February 19 – State Flag of Turkmenistan Day

Posted on February 19, 2015

Turkmenistan has one of the loveliest and THE most detailed national flag ever! No simple tri-color striped flag for this nation!



On the flag there is a white waxing crescent moon, which indicates Turkic and Islamic ties and symbolizes hope for the future, and five white stars to represent the five provinces of the nation. Most noticeably, there are five carpet guls, which are designs used in producing rugs, over two crossed olive branches, which represent the peaceful nature of the Turkmen people.

The five carpet designs represent the five major tribes of the nation: Teke, Yomut, Saryk, Chowdur, and Arsary.

Here is a list of the ten most colorful flags in the world, and this website covers ALL of the world's flags. 

Turkmenistan borders on the Caspian Sea,
Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakstan.

Turkmen rugs

In the past, Turkmen rugs were made by nomadic peoples using the natural materials they could find in the ares, such as wool from their sheep and natural dyes from minerals and plants. The Turkmen created geometrical designs. “Irregularities” were common, because natural dyes vary from batch to batch, and because the rugs sometimes stretch when you are always folding up your loom and carting it around from camp to camp. But it is those irregularities that added to the handmade charm, many collectors agreed.

Now there are some large rug workshops in the cities of Turkmenistan. Rugs created there often use synthetic (human-made) as well as natural dyes, and they have many fewer irregularities.

Also, there are large numbers of tugs manufactured in Pakistan and Iran and exported under the name of “Turkmen rugs.” They generally have little in common with the original Turkmen rugs.

Turkmenistan actually has a Ministry of Carpets, which tries to preserve the traditions of carpet weaving by hand and works on restoration of old carpets and old looms. Also, there is a Turkmen Carpet Museum with about 2,000 exhibits, including of course rare and antique carpets.

To learn more about Turkmenistan, check out this and this other earlier posts. 


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