Last modified: 2009-11-21 by eugene ipavec
Keywords: espera | stripes: 5 (yellow) | star: 8 points (white) | tower (yellow) | crown: royal (closed) |
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The municipality of Espera (4,005 inhabitants in 2008; 12,344 ha) is located 80 km north-east of Cádiz, on the border with the Province of Sevilla.
Espera is a very ancient settlement, as proved by pre-Iberic, Iberic and Carthaginian remains found on the municipal territory. After the Roman conquest, the site was settled with the two towns of Carissa Aurelia (7 km from Espera, mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy) and Esperilla (1.5 km from Espera, mentioned by Pliny and ruined in the 5th century); the remains of a Roman fortress were subsequently revamped by the Wisigoths.
Carissa was completey destroyed during the Muslim conquest and its inhabitants set up a new fortified town, protected by the castle of Fatetar, built in 914 upon the remains of the Wisigothic fortress on Abderraman III's order. However, the local legend claims that its true builder was Hesperos, father of the Hesperides nymphs, whose garden was located in the south of the Iberian peninsula according to the Greek geographer Strabo. Conquerred by King Fernando III the Saint, the fortress watched the border with the Kingdom of Granada. After the fall of the Nasrid kingdom in 1492, the castle lost its strategic importance and the town increased out of the walls: the "Villa Nueva" (New Town), as opposed to the "Villa Vieja" (Old Town), is the origin of the modern town of Espera.
Espera claims to be the cradle of the Spanish dictum "Acabar como el Rosario de la Aurora," meaning "To end badly." Literally meaning "To end like the Daybreak Rosary," the dictum refers to the local Brotherhood of the Daybreak Rosary, whose members used to celebrate daybreak by chanting the rosary through the town's streets, where they met revellers in sometimes violent riots. There are, of course, other explanations for the origin of the dictum.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 26 Jul 2009
The flag and modified arms of Espera were approved by the Municipal Council on 27 January 2005 and submitted on 22 February 2005 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 1 March 2005, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 52 on 15 March 2005.
The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:
Coat of arms: Gules (Pantone 32), a tower or (Pantone 131), masoned sable (Pantone Hexachrome Black C) port and windows azure (Pantone 293) surmounted by an eight-pointed star argent (Pantone Cool Gray 3). A border or (Pantone 131) with the writing: "Soy Espera antigua come otra Tile." The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.Flag: The flag is of rectangular shape, 1.80 unit in length on 1.20 units in hoist, green (Pantone 363) with five golden stripes (Pantone 129) placed from top to bottom at 0.60, 0.67, 0.765, 0.89 and 1.03 units, respectively, and with a height of 0. 010, 0.015, 0.025, 0.030 and 0.040 units, respectively. In the central part is the heraldic coat of arms oft the Town of Espera with the aforementioned characteristics and in proportions 0.60 units inheight on 0.40 in length.
The symbols should be registered on the Andalusian Register of Local Entities, with their official written description and graphics (as originally submitted, but unfortunately not appended to the Decree).
Source: BOJA, No. 52, pp. 77-78, 15 Mar 2005
The flag shown on Wikipedia does not have the usual quality of the Andalusian local flags and is not credited; therefore, it must have been cropped from a concealed source. Moreover, it does not match the odd specifications given in the Decree (if the figures are correct, the yellow stripes should be ultra thin!).
Ivan Sache, 26 Jul 2009
The coat of arms of Espera is presented by Antonio Durán Azcaráte on his Espara personal website (which contains a lot of resources on the town). The star recalls the legendary founder of the town, Hesperus, the personification of the planet Venus. The traditional motto placed on the scroll was a matter of controversy because the word "tile" does not exist in Spanish ; in 1969, the municipality officially changed the motto to "Soy Espera tan antigua come cualquiera" (I am Espera, older than anyone else), a change supported by a memoir presented by Delgado Orellana. The villagers were not pleased with the change, so that arms with different mottos, crowns and stars were used. The cultural association "Nuestra Señora de la Soledad," founded in 1987, campaigned for the return to the traditional motto, which was eventually reestablished by the Municipal Council on 9 December 1991. However, the meaning of "tile" is still a matter of speculation, the word being sometimes related to Thule.
Source: http://www.azcarate.es/Asociacion/EscudoEspera.htm
The coat of arms is shown on Wikipedia, credited to "SanchoPanzaXXI."
Ivan Sache, 26 Jul 2009
