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Bulgaria - Subdivisions

Provinces

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Provinces:

Some common trends in the development of the Bulgarian municipal flags:

According to the 1991 Law of Local Self-government and Local Administration, article 16, the municipalities may have their own symbols. Although before that municipalities had the so called "coats of arms", they had no flags (excluding that of Veliko Tarnovo, which was adopted before 1991). Since then, the municipal councils started to adopt flags and new coats of arms without the symbols discredited by the communist regime, such as the five-pointed star, wheat-ear, rack-wheel etc. An interesting fact is the perception that the flag must bear the coat of arms. Another interesting circumstance is the neglect of the most common colour in vexillology - the red one. The red is used only as part of national colours, included in the municipal flag as it is shown on the flag of Sliven. Even the flag of Cherven Bryag (coming soon), which means "Red Bank", is not red, but burnt sienna with logo. The "rating" of the most used colours in the Bulgarian municipal flags is as follows: green, blue (in different shades), white, yellow, purple. I suggest that, in spite of the popularity of red in the Bulgarian history and folklore, the avoidance of it in the modern Bulgarian flag designing is based on its connotations to the communist regime.
Stoyan Antonov, 10 August 2005