National symbols of Romania

There are several national symbols of Romania, representing Romania or its people in either official or unofficial capacities.

Official symbols of Romania
Type	Image	Symbol
National flag		The Flag of Romania (Romanian: Drapelul României) is a tricolour with vertical stripes: beginning from the flagpole, blue, yellow and red, these colours found on late 16th century royal grants of Michael the Brave, as well as shields and banners representing Romanians everywhere. During the Wallachian uprising of 1821 these colours composed the revolutionaries’ flag and for the first time a recorded meaning was attributed to them: "Liberty (sky-blue), Justice (field yellow), Fraternity (blood red)". The colours also symbolise the Principalities that formed Romania: Vallachia - yellow (having a yellow and blue flag before the 1859 unification), Moldavia - red (having a red and yellow flag prior to the 1859 unification) and Transylvania -blue (having a blue-red-yellow flag prior to the 1918 Union)
National coat of arms		The Coat of arms of Romania The golden aquila holding an Orthodox cross is the symbol of Latinity and a heraldic bird of the first order symboling courage. The shield on which it is placed is azure, symbolising the sky. The eagle holds in its talons the insignia of sovereignty: a mace and a sword, the latter reminding of Moldavia's ruler, Stephen the Great whereas the mace reminds of Michael the Brave, the first unifier of the Romanian Principalities. On the bird's chest there is a quartered escutcheon with the symbols of the historical Romanian provinces (Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia but also Dobruja).
National anthem	Awaken thee, Romanian!	Deșteaptă-te, române! It was written and published during the 1848 revolution and was first sung in late June in the same year in the city of Brașov, being immediately accepted as the revolutionary anthem. Since then, this song, which contains a message of liberty and patriotism, has been sung during all major Romanian conflicts, including during the 1989 anti-Ceauşist revolution. In 1990 it became the national anthem, replacing the communist-era national anthem "Trei culori" ("Three colours"). The Moldavian Democratic Republic, during its brief existence, between 1917 and 1918 as well as the Republic of Moldova between 1991 and 1994 had the same anthem. July 29 is the "National Anthem Day" (Ziua Imnului național), an annual observance in Romania.
Great Union Day		Great Union Day It commemorates the assembly of the delegates of the people of Transilvania held in Alba Iulia, which declared the union of Transylvania with Romania and completed the Great Union. This holiday was set after the 1989 Romanian Revolution and it marks the unification of Transylvania, but also of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918. Before 1918, the national holiday of Romania was set to be on May 10, which had a double meaning: it was the day on which Carol I of Romania set foot on the Romanian soil (in 1866), and it was the day on which the prince ratified the Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. In Communist Romania, the date of the national holiday was set to August 23 to mark the 1944 overthrow of the pro-fascist government of Marshal Ion Antonescu.
Independence Day		It commemorates the day of May 9/21, 1877, Mihail Kogălniceanu, through a memorable speech, proclaimed Romania's independence in the cheers of the Assembly. In the same afternoon, the Senate voted on the motion, and after that, a procession with chariots and torches was formed throughout Bucharest. The next day, May 10/22, it was 11 years since Prince Carol had arrived in Bucharest to receive the throne of the Principalities and a great festivity was already announced. The first to speak was the vice-president of the Chamber, Dimitrie Brătianu: "Your Majesty, the Chamber and the Senate have recognized Romania's independence" against Turkey. Your Majesty, in the heroic heads of our armies, will make the enemy impose itself and be recognized by the guarantor powers as a salutary necessity in Europe. " Thus, 10 May became the National Day of Romania during the regal period.
Official language		Romanian The main Eastern Romance language, spoken by around 24 to 28 million people
Military flag		The Battle Colors of Romania The military colours are the symbol of military honour, bravery and glory. They evoke the past struggle of the Romanian people for national liberation and the traditions of unity, reminding each soldier of his sacred duty to serve the Fatherland with trust, and to defend at all costs the unity, sovereignty and independence of Romania

