The coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia is composed of two curved garlands of sheaves of wheat, tobacco leaves and opium poppy fruits, tied by a ribbon decorated with embroidery of traditional Macedonian folk motifs. In the centre of the ovoid frame are depicted a mountain, a lake and a sunrise. These devices are said to represent "the richness of our country, our struggle and our freedom".
The Macedonian parliament adopted the proposal to change the country’s coat of arms with 80 votes in favor and 18 against, removing the five-pointed star. The national emblem was modified on 16 November 2009. The Macedonian coat of arms that included the red star had been in use since 1946, shortly after the republic became part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). With the recent change, the coat of arms is composed of two curved garlands of wheat sheaves, tobacco leaves and opium poppy fruits, tied by a ribbon decorated with embroidery of traditional Macedonian folk motifs. A lake, a mountain, and a sunrise are depicted in the centre of the ovoid frame.
The whole composition and design is based upon the pattern of the coat of arms of the SFR Yugoslavia and does not have any roots in the historical heraldic coats of arms of Macedonia. Besides the emblem of Belarus, the device of the Republic of Macedonia is one of the few remaining in Europe to still employ socialist heraldry.
The features of the national coat of arms contain a rising sun which symbolizes freedom, the Šar Mountains with its peak named Ljuboten or Mount Korab and the river Vardar, with Lake Ohrid. The emblem also contains opium poppy fruits; this poppy was brought to Macedonia by the Ottoman Empire in the first half of 19th century.
Read more about Coat Of Arms Of The Republic Of Macedonia: Relation To The 1946 Coat of Arms, Historical Coats of Arms, Efforts To Update The National Emblem
Famous quotes containing the words coat, arms and/or republic:
“I expect a time when, or rather an integrity by which, a man will get his coat as honestly and as perfectly fitting as a tree its bark. Now our garments are typical of our conformity to the ways of the world, i.e., of the devil, and to some extent react on us and poison us, like that shirt which Hercules put on.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The eyes that drew from me such fervent praise,
The arms and hands and feet and countenance
Which made me a stranger in my own romance
And set me apart from the well-trodden ways;”
—Petrarch (1304–1374)
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)