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Ust-Ord Buriatia (Russia)

Usth-Ordyn-Bura^tia^

Last modified: 2002-12-20 by antonio martins
Keywords: ust-ord | buriat | irkutsk | ust-ord buriatia | argabar | triad | obo | meandr | bezant | blood | fire | warmth | sunlight | bravery | richness | happiness | heavens | cleanness | milk | immortality | nature | renovation | fauna | flora |
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Reconstructed image!
Flag of Ust-Ord Buriatia
by Gvido Petersons, 02 Jun 2000
See also:

Presentation of Ust-Ord Buriatia

(Note: You need an Unicode-aware software and font to correctely view the cyrillic text on this page. See here transliteration details).

  • Name (english): Ust-Ord Buriatia • (russian, short form): Усть-Ордин-Бурятия | Usth-Ordyn-Burâtiâ • (russian, long form): Усть-Ординский Бурятский автономный округ | Usth-Ordynskiĭ Burâtskiĭ avtonomnyĭ okrug
  • Local official language: Buryat
  • Capital (russian): Усть-Ординский | Usth-Ordinskiĭ • (english): Ust-Ordinskiy
  • Area: 22 400 km2 (≅8 600 sq.mi.) • Population: 143 400 inhabitants in 2000
  • Status: Autonomous District (автономный округ | avtonomnyĭ okrug) within Irkutsk Region
  • Federal District: Siberia • Economic region: East Siberia
  • License plate code: 85 • Ham radio code: UO • ISO 3166-2 code: UOB
  • Flag adopted on 1997.07.17 • Coat of arms adopted on 1997.07.17

Description of the flag

Law of July,17, 1997:

The flag is green with white horiz. stripe along bottom edge. In green is an argabar emblem in a gold ring with four small gold bezants in the corners. In the centre of the white stripe is a red meandr. Proportions 2:3. Green stripe = 7, white = 1. Meanings:
  • green - immortality, nature, renovation, fauna and flora (forests).
  • white - heavens, cleanness, milk
  • red - blood, fire, warmth, sun, bravery
  • gold - richness, happiness, light of sun
Coat of arms is «white-green shield» (per bend dexter Argent and Vert), gold ring, white argabar, four gold bezants in corners.
Victor Lomantsov, 01 Feb 2000

Meandr

"Meandr" means "meander" — zig-zag line also traditional for mongol ornaments.
Gvido Petersons, 31 May 2000

Meander is widely used everywhere in Mongolia and have many variations. A sample of this you can see also here: http://www.pmis.gov.mn/tuv/. About argabar, the most common "triade" are «three furnace (fireplace) stones - father, mother and child» but graphical symbol is not presented by star or sun. In this website, you can find diferent elements of ornaments but only two are close to argabar description: Gvido Petersons, 02 Jun 2000

Argabar

I see one time the argabar on TV, it looks like triple wavy swastika.
Victor Lomantsov, 01 Feb 2000

I think "argabar" is a true buryat word; in khalkh-mongolian it has’nt any meaning. According to description in complex — big disc with 4 small discs and "triade".
Gvido Petersons, 31 May 2000

The so called "triada" in the center of flag (and coat of arms also) according the flag Law of Ust-Orda AD is blazononed as «Triada is a white triradiated sun. Three rays are three waves running clockwise, one of the rays is upright».
Yury Rocich, 01 Jun 2000

I’ve searched in mongol etnographic ornaments: the most common "triade" are «three furnace (fireplace) stones — father, mother and child» but graphical symbol is not presented by star or sun.
Gvido Petersons, 02 Jun 2000

Also known as an obo, widely found from Siberia to Tibet; according to Owen Lattimore High Tartary, 1930 (reprint 1994):

Obos have been described as graves by at least one pair of travelers. They are in fact obos of the kind that Qirghiz and Qazaqs, like the Mongols, Tibetans, and all the folk of the inner lands of Asia, set up in all memorable places and on peaks, passes, the junction of boundaries, and holy ground. In this place they are raised to the guardian powers of the pass, and staves are set in them, fluttering with tassels, rags, and, by a peculiar custom of the Muzart, the tails of all norses and beasts of transport that have died on the importunate glacier.
Jarig Bakker, 02 Jun 2000

All three related flags (Mongolia’s, Buryatia’s and Agin Buryatia’s) show soyonboes. Ust-Ord Buryatia’s flag, on the other hand, features an argabar, quite similar to the US Dep. of Transportantion logo and to the labaru cantabru, which appears on some cantabrian independentist flags.
Antonio Martins, 05 Sep 2000


Former flag?

[Former flag of Ust-Ord Buriatia]
by Zeljko Heimer and James Dignan, 19 May 1999

A flag, of unknown symbolism, has been reported. It is gold with two purple stripes at the base.
Stuart Notholt, 08 Dec 1995

This flag is listed under number 125 at the chart Flags of Aspirant Peoples [eba94] as: «Ust-Ordu”n Buryatia - South Siberia».
Ivan Sache, 15 Sep 1999

This flag was adopted Aug 20 1992. One question about the flags of

Is any particular reason or reasons why those flag design pattern are that similar to each other?
Nozomi Kariyasu, 27 Jan 2000