The colors of the flag symbolize the following: green - a symbol of the country's forest and nature, red - bloodshed for the homeland, and the joy and fire, as in the ancient Karelians used slash-and-burn agriculture, black - the native land and sadness. On the state flag, it had a red canton with white northern lights. The war flag was made in the same style but had three plaits and a complementary Bear with a vesuri in the clutches (there is evidence that in the center of the black cross on it was a red square).