Finland Flag
The Finnish flag, or Siniristilippu (“Blue Cross Flag”), was officially adopted on May 29, 1918, shortly after Finland gained independence. Its white background symbolizes the snow-covered terrain, while the blue cross reflects the nation’s thousands of lakes and expansive skies—a poetic vision first captured in an 1863 poem by Zacharias Topelius, who described it as embodying “the blue of our lakes and the white snow of our winters”