The blue, white, and black horizontally divided flag used as the symbol of Estonian Students Society in 1881 is the base model of today's flag. Although it was temporarily abolished during the Soviet Union days, it revived with the independence movement, and was made official before the independence in 1990. Although it has been said that blue represents the sky and freedom, black, the history of ethnic group oppression, and white, snow and the bright future, no official explanation has been made.