site.btaMoldovan Village with Large Bulgarian Community Gets Its Own Coat of Arms and Flag

The Moldovan village of Valea Perjei, which is home to a large Bulgarian community, got its own coat of arms and flag on March 14, 2024. The President of Moldova issued a decree on the registration of the official village coat of arms and flag in the State Register of Coats of Arms. The decree was published in the Official Gazette ("Monitorul Oficial")  and entered into force on March 14, 2024.

Having a coat of arms and a flag is a big event for the village as this is usually reserved for larger settlements in the country.

The authors of the concept for both are State Heraldist, Dr Silviu Andries-Tabac, and Dr Ivan Duminica, both members of the National Commission on Heraldry. The artists are Mariana Shlapak, chairman of the Moldovan National Commission on Heraldry, and Andrei Gaidashenko.

The Valea Perjei coat of arms represents a red shield which has on it a golden plum tree with blue fruit, supported by a bull on the right side and a lion on the left.

In the present-day collective perception, the name of the village carries the meaning of "plum valley", Dr Duminica points out.

As the village is home to two communities, Moldovan and Bulgarian, two animals were chosen for the coat of arms - the bull for the Moldovans and the lion for the Bulgarians, Dr Ivan Duminica said.

The red colour of the shield was chosen because it is the only common colour in both the Moldovan and Bulgarian national flags.

Valea Perjei has a population of nearly 5,000, of whom almost 80% are Bulgarians.

The village was founded in 1816 and has attracted settlers from different ethnographic areas of modern Bulgaria over the years. This is confirmed by the different dialects and types of traditional dress present there.