Lebanon

Al-Jumhhuriya al-Lubnaniya

Last modified: 1997-10-27 by vincent morley
Keywords: lebanon | asia | arab | cedar | tree |
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by Zeljko Heimer

• Explanation of the flag

I don't know how they decided to use red stripes, but the tree is the cedar traditionally connected with Lebanon. In the 18th century the Maronite Christians used a white flag with the cedar tree, with reference to the Bible (Ps 92:12, 'the righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon'). Later, when Lebanon was under French mandate, the French tricolour was used with a cedar tree in the middle.
There is a reference in W. Smith's 1980 book to the colours: 'The red and white colors are those associated, respectively, with the Kayssites and Yemenites, opposing clans that divided Lebanese society between 634 and 1711.'
Zeljko Heimer 8-AUG-1996

I found the same explanations and I have additional, unofficial ones: Lebanese friends told me that red might represent martyrs' blood and white snow, holiness and eternity.
Another interesting point is that most of the Lebanese flags hoisted or depicted in flag charts (except in FOTW, congratulations to Zeljko!) are not correct. According to the constitution law of 7 December 1943, the three colours of the flag must be red, white and green. Branches and trunks of the cedar are ususally coloured in brown for the sake of realism (or, as some friends told me, in black to celebrate the Syrian-Lebanese 'friendship').
Ivan Sache 12-AUG-1996

Even if the official version of the flag has only a green cedar touching the red stripes, one must admit that other combinations are fairly often used. The main variations are of three kinds:

1. the red-white-red stripes in
   • 1:2:1 proportions (official)
   • 1:1:1
2. cedar
   • green all over (official)
   • green-brown
   • green-black
3. cedar is
   • touching the red stripes (official)
   • smaller
   • bigger (rarely)