Flag representing Maronites, ethnoreligious group in Lebanon
Although the Maronite flag is believed to have been created in the 17th or 18th century, its first recorded use was in October 1848.[1] The flag was also raised as the first national flag of Lebanon on October 2, 1918, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.[2]
Background
The 1913 version of the flag was created by two Lebanese Brazilian journalists, Shukri El Khoury and Naoum Labaki, who were both part of the Mahjar movement in the Americas. The flag was raised on October 2, 1918, following the expulsion of Ottoman troops from Mount Lebanon and was hung in the Administrative Council (Majlis) of Mount Lebanon until 1920 when the flag and government were succeeded by the state of Greater Lebanon.
Lebanon League of Progress Executive Committee in São Paulo, (1914)
The flag has a simple design with two main features:
The white background represents the snow of Mount Lebanon as a symbol of purity and peace.
The cedar is based on the national symbol of Lebanon, the Cedrus libani. The cedars of Lebanon are mentioned seventy-seven times in the Bible, especially in the book of Psalms, chapter 92, verse 13, where it says that "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon"[4] and chapter 104, verse 16, where it is stated: "[t]he trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted".[5]
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