Last modified: 2004-08-07 by dov gutterman
Keywords: aragua | venezuela | lauril | crown | palm | coffee | sugar cane | la victoria | san mateo |
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(2:3)
by Antonio Martins, 12 March 2001
See also:
Municipalities (Capitals):
A yellow-red field,quartered per saltire into four traingular
sections (red-yellow-red-yellow). In its centre, the Coat of Arms of Aragua State. The CoA is divided
in three "quarters": the main one, in gules, occupies,
on the top, a space equal to the other two "quarters"
together (again, it is divided diagonally); the second
"quarter" in gold and the third "quarter" in
azur. The main quarter sports the figure of a winged woman
carrying a lauril crown in her right hand and palm leaves in her
left hand; symbolising victory. The second quarter we have the
Samán of Güere, a tree of historical significance, as an emblem
of the endless fertility of the araguenian soil. we can see, on
the third quarter, a the historical house of the Bólivar Sugar
cane Farm, bursting in flames as it did in 1814 (San Mateo
Battle), when, serving as headqarters and armory for the
Independentist army, was blown up heroically by General Ricaurte,
who set fire to the Gun Powder deposits before they were captured
by royalist troops . Heading the CoA, a rising sun where the word
"ARAGUA" can be read. A Coffee branch and a Sugar Cane
branch circle the CoA, which sports a yellow band on its bottom,
where "February 1814" and "March 1814" can be
read, remembering the glorious battles of La Victoria (12 Febuary
1814) and San Mateo (20 March 1814).
Guillermo Aveledo , 4 November 1999
1) In October 20 of 1992, the state Legislative Assembly
proclaimed the Law of Flag of the Aragua State. The qualifier
panel of judges selected the design of Inés María Valverde
Pérez. The colours are the same of the flag of Spain, which have
been traditionally the colours of Aragua. Here is an image.
2) The coat of arms exists since the decade of the eighties of
the XIX century, as seal of the state. It was decree as coat of
arms in 1905 and ratified in 1926. It is divided in three
quarters: the first, in red field, ocupies in the superior part a
space as much as the double of the other two, from which is
separated by an oblique line that goes from up below and left to
right; the second, in field of gold, located toward the left,
forms an obtuse angle with the vertex to the right; and the
third, in field of blue, occupies the inferior part in form of
sharp angle with the vertex toward the superior part. In the
first quarter there is a woman's figure carrying a wreath of
laurel in the right hand and a palm in the left hand, in order to
symbolize the victory. In the second quarter appears the
"samán" of Guere (Pitecellobium saman Jacq. Benth,
emblem tree of the state, admired by Humboldt and Bonpland, whom
in 1800 calculated that it was about 1.000 years old; Guere is a
site near Maracay, the state capital), like symbol of the
inexhaustible fertility of the "Aragüeña" land. In
the third quarter appears the arsenal house of the Ingenio (Sugar
Mill) Bolívar, which belonged to the Liberator, covered of
flames, in order to commemorate the heroism of Antonio Ricaurte
(New Grenadian-Columbian colonel who sacrificed himself exploding
the arsenal of the patriot army in order to avoid its capture by
the enemy) during the second battle of San Mateo, 25 March 1814.
Adorning the superior part of the coat, there is a nascent Sun,
in whose disk appears the name of the state: Aragua. (I am not
sure, but it seems that in 1992 it was decided that each ray of
the Sun should represent a municipality; if so, the coat inserted
in the flag that I am sending should have 18 rays, and not 15).
The coat is fringed by a branch of coffee and another of cane of
sugar, tied below with a ribbon in gold with this dates: Febrero
de 1814 (February of 1814), in the left part (in order to
commemorate the second battle of La Victoria, important victory
of a group of soldiers and students, leaded by General José
Félix Ribas, over royalist forces, 12 Febuary 1814) and Marzo
de 1814 (March of 1814), in the right part (in order to
commemorate the battle of San Mateo previous cited).
3) The Anthem of the Aragua State was decree in 1906, modified in
1909 and ratified in 1926. The modification consisted in
suppressing the two last verses, because they were considered
laudatory towards the overthrown (1908) former president Cipriano
Castro, who achieved an important military victory, in 1902, in
La Victoria, against a revolutionary army that almost duplicated
his forces. Cipriano Castro was native of the Andean state of Táchira. Lyrics was wrotten by the poet
Ramón Bastida and the music was composed by Manuel Betancourt.
Music is almost like a subtle variation of The Marseillais, the
French national anthem.
