The national flag of Latvia () is a triband featuring two wide horizontal stripes of red at the top and bottom, separated by a twice narrower white centre stripe. It was used as the national flag after Latvia became an independent country in 1918. After the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Latvia in 1940, its use was suppressed by the Soviet government. On 27 February 1990, shortly before Latvia regained independence, the government re-adopted the traditional red-white-red flag.
Though officially adopted in 1921, the Latvian flag was used in as early as the 13th century, according to the Rhymed Chronicle of Livonia. The red colour is sometimes described as symbolizing the readiness of the Latvians to give the blood from their hearts for freedom and their willingness to defend their sovereignty. An alternative interpretation is that a Latgalian leader was wounded in battle, and the sheet on which he was laid on was stained by his blood with only the centre stripe of the sheet being left unstained. This story is similar to the legend of the origins of the flag of Austria.
History
The red-white-red Latvian flag is first mentioned in the late medieval Rhymed Chronicle of Livonia (Livländische Reimchronik), which covers the period from 1180 to 1343, and is thus among the oldest flags in the world. The chronicle tells of a battle that took place around 1279, in which ancient Latgalian tribes from Cēsis (Wenden), a city in northern modern-day Latvia, went to war, bearing a 'red flag with a white stripe'.
A separate popular legend recounts the story of a mortally wounded chief of Latgalians who had been wrapped in a white sheet. The part of sheet on which he was lying remained white, and the two edges were coloured by his blood. During the next battle, the bloodstained sheet was used as a flag. According to the legend, this time the Latgalian warriors were successful and drove the enemy away. Since then, Latgalian tribes have been using these colours as their symbol.
Inspired by these historical records, several Latvian nationalists began to use such flags again in the 19th century.
200px|thumb|Textile version of the Latvian flag.
In 1917, a red-white-red flag was used in several events focused on uniting Latvian regions as well as Latvian military formations (e.g. Latvian Riflemen units, Iskolat institutions), and the debate about the visual appearance of the Latvian flag was raised. In May, during a meeting of the Latvian Art Promotion Association (Latviešu mākslas veicināšanas biedrība), several proposals were reviewed, finally, a design by artist was accepted. Cīrulis' design was also popularized in postcards printed by photographer Jānis Rieksts. The Latvian national flag, together with the national coat of arms was officially affirmed in this format by a decree of the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia passed on 15 June 1921.]]
During the Soviet occupation by the Soviet Union (and briefly during occupation by Nazi Germany), the red-white-red Latvian flag was rendered unusable from 1940 to 1941 and 1944 to 1991. Any production and public display of the national Latvian flag was considered anti-state crime and punishable by law. The first flag of Soviet Latvia was a red flag with the gold hammer and sickle in the top-left corner, with the Latin characters LPSR (Latvijas Padomju Sociālistiskā Republika) above them in gold in a serif font. In 1953, the final version of the flag was adopted. It depicts the Soviet flag with six blue wavy bands representing the sea on the bottom.
Restoration
The local authorities restored the status of the red-white-red flag as the national flag of Latvia on 15 February 1990, one and half years before the formal recognition of Latvian independence by the Soviet Union on 6 September 1991.
Design
thumb|A comparison of the physical and digital versions of the flag
According to Latvian law, The Latvian national flag is carmine red with a white horizontal stripe. (). The colour on the flag is sometimes referred to as Latvian red. The red colour of the Latvian flag is a particularly dark shade, which is composed of brown and purple. The flag's colour proportions are 2:1:2 (the upper and lower red bands each being twice as wide as the central white band), and the ratio of the height of the flag to its width is fixed at 1:2.
On 11 April 1995, the State Heraldic Commission have once chosen Pantone 1807 C for red colour, this was later replaced by Pantone 201 C on 21 April 2009. On 1 May 2010, the Cabinet of Ministers issued the Procedures for the Application of the Law on the National Flag, which standardized Pantone 19-1629 TPX or 19-1629 TC for red field; an amendment made on 27 November 2018, which came into force 1 January 2019, stating that non-fabric flags, as well as representations produced using other techniques (including digital representations), would use Pantone 201 C, whilst physical flags would continue using 19-1629 TPX/TC.
{| class = "wikitable"
|+Flag colors
! colspan="4" | Proportions and colours of the flag in Pantone<br />320px
|-
!
! style = "background-color:#FFFFFF"|White
! style = "background-color:#9D2235;color:white"|Red (Digital)
! style = "background-color:#77353D;color:white"|Red (Textile)
|-
| Pantone
| White
| 201 C