The Blue-and-Yellow Flag, the Trident Coat of Arms, and an Anthem Whose Words Were Only Fixed in 2003

Article 20 of Ukraine’s constitution, adopted on June 28, 1996, establishes three state symbols: the State Flag (Державний Прапор), the State Coat of Arms (Державний Герб), and the State Anthem (Державний Гімн). The same Article 20 also establishes Kyiv as the capital.

The article also describes the content of the three symbols. The flag is “two equally sized horizontal stripes of blue and yellow.” For the coat of arms, the main element of the Great State Coat of Arms is “the emblem of the Princely State of Volodymyr the Great,” that is, the Small Coat of Arms. The anthem is “the national anthem set to the music of M. Verbytsky, with lyrics established by law.” However, the timing at which each of the three took its final form differs, and it was only in 2003 that the anthem’s lyrics were finally fixed by law.

The Flag: Blue on Top, Yellow Below

On January 28, 1992, the year after independence, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) established the flag through Decision No. 2067-XII. It reads: “a rectangular cloth made of two equally sized horizontal stripes, blue on top and yellow below, with a width-to-length ratio of 2 to 3.” The 1996 constitution wrote the form of two equal horizontal stripes of blue and yellow into its text.

August 23 is “State Flag Day.” This was established by Presidential Decree No. 987/2004 of August 23, 2004, which provides that a flag-raising ceremony is to be held every year at 9:00 a.m. in Kyiv and in the administrative centers of the oblasts and raions, among other places.

The Trident on the Coat of Arms Traces Back to Coins of Kyivan Rus

On February 19, 1992, the Verkhovna Rada, through Decision No. 2137-XII, established the trident (tryzub, тризуб) as the Small Coat of Arms and positioned it as the main element of the Great Coat of Arms. This decision also states that the coat of arms is to be placed, in accordance with defined proportions, on the seals of state bodies, on currency, postage stamps, official identification documents, and the letterhead of public institutions.

On the trident’s origin, the Trident entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (IEU), published by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta (written by Arkadii Zhukovsky; the print edition first appeared in Volume 5, 1993), explains as follows. As a state emblem, the trident goes back to the era of Kyivan Rus, where it served as the heraldic emblem of the Riurykide dynasty. There are various theories about its origin and meaning. The trident was also a symbol of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, and it has been used as a religious or military emblem, a coat of arms, a monogram, and an ornament in various societies, including the Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea, Byzantium, and Scandinavia. The oldest example found by archaeologists on Ukrainian soil dates to the 1st century AD.

According to the same entry, Volodymyr the Great (980–1015) issued gold and silver coins bearing the trident, most likely inherited from his ancestors as a dynastic emblem, and he passed it on to his sons Sviatopolk I and Yaroslav the Wise. The trident was also carved into the bricks of the Church of the Tithes (十分の一教会, デシャチンナ教会) in Kyiv (986–996). As its use spread, its form branched out, and nearly 200 medieval variants have been found. As a state emblem, it was replaced in the 12th century by an image of the Archangel Michael.

It became the emblem of a modern state in 1918. According to the IEU, on the recommendation of Mykhailo Hrushevsky, the Mala Rada adopted the trident of Volodymyr the Great as the coat of arms of the Ukrainian National Republic on February 12, 1918, followed by the Central Rada on March 22. The IEU writes that this linked the modern Ukrainian state with the medieval state of Kyivan Rus. The design of both the Great and Small Coats of Arms was drawn by Vasyl Krychevsky.

The coat of arms of the Soviet-era Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was centered on a hammer and sickle. The IEU’s Coat of arms entry (written by Mykhailo Miller; the print edition first appeared in Volume 1, 1984) states that it “contained no traditional Ukrainian elements.” Following independence, the decision of February 19, 1992 once again made the trident the centerpiece of the coat of arms.

The 1992 decision established only the Small Coat of Arms. As for the Great Coat of Arms, Article 20 of the constitution states that it is to be established by law “taking into account the Small Coat of Arms and the emblem of the Zaporozhian Host” (Військо Запорізьке), and that such a law requires the support of at least two-thirds of the Verkhovna Rada’s 450 seats. According to the IEU’s Coat of arms entry, the emblem of the Zaporozhian Host has been known since the 16th century and depicted an armed Cossack. The Verkhovna Rada’s seat count and the situations that require a two-thirds majority are covered in What Ukraine’s President, Verkhovna Rada, and Cabinet Each Decide.

The Anthem: The Music Came First, the Lyrics 11 Years Later

On January 15, 1992, Decree No. 2042-XII of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada approved the “musical version” of the state anthem composed by M. M. Verbytsky, and directed that it be performed nationwide starting the following day, the 16th. The same decree repealed a 1978 decree, dated March 22, on the anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. At this point, only the music was approved; the lyrics were not established.

The 1996 constitution provided that the anthem’s lyrics would be established by a law passed with the support of at least two-thirds of the Verkhovna Rada’s seats. That law, “On the State Anthem of Ukraine” (No. 602-IV), was enacted on March 6, 2003. The law provided that the first verse and refrain of Pavlo Chubynsky’s poem, “in the following wording,” would be the anthem’s lyrics.

Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля,
Ще нам, браття молодії, усміхнеться доля.
Згинуть наші воріженьки, як роса на сонці.
Запануєм і ми, браття, у своїй сторонці.
Приспів:
Душу й тіло ми положим за нашу свободу,
І покажем, що ми, браття, козацького роду.

Article 1, Law “On the State Anthem of Ukraine” (No. 602-IV, March 6, 2003). Translation: Ukraine’s glory and freedom have not yet perished. Fate will yet smile on us, young brothers and sisters. Our enemies will vanish like dew in the sun. We too, brothers and sisters, shall be masters in our own land. (Refrain) We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom, and we’ll show that we, brothers and sisters, are of the Cossack nation. English translation by Ukrainavi’s editors.

The law also provides that ceremonies of nationwide significance are to begin and end with the performance of the anthem (Article 2). Publicly insulting the flag, the coat of arms, or the anthem is subject, under Article 338 of the Criminal Code, to a fine, probation of up to three years, or imprisonment of up to three years.

On the composer and the lyricist, the IEU writes as follows. Mykhailo Verbytsky (1815–1870) was a composer and choirmaster from Galicia, and a Catholic priest. He wrote choral works and music for 18 plays, and his best-known work is this anthem, which the IEU dates to 1862–63. Pavlo Chubynsky (1839–1884), born in Boryspil, was an ethnographer who led an ethnographic and statistical survey expedition through Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova in 1869–70. The poem he wrote, “Shche ne vmerla Ukraina” (Ukraine has not yet perished), later became the anthem of the Ukrainian National Republic and, today, of Ukraine.

The title given by the IEU and the first line established by the 2003 law, “Ukraine’s glory and freedom have not yet perished,” are not identical wording. It is the latter wording that the law establishes as the anthem’s lyrics.

The Order in Which the Three Symbols Were Fixed

The era of Kyivan Rus, when the trident was in use, is covered in the article From Kyivan Rus to the 16th Century.