Unofficial symbols
Type	Image	Symbol
National Crown		The Steel Crown of Romania The crown was forged from the steel of a gun captured by the Romanian Army from the Ottomans during the War of Independence (1877–1878). King Carol I of Romania chose steel, and not gold, to symbolize the bravery of the Romanian soldiers and was crowned with it during the ceremonies of the proclamation of Romania as a kingdom in 1881 in Bucharest. The Crown was again used in 1922 at the coronation of King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria of Romania as sovereigns at Alba-Iulia. The third time the Crown was used during the coronation and anointment of King Michael I of Romania by the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania, Nicodim Munteanu, in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, on the very day of his second accession, September 6, 1940. The Steel Crown is kept in the National Museum of Romanian History
National patron saint		Saint Andrew According to the Romanian Orthodox Church, Andrew preached the Gospel to the Daco-Romans in the province of Dobruja (Scythia Minor), whom he converted to Christianity. There are some archaeological pieces of evidence for this tradition found in a cave called Basarabi, near Constanţa harbour, containing carved symbols of ancient Christianity. The Romanians have never recordedly converted to Christianity as the neighbouring nations, instead adopting the Orthodox Faith by themselves during the ethnogenesis process in an unorganized fashion. Having Apostle Andrew as a patron saint marks a special connection with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinopole and the political and religious heritage of Byzantium in the Romanian Principalities, metaphorically called Byzantium after Byzantium
National personification		Romania
National motto		"Nihil Sine Deo" (Latin, "Nothing without God") used under the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty
		"Toți în unu" (Romanian, "All in one") used during the second half of the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza
		"Dreptate, Frăție" (Romanian, "Justice, Brotherhood") used in Wallachia after the Wallachian Revolution of 1848
		"In Fide Salus" (Latin, "In Faith is the Salvation") used as the motto of the Order of the Star of Romania since 10 May 1877
National Founders		Decebal His name meaning "The Brave", Decebal was the last king of Dacia between 87 and 106 AD and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two periods of peace against the Roman Empire under two emperors, during which he continued to act as an independent king, rather than a conquered client and repeatedly annoyed or infuriated the Romans. Consequently, the Legions under Trajan's orders went on the offensive again in 105 AD, taking the Dacian capital city of Sarmizegetusa in 106, leading Decebal to commit suicide. Decebal is considered a national hero in Romania, a symbol of the Dacian origins of the Romanian people.
		Trajan The Roman Emperor who conquered Dacia and brought the Latin element that together with the Dacian autochthons created the Romanian people.
		Mihai Viteazul During his reign, the principalities of Wallachia (1593–1601), Transylvania (1599–1600), and Moldavia (1600) forming the territory of present-day Romania and the Republic of Moldova were ruled for the first time by a single Romanian leader. He is regarded as one of Romania's greatest national heroes.
		Alexandru Ioan Cuza He was the first Domnitor (Prince) of the Romanian Principalities through his double election as prince of Moldavia on 5 January 1859 and prince of Wallachia on 24 January 1859. He was a prominent figure of the Revolution of 1848 in Moldavia. Following his double election, he initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and of state structures.
		Carol I of Romania He was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (Domnitor) from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He was elected Prince of the Romanian United Principalities on 20 April 1866 after the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup d'état. In May 1877, Romania was proclaimed an independent and sovereign nation. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire (1878) in the Russo-Turkish War secured Romanian independence, and he was proclaimed King on 26 March [O.S. 14 March] 1881. He was the first ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty, which ruled the country until the proclamation of a socialist republic in 1947.
		Ferdinand I of Romania He ruled Romania during World War I, choosing to side with the Triple Entente against the Central Powers. At the war's end, Romania emerged as a much-enlarged kingdom due to Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania and parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș became part of the Kingdom of Romania in 1920, and Ferdinand was crowned king of "Greater Romania" in a grand ceremony in 1922. In the years following the establishment of Greater Romania, Romanian society went through a series of major transformations, especially to the application of the agrarian reform and of the universal vote.
Floral emblem		Edelweiss
		Romanian Peony
		Dog rose
National animal		Lynx
		Brown bear
		Aurochs (especially in Moldavia)
National mythical animal		Dacian Draco
National bird		Golden eagle (the mountain aquila)
National bird		Great white pelican
National tree		Oak
National poet		Mihai Eminescu
National epic		Miorița
National wear		Romanian traditional clothing
National hat		Clop
National hat		Cușmă
National motif		The Endless Column depicting an important motif in the traditional art. The pattern stands for infinity and persistence.
National art		Car cu Boi (by Nicolae Grigorescu)
National Guard Brigade		Brigada 30 Gardă "Mihai Viteazul"
National mountain		Moldoveanu Peak, 2544 m - highest mountain peak of Romania
National mountain		Bucegi, believed to be the Dacian holy mountain Kogainon, on which the mythical figure Zalmoxis resided in a cave, and also the location of the enigmatic natural formations called The Great Sphinx and Babele
National sport		Oină
National dance		Căluș
National dance		Hora Unirii
National instrument		Pan flute
National instrument		Tulnic
National beverages		Pălincă
		Wine
		Țuică
National dish		Sarmale
		Mămăliga cu brânză și smântână
		Mititei
		Borș
		Ciorbă de fasole cu ciolan afumat
National sweet		Papanași
National sweet		Cozonac

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