Flag waving of North Macedonia -

The flag of North Macedonia (Macedonian: Знаме на Северна Македонија) depicts a stylized yellow sun on a red field, with eight broadening rays extending from the centre to the edge of the field. It was created by Miroslav Grčev and was adopted on 5 October 1995. The first flag of the country featured the Vergina Sun which had been discovered at Aigai, the first capital and burial ground of the ancient kings of Macedon. Greece considers the Vergina Sun to be a Greek symbol and imposed a year-long economic embargo in order to force the then Republic of Macedonia to remove it from its flag, resulting in the current design. The new eight-rayed sun represents the "new sun of Liberty" referred to in "Denes nad Makedonija", the national anthem of North Macedonia. The change of the flag was at first not accepted by conservative Macedonians, nationalists, and Greek patriots. In the first years after the change, both flags were officially flown for a long time. Between 1995 and 1998, in the municipalities where then-opposition party VMRO-DPMNE ruled, only the old flag was flown from institution buildings. Popular opinion was divided about the merits of changing the flag; a survey carried out before the Assembly's vote found that a majority of the population, 56.33 percent, supported the adoption of a new flag. The Assembly voted for the new flag by an overwhelming majority of 110 in favour, one against, and four abstaining.