Flag of the Hellenic Confederation
The flag of the Hellenic Confederation (Σημαία της Ελλάδος, popularly referred to as the Γαλανόλευκη or the Κυανόλευκη, the "blue-white") is white cross on blue (plain) for the land flag and nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white for the naval flag. There is a blue canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross for the naval variant. The canton of the cross itself, in both the naval and land variant, is of red colour with a white star.
The cross symbolises Greek Orthodoxy, the established religion of the country. The red colour represents the blood spilled for Greek freedom, whereas the star represents the strong Muslim/Turkish minority living in the country. According to popular tradition, the nine stripes of the sea flag represent the nine syllables of the phrase "Έλευθερία ή Θάνατος" ("Freedom or Death", " E-lef-the-ri-a i Tha-na-tos"), the five blue stripes for the syllables "Έλευθερία" and the four white stripes "ή Θάνατος". There is also a different theory, that the nine stripes symbolize the nine Muses, the goddesses of art and civilization (nine has traditionally been one of the numbers of reference for the Greeks).
The above patterns were officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Khania in January 1898 and were used uninterruptingly by the independent state of Crete until its union with the Hellenic Confederation, from which point on the federal; state and the Cretan state itself continued using them. Although red has a 'clear' intepretation, blue and white have many interpretations, symbolizing the colors of the famed Greek sky and sea (combined with the white clouds and waves), traditional colors of Greek clothes in the islands and the mainland, etc.