4) As a curious note, I would like to add that the city of La Victoria , second in importance and
former capital of the state, don't owe its name to these battles,
that there were two during the war of Independence, one in 1879
and another, the last one, in 1902, but to its Lady patron:
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de La Victoria.
Pablo Acosta Ríos, 21 July 2000
The Flag - Attributes and Semiology: Consist in a field
divides per saltire, which generate four triangular sections: the
upper and lower are red, whilst the flanques are yellow. The
Araguenian Coat of Arms is emplaced on its center in all its
heraldic attributes. The yellow symbolizes the tropical sun,
which characterizes the state and equally the Nobility and the
Charity, virtues that are part of the personality of its native
ones. The red symbolizes the Strength, the Value, the Fidelity,
the Happiness and the Honor that purify the Araguenian identity
and remembers equally, the heroes which arose in Aragua and that
spilled their blood on its floor and on the rest of the national
territory, in favor of the Independence of Venezuela.
Historical Synthesis: Aragua is one of the north central and
coaster states of Venezuela and its Capital is the city of
Maracay. In the course of the year 1991 and by instances of Mr.
Carlos Tablante Hidalgo, Governor of the State, was given
beginning to the diligences for the creation of a regional flag
and for that purpose was requested the collaboration of the
Professor Oldman Botello, Chronicler of the City of Maracay and
of Villa de Cura, another of its important populations, who
suggested a flag in which prevails the colors Yellow and Red
taking as premise for that the semiology before mentioned with
base in its heraldic connotation. On January 16th, 1992 and for
disposition of the Regional Executive, a concourse was promoted
to determine the design of the new flag to the one that some
three hundred people converged, many of them students. After
considering the presented designs, the qualifier jury integrated
by the Professor Botello, the Professor Luisa Teresa Lanz de
León, Secretary of Education and Social Assistance of the Aragua
State and the Professor Enrique Salas Dugarte, President of the
Bolivarian Society of the State, selected on 17 February 1992, a
project presented by the Licentiate Inés María Valverde Pérez
that once remitted to the Legislative Assembly, it was approved
following 20 October when was proclaimed the Law of the Flag of
the Aragua State.
Sources: Symbols of the State Aragua, Prof. Oldman
Botello.
Raul Jesus Orta Pardo, 24 November 2000
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by Raul Jesus Orta Pardo, 24 November 2000
The Coat of Arms: The Araguenian Coat of Arms consists in a
field divided per bend and half counterbend. The first quarter in
gules (red) shows a blond woman dressed and winged of silver
which subject a laurel crown with her right hand and a palm
branch with her left hand: representation of the ancient greek
goddess of the Victory which allude to the battle which got rid
in the town with the same name, La Victoria (The Victory) on 12
February 1814, where young students and seminarians of the
University of Caracas fought jointly with the Patriot Troops
under the command of General José Félix Ribas, one of the most
valiant heroes of the Venezuelan Independence War, and won over
the royalist army under the conduction of the Spanish Colonel
Francisco Tomás Morales. The second quarter in gold (yellow)
shows a representation of the so-called Samán de Gu:ere:
historical tree admired by the famous German Naturalist Baron
Alexander von Humboldt and his friend, the French Botanic Aimee
Bonpland. In their visit to Venezuela on 1800, they calculated
that the plant then was about 1.000 years old. Time after, El
Libertador Simon Bolívar, it says, rested under its frond when
he was on campaign and from these times until now, it constitutes
ecological emblem of the State, representing too the
inexhaustible fertility of the Araguenian ground. The third
quarter in azure (blue) presents a semblance of the Historical
House called El Ingenio Bolívar (The Bolivar's Sugar Cane Farm
and Mill) located in the town of San Mateo and property of El
Libertador's family which was conditioned as Patriots' bastion
during the War of the Independence: place where surrendered
heroically his life the New Grenadine (Colombian) Colonel Antonio
Ricaurte firing the Gun Powder deposits when the royalist troops
took the house on 25 March 1814. As timmer, a nascent sun appears
with the name of the state ARAGUA like a war voice. To the
flanks, we can see a coffee and a sugar cane branches, two of the
most important agricultural products of the region, jointed by
means of a golden pennant which charges like mottoes the
ephemeris February of 1814 and March of 1814 to remember the
glorious facts of The Victoria and San Mateo, previously
mentioned.
This Araguenian symbol, whose origin was that of Seal of the
State starting from the eighth decade of the XIX century, it was
decreed as Coat of Arms in 1905 and ratified as such in 1926.
Sources: The Sacred Symbols of the Venezuelan Nation,
Francisco Alejandro Vargas, 1981.
Raul Jesus Orta Pardo, 24 November 2000
