The national flag of Ükür consists of a blue and white square in a sea of yellow; the square—located near the upper-left corner—is composed of nine smaller squares. Six of the upper squares are blue and the three lowest squares are white. The yellow background represents the harsh, semi-arid land, and the colored squares represent the prized lakes and rivers of the country. The lower white portion of the square represents the purity of the Üküré people: the foundation upon which the meaning of country is based. The flag was used, originally, as the ensign on Üküré merchant ships and was officially adopted as the national flag in 1810. There was no universally-recognized flag for Ükür until the middle of the 17th century. The earliest mention of any flag occurred during the reign of King Vódámír VIII and is related to the first “modern” Üküré naval ship, Šéhól. According to historical sources, Ükür’s “Great King” sought to distinguish his own lands from the “common rabble” of Europe while maintaining ancient, socio-political links with the nations of Agara and Little Russia (Present day Ukraine) and so avoided a use of common symbolic representation such as a dominance of stripes, heraldic shields and/or animals, and colors associated with non-Üküré nationalities. The flag of Ükür fell from use during the Soviet Era as Ükür (a member nation of the Soviet Union) adopted the red and yellow “hammer and sickle” symbolism common to the area and the era. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ükür reverted back to the use of its historical flag. *** I’d planned (once, a long, long time ago) to create a series of “unreal nations” and illustrate their flags with photographs and digital renderings only tangentially related to the flags (and nations) in question. That project fell by the wayside after the creation of my first flag: Agara. Since that time, Agara has taken on a life of its own, and the only other unreal nation on the eastern fringes of Europe is Ükür, and so it’s only fitting that I reveal at least something of its symbolic national expression. Unlike the initial flag of Agara, the flag of Ükür is US-American in origin. Agara’s flag was derived from catalpa leaves on a counter top. The flag of Ükür is derived from…well…bricks and glass-block windows on the back-end of the Romanian Pentecostal church across the alley from Corey’s current place of residence. Funny how Ükür has no other connections with Romanians, but stuff works out like that at times. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting; I’ve had an unbelievably hectic week and so I have a massive amount of catching up to do. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of the infamous (and ultimately unstable) truck yard era. I’ll miss Rover and the woodlice, harvestmen and other critters, but hey, there are dogs and invertebrates all over the world and so I’m sure things will be far more than simply okay. If interested, click HERE for a glimpse of the first “flag” in this series.