The president of the Junta de AndalucÃÂa, Juanma Moreno, has announced that the Governing Council will approve a decree law in the near future declaring 4th December as Andalucia Flag Day.
There are two key dates in the history of Andalucian self government, 4th December, 1977 and 28th February, 1980. The latter is the day on which Andalucians went to the polls to vote overwhelmingly for Andalucia to be declared an autonomous region of Spain. The day is a regional holiday, with 28th February officially declared as Andalucia Day across the region.
The 4th December, 1977 is important in that it was the day that hundreds of thousands of Andalucians took to the streets to demand autonomy from the National Government. and it is this day that the President of the regional government, Juanma Moreno, plans to declare it as Andalucia Flag Day, in commemoration of this pivotal moment in the region’s self government.
The Andalucian President stated that commemorating that day “although it is not everyone’s heritage, but of all Andalucians because ‘Andalucianism’ only makes sense if it is inclusive, if it unites us all and it does not exclude anyone”. “When ‘Andalucianism’ has been used to divide the population, it has been counterproductive to achieving a better Andalucia ”, he pointed out.
The Andalucia Flag
The current flag of Andalucia was adopted in 1918 when Blas Infante, the “Father of the Andalucia” initiated an assembly at Ronda. This assembly adopted a charter based on the Antequera Constitution (a nationalist Andalucian charter that styled Andalucia as an autonomous republic inside a Spanish federal state; this constitution is known as Constitución Federal de Antequera) and also adopted the current flag of Andalucia and emblem as “national symbols”.
The colours of the Andalucian flag, green and white, represent hope and peace, as the anthem says:The white and green flag
comes back after centuries of war
to sow peace and hope
under our land’s Sun.
Further reading:
Blas Infante, the Father of Andalucia
