Adopted in 1957; The Hungarian flag consists of three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and green. The flag dates to the national movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, and fuses the medieval colors of the Hungarian coat of arms with the revolutionary tricolor form of the French flag. Folklore attributes virtues to the colors: red for strength, white for faithfulness, and green for hope. Alternatively, the red is seen as being for the blood spilled in defense of the land, white for freedom, and green for the pasturelands that make up so much of the country.