The coat of arms and the flag of Mordovia are heraldic symbols based on national traditions

In classical heraldry, there is a clear content of symbols and a special interpretation of the meaning of each color. In many state symbols created without attention to these provisions of the stamp-making science and based on ethnic or national customs, the meaning of the color combinations used may be incorrect or even absurd.

The coat of arms and the flag of Mordovia are an example of the coincidence of the heraldic meaning of the colors used and the traditions of folk art.

State self-determination of the Mordovians

Formation of the Mordovian people as a special group of the Finno-Ugric tribes occurred in the first centuries of our era. It was formed by the fusion of two nationalities, who bore the self-name moksha and Erzya. They lived in the basins of two tributaries of the Oka - Moksha and Sura - and occupied territories stretching to the Urals.

The Mordvinian people did not have their statehood before the 20th century, until the Soviet times. After the end of the Civil War, the process of creating autonomous republics began, which were formed on the basis of peoples that supported Bolshevik power. Among such national formations of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia were Mari and Komi, Tatars and Udmurts, Yakuts and Buryats, Bashkirs and others. The Mordovians, who lived on the territory of several Volga and Priok provinces, also received their autonomy. Mordovia was formed, transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Region. In December 1934 the Mordovian ASSR was established with its capital in Saransk.

New status - a new heraldry

When creating autonomy in the Soviet era, among other government attributes, the emblem and the flag of Mordovia were established. They repeated, with minor changes, the state heraldry of the Union Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The new Mordovian state symbols was created when the republic acquired the state status of autonomy within the Russian Federation (1990) and the proclamation of its new official name - the Republic of Mordovia. A competition was organized to create her heraldic attributes. He was presented with more than a hundred variants of the flag alone.

The contest commission determined the best version of the flag, designed by the artist Andrei Stepanovich Aleshkin, mordvin-erzya by nationality, a connoisseur and connoisseur of national culture. The flag of Mordovia in the version of Aleshkin completely corresponded to the Mordovian traditions in the semantic and color decision and was approved by the official heraldmasters. At the heart of the colouristic decision of the flag are the colors used in Mordovian culture since ancient times.

White, red and black

The main color of Mordovian heraldry was a special shade of red, which is called the madder. This dark red color Mordovian craftsmen from earliest times received from the decoction of the roots of the mattress - a herbaceous or semi-shrub plant from the Marenov family or with the help of a well-known natural dye - onion husk. This color on the flag has an upper horizontal strip of 1/4 of the entire width and a central solar sign - an eight-pointed rosette - an ancient symbol of the sun.

White color - the color of the sun-bleached canvas - is customary for the Mordovian national costume as a shirt color, as a background for decorative embroidery using red and black colored threads.

Black color, prevailing along with the madder in the national Mordovian pattern, in the state symbols was transformed into dark blue. The color of the earth turned into a symbolic designation of the soil, watered with moisture. The flag of Mordovia avoided, therefore, the excessive tragedy traditionally associated with black color, and found a new, more optimistic content.

Main character

Of the several variants of the emblem of the republic, the project of the teacher of the Mordovian Pedagogical Institute Nikolay Chikrinov was chosen. He has a distinct national color that prevails over the classical rules of heraldry. The emblem of Mordovia has in the description as traditional elements containing a reference to Soviet symbolism - ears of wheat, interwoven with a ribbon of colors of the national Mordovian flag, and narrowly national symbolism - cervical female ornament - a gold hryvnia with seven ornamental symbols denoting the seven main Mordovian cities.

The central part of the coat of arms is the heraldic three-colored shield, on which the old coat of arms of the capital of the republic, Saransk, is located. This historical symbol of the city, which appeared during the heraldic reform of Empress Catherine II, contains an image in the silver field of a running red fox, above it three black arrows pointing downwards. This symbol is treated as a symbol of the main occupation of the indigenous peoples of Mordovia - hunting. Another interpretation of the sign of the fox - a symbol of cunning and intelligence - is often negative in classical heraldry.

Symbolism of flowers of the arms and flag of Mordovia

In each culture there are traditions of the symbolic meaning of colors. In their own way, the representatives of different faiths interpret the colors, supporters of different political views and trends. The coat of arms of Mordovia contains colors, having an interpretation, giving the coat of arms a special significance:

• Red - the right, strength, courage, courage, loyalty.
• White is peace, purity, innocence.
• Blue - honor, loyalty, fame, sincerity.

The eight-point socket is a solar symbol of warmth, kindness, openness, stability. Such concepts as "spiritual purity", "striving for goodness and openness, for free development on a fertile land" are the main filling of the main state symbols of the Mordovian republic. The anthem of Mordovia, containing three different verses, written in three languages spoken in the republic: Moksha, Erzyan and Russian, also narrates about them.