AROMANIANS (ARMÃNI)

The Aromanians (or Macedonian-Romanians, Meglenites, or Vlachs) derive from Rome both their name and their language, armâneasco. Gathered during the Middle Ages in mountain communities, they were shepherds, merchants, and diplomats in Southeastern Europe. They are scattered in Greece in the Pindus, Thessaly, and Epirus (Βλάχοι), in the Republic of Macedonia, in Serbia (Цинцар, Cincar), in Bulgaria, in Albania (Xhoban), in Romania (Macedo-Români), and as far as Istria.

In the various countries where Aromanian communities are found, the variants of their flag (flãmbura) are constructed according to the pattern of the Wallachian family and genealogical banners, attested at least since 1860. The white field is adorned with blue and red side embroideries. The design is a quadrilateral whose perpendicular bisectors and diagonals, forming an eight-branched cross, end in small circles (gămălie, “pinhead”). The central motif is a circle completing this sort of rosette. The distribution of colors, blue and red, varied according to families. Blue predominates on the modern flags of the Aromanians (Steagul Aromânilor).

We follow this traditional graphic model.