Last modified: 2019-01-02 by bruce berry
Keywords: burundi | sabena | drum | sorghum | karyenda | error | star: 6 points (fimbriated) | stars: triangle | stars: 3 | star: 6 points |
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The historical timeline of major political events is as follows:
image
by Jaume Ollé, 20 Jan 1997Initially the flag had vertical stripes of red, white,
green, with golden emblem (a drum) in center.
This flag was in use around 1961-62.
Posted to me by Jorge Hurtado, editor of
Banderas.
Jaume Ollé, 20 Jan 1997 and 05 Sep 1998
The source of this flag is very unreliable:
If I remember correctly, this flag was redesigned after
a newspaper report which said that "in Burundi was
hoisted a flag of red, white and green with a Royal drum
on it" . So this illustration might be nothing
more than a poor reconstruction of the
1962 flag.
Ralf Stelter, 13 Jun 1999
image
from World Statesman located by Zane Whitehorn, 11 Nov 2002 and updated
by António MARTINS-Tuválkin, 03 Oct 2017At the World Statesmen website there is a historical Burundi flag
as pictured above.
The flag
is purple with what I presume is a wheat stalk behind a red shield. The shield has interlocking white semicircles.
The status of the flag is unknown.
Zane Whitehorn, 11 Nov 2002
image
by Pascal Gross, 22 Aug 1998There are also reported variants where the colour of the drum is red and the position of the drum and sorghum is different as shown below.
image
by Pascal Gross, 22 Aug 1998
On independence day, the flag adopted was in the current
design but with a sorghum plant and the drum (in
red) in the centre. This flag is shown on a postage stamp issued on
the independence day.
The image above is one of several known variants.
Jaume Ollé, 05 Sep 1998
The king (a Tutsi) appreciated similarity between a red
drum and a Hutu axe and ordered the flag to be changed. The rendition
of the drum is also more complex as shown in several books.
Jaume Ollé, 05 Sep 1998
image
by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 07 April 2001 based on image scanned by Jarig Bakker,
09 Oct 2000,
from the flag chart of 'De Gei"llustreerde Pers' (Amsterdam, 1965)
The
drum/plant emblem on top of the shield appears in
Burundi coins issued in 1962.
Other Burundi coins, issued in 1965,
show the drum/plant emblem on top of the shield. It seems
strange that there is such a great difference on how the drum/plant
is portrayed in the coins with the one portrayed in the flags.
Dimitris Kiminas, 25 Sep 2000
When the monarchy was overthrown in 1966, these
symbols were abandoned.
Stuart Notholt, 12 Mar 1996
I have three photographs from 1962 that might tell an interesting story about
the design of Burundi's original flag.
The following two photos were taken in the Usumbura before independence:
images
sent by Brendan Hennessy, 20 Jan 2013
Note that the two flags are almost the same - The drum is tall and
detailed and the sorghum plant's leaves are close to the stem. But the second
photo's caption says, "Here, two recruits hold the new Burundi flag in a photo
made a few days before the 01 July independence became effective. Mwami
Mwambutsa, the ruler of Burundi, noticed that the tom-tom in the new flag is
more Bahutu than Watusi in design, and has ordered all flags to be scrapped and
design to be changed, reliable sources said."
Now look at this photo of the actual independence ceremony in Usumbura:
image sent by Brendan Hennessy, 20 Jan 2013
The design of this flag is different. The drum is shorter and
wider with no details, and the sorghum plant's leaves extend out further from
the stem. The same design appears on a commemorative stamp a few months later.
image
sent by Brendan Hennessy, 20 Jan 2013
I think this second flag, the one that was raised and adopted on 01 Jul 1962,
might be the replacement that Mwambutsa ordered. That would explain the lack of
detail — it would have had to be made incredibly fast to be ready for the
independence ceremony ceremony.
Brendan Hennessy, 20 Jan 2013
image
by Joán-Françčs Blanc, 10 Jan 2000
After 29 November 1966 the monarchy fell and the drum
was removed from the flag leaving only the sorghum plant in the centre of the
flag.
This period is a bit confused. According to DGF-Nachrichten
(Issue 10) a flag was used without the drum or the sorghum plant for
two days between 27-28 November 1966.
Jaume Ollé, 05 Sep 1998
From 1962 until September 1966 the circle in the center
of the flag bore the royal drum and a sorghum plant, and from
September until November 1966 the sorghum alone.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 12 Jan 2000, quoting from
Mucha's Encyclopedia, 1985
image by Mark Sensen and António Martins, 15 Nov 1999
Three red stars, fimbriated in green, were added to the centre of the flag in
1967. The one-over-two arrangement of the stars is illustrated
on a postage stamp to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the Republic in
1970. Although the ratio of the flag was fixed on 27 September 1982
as being
3:5, between 1967 and that date the de facto
ratio was 2:3.
The three
stars in the centre of the flag officially refer to the three words in the
national motto “Unité,
Travail, Progrčs” (French for “Unity, Work, Progress”). The three stars are
also said to represent the three ethnic groups who live in Burundi, namely the
Hutu, Tutsi and the Twa. The colours represent hope (green), peace (white) and
the struggle for independence (red).
Jaume Ollé, 05 Sep 1998
image
by Mark Sensen and António MARTINS-Tuválkin, 15 Nov 1999Burundi's flag was never with two stars on top. The image on
the postage stamp is incorrect.
Ralf Stelter, 09 Dec 2000
1962c.gif){kind=link}
1965c.gif){kind=link}