The banner o Greenland wis designed bi Greenland native Thue Christiansen. It features twa equal horizontal baunds o white (top) an reid wi a lairge disk slichtly tae the hoist side o centre. The tap hauf o the disk is reid, the bottom hauf is white. The entire banner measures 12 bi 18 pairts; each stripe measures 6 pairts; the disk is 8 pairts in diameter, horizontally affset bi 7 pairts frae the hoist tae the centre o the circle, an vertically centered.
Its local name in the Greenlandic leid is Erfalasorput, which means "oor banner", but Aappalaartoq (meanin "the red") is an aa uised for baith the Greenlandic banner an the Dannebrog.
The day Greenlanders display baith the Erfalasorput an the Dannebrog, aften side-bi-side. It is an aa the anerlie Nordic banner athoot a Nordic Cross.
Greenland first entertained the idea o a banner o its awn in 1973 when five Greenlanders proposed a green, white an blue banner. The follaein year, a newspaper solicitit eleiven design proposals (aw but ane o which wis a Nordic cross) an polled the fowk tae determine the maist popular. The Dannebrog wis better liked than ony. Little came o this effort.
In 1979, Denmark grantit hame rule tae Greenland, makin it an equal member o the Rigsfællesskab. The hame rule govrenment held an offeecial caw for banner proposals, receivin 555 (o which 293 wur submittit bi Greenlanders).
The decidin committee came tae nae consensus, sae mair proposals wur solicitit. Finally the present reid-an-white design bi Christiansen narraelie wan ower a green-an-white Nordic cross bi a vote o fowerteen tae eleiven. Christiansen's reid-an-white banner wis offeecially adoptit on Juin 21, 1985.
Tae honour the tent anniversary o the Erfalasorput, the Greenland Post Office issued commemorative stamps an a leaflet bi its creautor. He describit the white stripe as representin the glaciers an ice cap, which civer mair nor 80% o the island; the reid stripe, the ocean; the reid semicircle, the sun, wi its bottom pairt sunk in the ocean; an the white semicircle, the icebergs an pack ice. The design is an aa reminiscent o the settin sun hauf-submerged belaw the horizon an reflectit on the sea. The colours o the banner are the same as those o the Dannebrog, seembolisin Greenland's place in the Dens Realm.
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