Flag of Galicia

Use	State flag and ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	May 29, 1984 (Current version)
Design	White field white with a blue band crossing the flag from the top-left corner to the bottom-right. The State flag also has the coat of arms on top.
Use	Civil flag and ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	April 6, 1891
Design	White field white with a blue band crossing the flag from the top-left corner to the bottom-right

The modern flag of Galicia was created in the 19th century as a copy of the naval flag of the Galician city of A Coruña.

During the 19th century many thousands of Galicians were emigrating to the Americas. A Coruña was the main Galician port where most of them departed from. Tradition has it that the Galician emigrants thought that the A Coruña naval flag flying on the emigrant ships was actually the flag of Galicia. Therefore, when they arrived to the new world they started flying the A Coruña naval flag, believing that it was the flag of Galicia. Years later, the flag crossed the Atlantic back to the homeland, where it was officially adopted as the new national flag of Galicia.

"The Galician Flag has only two colours: white and blue. The field is white and a blue band crosses the flag from the top-right corner to the bottom-left". This description was published in 1898 in the newspaper El Eco de Galicia, in La Habana, Cuba.

Contents 1 St Andrew's Cross 2 State Flag 3 Historical flags 4 Other flags 5 References

[edit] St Andrew's Cross

Originally, the naval flag of A Coruña was a blue St Andrew's Cross over a white field. St Andrew is one of the most popular saints in Galicia, where 72 parishes are devoted to him. This flag closely resembled the flag of Scotland - an interesting coincidence considering that according to legend, the Gaelic peoples of the British Isles originally came from Galicia.

In 1891 the St Andrew's Cross over the A Coruña naval flag had to be modified because it was causing confusion with the flag of the Imperial Russian Navy. Hence, it was decided to drop one of the arms of the cross. The result was the modern Galician flag.

[edit] State Flag

The Galician Law of May 29, 1984 regulates the official colours, proportions and uses of the Galician symbols. The national symbols of Galicia are the civil flag, which is the blue and white flag, the Coat of Arms of Galicia, and the state flag, which is the result of adding the Coat of Arms over the civil flag.

The Coat of Arms of Galicia was actually the former flag of the Kingdom of Galicia prior to the creation of the modern flag in the 19th century. In the early 1980s The Royal Academy of Galicia (Real Academia Galega) asked the Galician Government (Xunta de Galicia) to incorporate the former flag of the Kingdom of Galicia onto the modern flag. The result of that suggestion was the State Flag. The State Flag features the Galician Coat of Arms over the common civil flag, and it is the official flag that must be displayed in all institutional events of the national and local governments in Galicia.

"The flag of Galicia shall have the official Coat of Arms when displayed on public buildings and institutional events in Galicia", Law 5/1984 of Symbols of Galicia, Article 2.2.

[edit] Historical flags

Flag of the Kingdom of Galicia (16th Century)

[edit] Other flags

Estreleira "Nunca Máis"

• Many left-wing Galician nationalists add a five-pointed red star to the Galician flag to show their support of socialism or communism. That flag was created during the decade of the 1970s inspired on the flag of Yugoslavia and has been adopted as the official logotype of the Bloque Nacionalista Galego (Galician National Party).
• Following the oil spill of the petrol tanker Prestige off the Galician coast in 2002, Galician demonstrators used a Galician flag dyed in black with the phrase "Nunca Máis" (Never Again). This flag has become a very popular symbol for environmental activism in Galicia.

[edit] References

Websites

• The Galician Flag in the Flags of the World's website
• History of the Galician Flag and Flag Flying Days

v • d • e Flags of Spain National  National flag ·  Royal Standard Autonomous communities  Andalusia ·  Aragon ·   Asturias ·  Balearic Islands ·  Basque Country ·  Canary Islands ·  Cantabria ·  Castile-La Mancha ·  Castile and León ·  Catalonia ·  Extremadura ·  Galicia ·  La Rioja ·  Madrid ·  Murcia ·  Navarre ·  Valencia Autonomous cities  Ceuta ·  Melilla