Among the national republics that make up the Russian Federation, there are autonomous entities that have an ancient history of their indigenous, titular peoples, but not a very long practice of using their own heraldic symbols.
Therefore, after a wave of national self-determination that arose after the collapse of the USSR, an active process of herbalism began in them. It was based not on the principles of classical heraldry, but on national and ethno-historical symbols. The coat of arms and flag of Udmurtia is one of the brightest examples of this phenomenon.
The ancient people of Prikamye
The Udmurts have tribes as their distant ancestors, which made up a special community for 2-3 millennia BC - the Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabited vast territories from the Urals and the banks of the Kama River to the Baltic and Northern Scandinavia. From them also came the Mordovians, Komi, Karelians, Finns, Hungarians, Estonians and those who settled north - Khanty and Mansi. The history of Udmurtia can be reckoned from the time when the final separation of the Udmurt language from the Finno-Ugric group occurred. This happened in the period from the 7th to the 13th centuries, and a variety of names were used to denote this nationality: Ary, Aryan, Otyak, Votyak, or Chud Votyak.
By the time of the formation of the single Russian state - the 15th century - part of the Udmurts lived in the territory belonging to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and those who lived south and east were part of the Kazan Khanate. Since 1552, after the conquest of Kazan by the army of the Russian tsar, the history of the existence of all the Udmurts as a nation, which is part of a single state, begins.
Autonomous Oblast, Autonomous Republic
Until October 1917, the Udmurts did not have any national self-determination, living in the territory of 4 counties of the Vyatka province. On their basis, the Votsk Autonomous Region was formed in 1920 - the history of Udmurtia as an independent administrative entity began with it. Later - in 1932 - it was renamed the Udmurt Autonomous Region.
Since September 1934, the Autonomous Republic of Udmurtia was formed as part of the RSFSR . According to the then practice, the modified emblem of the RSFSR played the role of the main state symbol of the autonomous republics that are part of the union . So it was with the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic: the inscription on the coat of arms of the RSFSR was supplemented with text from smaller letters that made up the name of the republic in Russian and Udmurt languages, and the motto on the tape curling the ears is “Workers of all countries, unite!” - duplicated in Udmurt style.
New history, new symbolism
In November 1990, the Republic of Udmurtia gained national sovereignty. Soon, the Council of Ministers announced a competition for the creation of state symbols, during which about 40 variants of the coat of arms of the republic were considered. The authors of the projects proposed a variety of objects as the main symbol, based on the nature of the Udmurt region, its history and mythology.
An image of a spruce, a tree, which has always played an important role in the life of the Udmurts, in its oral and applied creativity, was proposed. In another version, the flag and coat of arms of Udmurtia contained an image of a duck - a bird, with which, according to the ancient legends of the Udmurts, the creation of the world began.
Italmas
One of the most popular was the proposal to use the image of italmas on the coat of arms. The scientific name of this flower is the European swimsuit, and it is an unofficial symbol of Udmurtia. This was reflected in folk songs and tales, and this word became famous after the poem of the same name by the classic of Udmurt literature Mikhail Petrov.
A proposal came out in the second round of the competition, in which a golden yellow flower was located on the background of a shield painted in the colors of the Russian tricolor. Italmas has not been approved. One of the arguments was that this type of buttercup grows not only in Udmurtia, but is widespread throughout the continent and cannot be associated only with it.
The project of Yuri Lobanov
One of the contenders for the victory was a project developed by the artist of the publishing house "Udmurtia" Yu. Lobanov. Its first version contained an image of an amulet in the form of a stylized duck, which was copied from an archaeological artifact found on the territory of the republic. During the discussion, it was proposed to replace the duck with its wings down with a swan with its wings deployed - this was the birth of the central image, which contains the flag and coat of arms of Udmurtia, approved in 1994.
The image of the “human bird”, which has become the main one in the modern official symbols of Udmurtia, has ancient roots dating back to the distant past. It is believed that the people consisted of 77 genera, whose names retain many of the current regions of Udmurtia. Each of the genera had its own sign - a symbol from the natural world, a stylized image of a separate species of animals or birds. These motifs were used in numerous jewelry, in embroidery, in jewelry and ritual pendants, symbolizing the unity of man and nature, the desire for freedom, flight and rebirth.
Color selection
The option of using the colors of the Russian flag in the coat of arms of the republic seemed a reference to the Soviet era, when national symbols were necessarily used in the attributes of autonomies. Therefore, the proposal by Yu. Lobanov using black, white and red colors was preferable, and for the flag these colors were in the form of three vertical stripes with the center of the red “Udmurtian cross”.
The three-lane flag of Udmurtia is also a reference to the ancient views of the Udmurts on the world order. They represented the world divided by God into three tiers: heaven, earth and the afterlife, they are ruled by their deities, who are in a complex and close interaction.
Shudo Kizili - Lucky Star
Today's emblem and flag of Udmurtia contain another ancient symbol - the solar sign, which was used in the cultures of many Finno-Ugric peoples and even today is used in their heraldry. An octagram - an eight-pointed star or cross - is present on the state symbols of Chuvashia, Karelia, Mordovia. In Latvian, this sign is called "Auseklis", and in Udmurt - "Tolezo". In most nations, it denotes the sun, and in the Udmurts it is attached to the moon. Interpreters of ancient national symbolism have another name - shudo kizili - a lucky star. It takes on the meaning of a talisman guarding a person at a time when the daylight has gone beyond the horizon.
At one time there was a problem of different interpretations of such a symbol. When the law on the fight against the propaganda of fascism came out, the flag of Udmurtia was suddenly hit. The photo with him was used as an illustration when commenting on the law - some zealous researchers saw the connection of the symbol on the coat of arms of Udmurtia and the Nazi swastika. They seriously considered the question of prohibiting their use as having the same value.
White, black, red
The official state flag of Udmurtia has a very expressive color scheme. By all the rules of classical heraldry, it uses the same colors as in the coat of arms. Red, black and white are some of the most often used in the decorative arts of the peoples of the Kama region, in particular, in the Udmurt national costume, while they have a distinct symbolic meaning.
Black is the color of solidity, stability. It is the color of the earth with which all human life is connected - from birth to death. Red Udmurts, like Russians, are called the sun. This is joy, celebration, celebration, victory, life. This is a fight, blood. "Tody, yugyt dunne" - a white, bright world - so the Udmurts call everything that surrounds a person in life. White color is the universal cosmic scale of the universe, and its purity, and its eternity.
As the modern Udmurt poet Vladimir Vladykin said:
There are three great eternal colors:
Red, black, white.
The sun is red
The earth is black.
And all this is a white light.