far as I'm concerned and I'm sure he'd also agree, conflating flags or countries with languages is a foolish thing to do.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

The Polish flag represents Poland’s blindingly bright white skies above its trademark fields of red grass, as anyone who’s ever been to Poland can confirm.

[@Nenes9500]

I'm french myself, and i can say that we learn in school what our flag symbolizes (white is the color of the king, surrounded by blue and red for the colors of Paris. This flag comes from the French Revolution). The people who don't know what it represents either didn't go to school, or they just didn't listen

[@veni5344]

Exactly! I always wonder if i should disappoint people who learned about this beautiful field analogy when they share it.

[@veni5344]

Like, it's nice to hear people take interest in our culture. But hey, this has a history behind it, we're not just "the bread basket" 😅

[@CoronelNasc]

Brazil's flag has a similar problem. When I was 7 I learned in school that the colors meant the forests, the gold (that the portuguese stole from us), and the sky.... Well, the sky part is true, but the current flag is basically the monarchy flag, with green representing the house of Braganza and gold representing the house of Habsburg, but with the blue sky instead of the imperial coat of arms. I was taught that in school when I was 16, but by then the internet reached me first. Was I taught a lie at 7? Well, kinda yes, kinda not. It is the official meaning of the current flag, but at the same time we all know it isnt the real reason for this pallet. Like with my ex. Officially she only had sex with me, but we all knew she still saw her ex boyfriend, we just pretented that she didn't.

[@DaRealKakarroto]

Strongly believing unproven flag theories is a big red flag.

[@brackenheimer1]

You can dig deeper. If you look at the symbols and flags of the steppe Turkik people (Central Asia, Mongolia), you'll find they also use the combination of yellow and blue, often with similar symbolism, sky and grass being vital to a steppe nomad's life. This color combination was part of Rus symbolism dating to at least 10th century and is likely to have originated in the steppes. At what point the association of sky and grass/wheat began, I wouldn't know but that's something a broader look at this symbolism across multiple countries in the region could yield an answer.

[@DanDaFreakinMan]

My headcanon is they picked the colors from the coats of arm, but later decided to have the blue on top standardized because it makes more sense with the whole sky thing.

[@user-ck9vi1wg9e]

oh yeah

[@pauliusiv6169]

if you ask me, it's most likely a mix of both the blue-yellow coat of arms and the grainfield since ukraine has been known as the breadbasket of europe for centuries aswell (which is also why ukraine got invaded so often but that's a story for another time)

[@RafalRzepecki]

"German, English and Google Translate" joke cracked me up _too hard_. I must be a nerd.

[@graygraygraygraygraygray]

The Ukrainian flag “blue sky on golden wheat” story does have the benefit of remembering the order in which they appear. As a mnemonic it works pretty well.

[@hamhamc00l87]

I am Ukrainian, I was taught by my parents and preschool that it is Grain under Sky.

[@veni5344]

I've seen some people come up with a similar explanation even for the flag of Poland. Like red poppy flower field and the cloudy white sky. Though this seems like a stretch))

[@AndrewVasirov]

When I saw the title I was thinking of many things regarding what "this" could mean, from flying a national flag of a foreign country that's at war, to stop having flags with only two stripes. To be fair, Ukrainian people are 'taught' many such lies about their country and people to fill gaps in their history. Sky+grain field can work for other countries, like France, Romania, Russia, USA, and other countries that throughout history produced a lot of grain. In that regard, the Ukrainian flag itself looks quite boring or uninteresting, as any pre-industrial country has skies and grain fields. There were many countries in the past that had a blue-yellow flag like that, especially in Medieval Europe.

[@GoofballPaul]

Originally intended meaning ≠ current meaning. Ukraine's flag DOES represent the sky and wheat fields. It does NOW.

[@fintan9218]

Imagine not speaking the language, not being from the country, and disagreeing with them about their own culture 🤣

[@goodluckgorsky3413]

I think I remember my Turkish school telling me that the flag of Turkey came after Atatürk was walking through a bloody battle field and happened to see a star and crescent moon in the sky. As opposed to, you know, the countless other National and religious symbolisms present in the Turkish flag

[@vadimveskreb8764]

by the way on a famous painting 'Cossacks write a letter to the turkish sultan' there are Blue-Yellow and Red-Black flags rolled (or should I say folded?) in the background. And that surprised me in school because I thought that the war-time ukrainial flag (red and black) was created in 20th century, but apparently it is much much older.

[@___Q719]

Cute story about grain and the sky but… Not all cute story’s are true

[@Adam-326]

Here’s a fun fact. That green symbol that he displays at 1:25 isn’t related to Google Translate at all. In fact, it represents the lesser known (and not as appreciated) Microsoft Bing Translator, not to be confused with Microsoft Translator. Also, you may find that some versions have replaced the character 字 with the kana あ.

[@atzuras]

In general older countries have flags based, or loosely based, in a coat of arms, meanwhile newer countries from late 18th century onwards are more likely to be based on foundational ideas. But who knows, there are plenty of exceptions on each side.

[@DoctorTex]

The Antarctican flag has dark blue on top to represent the dark skies of the continent with a white snowfield on the bottom, and a mountain jutting up from the field casting a long shadow to show a compass pointint south. That is the meaning. Tapakapa: Probably not.

[@F.G_7even]

German: 🇦🇹 English: 🇳🇿 French: 🇸🇳 Portuguse: 🇦🇴 Spanish: 🇬🇹

[@shrouddreamer]

Russian: 🇧🇾 Chinese: 🇹🇼 Italian: 🇸🇲 Swedish: 🇫🇮 Dutch: 🇧🇪 Romanian: 🇲🇩 Anyone else we can offend? xD

[@F.G_7even]

@@shrouddreamer Urdu: 🇮🇳 Arabic: 🇲🇷 Greek: 🇨🇾 Turkish: 🇨🇾 Kurdish: 🇮🇶 Persian: 🇹🇯

[@sttthr]

French: 🏳️ German: 卍

[@F.G_7even]

@@sttthr Nahhhhh 💀💀💀