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The flag is quite colourful, which symbolizes the diversity of Finno-Ugric peoples, yet since all colours are put on the white background, it does not violate the heraldic rule of tincture, which is also used in designing flags.

Putting flags of all Finno-Ugric peoples into one common flag wouldn't be a good solution for esthetical reasons. That's why I have rather loosely based my flag on flags of only some Uralic peoples, and not all. Main source flags for the UFLAG was:

• the Hungarian flag [red-white-green]
• the Finnish flag [blue cross]
• the Estonian flag [blue-black-white]
• the Udmurt flag [black-white-red with the emblem]
• the Mordovian flag [red-white-blue with the emblem]

I've chosen those particular flags for at least two reasons.

First of all, I wanted to use flags from different subgroups of the Uralic family:

• the Hungarian elements of the UFLAG may represent all Ugric peoples - besides Hungarians, also Khanty and Mansi people,
• the Udmurt elements may represent all Permic peoples - besides Udmurts also Komi-Zyrians, Komi-Permyaks...
• the Mordovian elements may represent all Volgaic peoples - Erzyans, Mokshans and Maris,
• the Finnish and Estonian elements may represent all Finnic peoples - besides Finns and Estonians, also Karelians, Izhorians, Vepses, Livonians, Votes, Setos... Anyway, a "Scandinavian cross" is featured in some flags of these peoples, for example Karelians' or Ingrians'.

Furthermore,
• Samis may be represented by the fact that the emblem is off-centered [like on the Sami flag and not centered like on the Udmurt or Mordovian flag] and by the colourfullness of the flag,
• the white background may represent Samoyedic peoples, since white is also the main colour of Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Secondly, I wanted to use flags of states, where one of the Finno-Ugric language is the main language of the population. That's why I used Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian flags. The colours of the flag of Russian Federation, where most of Uralic peoples live, is also visible in the design.

Anyway, please remember, that the whole UFLAG stays for all Uralic peoples! It's not to be interpreted that every particular stripe refers to this or that Ugro-Finnic nation. Particular elements do stem from different flags, but I tried to harmonize them into one common flag.

Stripes are interwoven which imitates a traditional art of weaving and symbolizes mutual cooperation between Finno-Ugric nations.

The symbol most prominently displayed on UFLAG is also present [in a slightly different form] on flags of Udmurtia and Mordovia, as well as on the coat of arms of Karelia, but it is widely known and traditionally used in Estonia and in other regions as well: in Transilvania it is used on a flag of Székely National Council, representing a subgroup of Hungarian minority in Romania. As far as official symbols of republics and peoples are concerned, it's used only by Finno-Ugric nations.

   

It may stand for moon, sun or morning star. For example in Udmurt language it is called толэзь [toleź] 'moon' or шудо кизили [šudo kizili] 'lucky star'. It's widely used as an emblem, for example in different logo proposals for Izhevsk:

or, in a "pixelized" form, as the logo of Uralistica I designed in 2008:

In UFLAG the emblem stands for the common identity, which bonds all Uralic peoples together.

Szymon Pawlas [varpho],
designer of the UFLAG