FLAG OF BURKINA FASO: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Burkina Faso flag is the country's most important national symbol and its function is to represent the African Republic before any instance. It is made up of a red and a green stripe, which divide it equally horizontally, and a five-pointed star right in the middle of both.

This pavilion is relatively new. It was adopted on August 4, 1984, and its design corresponded to the president of the country, Thomas Sankara, at that time. This replaced the three-stripe flag, which existed when the country was still a French colony.

By SKopp. Via: Wikimedia Commons

Although its design was influenced by communist symbols, the flag has remained the flag of Burkina Faso. Its colors have re-adopted a meaning related to the country and not to a specific government. This has led to the flag being 32 years old.

characteristics

The Burkina Faso insignia is a pan-African flag, incorporating the colors green and red. Although there are many interpretations of its meaning, red can identify the Socialist Revolution promoted by Thomas Sankara after the country's independence. It is also related to the desert north of Burkina Faso.

Green, for its part, is directly related to the exuberance of the country's agricultural resources. On the other hand, this tonality refers to the fact that a good part of the territory of Burkina Faso belongs to the Western Sudanese Sabana ecoregion.

As for the meaning of the yellow star, located right in the center of the banner, it represents more of the light that will guide the people. This flag is drawn in a 2: 3 ratio and shares many similarities with other countries on the African continent, such as Cameroon or Mozambique.

History of the flag

Colonial Burkina Faso: Upper Volta

Burkina Faso was a French colony until 1960. By then, its name was Upper Volta. Its flag was a tricolor banner made up of three horizontal stripes, one black, one white and one red. This represented the three main currents of the Volta River, which runs through the nation from end to end.

Flag of Upper Volta (1960-1984). By odder (Image originally derived from the public domain), via Wikimedia Commons

Burkina Faso independence

Although Upper Volta achieved independence from France in 1960, the nation went through more than two decades of political instability. During this time, power passed through the hands of at least three soldiers who broke in by force through coups.

However, in 1983 Thomas Sankara came to power, determined to make profound changes in the republic. The first of them was the modification of its name, which from Alto Volta, began to be Burkina Faso, which means: homeland of men of integrity.

Sankara also modified all the national symbols: shield, national anthem and flag. All of these were impregnated with symbolisms associated with socialism and agricultural development.

In this way, on August 4, 1984, the new national flag was established. This persisted throughout the years, even after Sankara's murder in 1987.

Their adoption meant for the society of Burkina Faso an overcoming of the colonial symbols of Upper Volta and they were not identified as communist symbols.

Current flag, adopted in 1984

Meaning of the flag

The flag of the Republic of Burkina Faso has two stripes, red and green, respectively. It also has a five-pointed star in the center of the banner. These symbols have countless associations with elements of a totally different nature.

The Red color

In relation to its colors, red is usually associated with the irruption of the socialist revolution led by Thomas Sankara, which was established in the country in 1983. This government had as a model some political movements such as that of Fidel Castro, established in Cuba. Even Sankara was known by some authors such as the African Che Guevara.

On the other hand, it is also considered that the color red represents the desert plains located in the north of the country, which at certain times of the year usually take on a reddish hue like that of the flag. Other theories associate this tonality with a symbolic element of the country's struggle for independence.

The color green

The color green is associated with land tenure, self-control of it and the exuberance of development in agriculture, especially in the south of the country.

This is because one of Sankara's policies was aimed at seeking political and economic independence through agriculture. In addition, the color becomes representative of the south of the country, fertile land and crops.

Other approaches link that this tonality is used in the flag, since its psychological meaning is associated with hope and abundance. Therefore, using it on the national banner sought to suggest a splendid future for the nascent independent republic.

The yellow star

The yellow five-pointed star is associated with the guidance of the democratic and popular revolution. The stars have been a distinctive symbol of socialist movements and republics in the world. Also, its meaning can be attributed to the light that guides the people.

Furthermore, if it is understood that the red stripe is the north of the country and the green stripe is the south, the star would mean the city of Ouagadougou, capital of the country.

Pan-Africanism on the Burkina Faso flag

The Burkina Faso flag has two colors, red and green, which are very common and frequent in the different flags of African countries. These shades, along with black, have been identified as pan-African colors and are brought together in a flag.

The Pan-African banner has three horizontal stripes: red, black, and green, respectively. The countries that, like Burkina Faso, have adhered to these colors promote African brotherhood, in addition to the union between states, peoples and cultures.

By Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UnknownUnknown source), via Wikimedia Commons

The red of the Pan-African flag symbolizes the blood shed by the black slaves. Green is linked to the exuberance of nature and black to the color of the skin of its inhabitants.

These are values ​​that were also vindicated by the government that Sankara directed, and that transferred to the national flag, with the incorporation of the yellow star.

Similarity with other flags

There are other flags of the continent that share symbols with the flag of Burkina Faso. For example, the one in Cameroon also has a yellow star. Other flags that have five-pointed stars with the same colors are Ghana, Senegal or Guinea Bissau.

In addition to these banners, the flag of Burkina Faso bears several similarities to the flag of Mozambique. This is affirmed in relation to the symbols of a socialist nature because both nations were going through similar independence processes.

Common ideological regimes were established in the two countries, which were also reflected in the approval of similar flags in the same year. The yellow star and the green and red stripes are some of the common elements with the flag of the former Portuguese colony.

Flag of Mozambique. Source: pixabay.com

References

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3. Lindauer, M. (1969). Color preferences among the flags of the world. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 29 (3), 892-894. Recovered from: journals.sagepub.com
4. Diplomatic Information Office of the Government of Spain. (2018) Country File: Burkina Faso. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Recovered from exterior.gob.es
5. Smith, W. (2011). Flag of Burkina Faso. Encyclopædia Britannica. Recovered from britannica.com.
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