Andalusia can boast of being the most populous Spanish community, but also one of those that has a flag whose origin is well worth knowing. We are now talking about the Flag of Andalusia: name, history, curiosities and the meaning of its colors.
The Andalusian flag is perhaps one of the most representative symbols of this community. A flag that we can see on all the Andalusian balconies when Andalusia Day arrives and for which the person who was also in charge of the Andalusian coat of arms and hymns is responsible.
The name of the Flag of Andalusia
The Flag of Andalusia is quite popular thanks to the choice of its colors, green and white, but the truth is that it has a history and origin that few (or at least those who are not Andalusian) know, in the same way that little is known about the name given to this flag or the way in which it is called in much of Andalusia.
We know, for example, that the flag of the Basque Country is the Ikurriña or that the flag of Catalonia is the Senyera, but do you know what the name given to the Andalusian flag is? It is none other than the Arbonaida, Andalusian word that originates from the Andalusian Arabic «albulaida» البُلَيْدة diminutive of «balad» and whose meaning is «my land» or «my country». In this way, the flag symbolizes the “homeland” or the “country” of all Andalusians.
A word that has also defined other of its symbols in the history of Andalusia. For example, the algeciras mosque that it was the first mosque founded in the time of Al Ándalus and that in its day was called “Arbonaidas” due to the great variety of flags that had passed through it, belonging to the many peoples that invaded the Iberian Peninsula. Due to this same reason, “Arbonaidas” was also the name given to the courtyard of the Alcázar in Seville or the gate of Granada.
The history of the Flag of Andalusia
Due to the name it receives, the Flag of Andalusia has a significant weight, but much more important is its history. This is a flag that has a fairly old past if we take into account that a green and white flag was mentioned in a poem by Abu Asbag Ibn Arqampoet from Guadix and vizier of King Almotacín of the Taifa of Almería, who dates from 1051 so that we would be talking without a doubt, of one of the oldest flags of our country.
There is also reference to some green and white flags that were hoisted in 1195 after the victory in the battle of Alarcos, in the minaret of the main mosque of Seville. The green represented the color of Islam, the white, victory.
There is also a legend in which a holy man who dedicated himself to preaching for the peoples of the Atlas, had the revelation of an angel who showed him an empire at the foot of the Strait of Gibraltar, representing the green of Al-Andalus and the white Maghreb of the Almohads.
It is also said that although the banner of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada was red, 18 of the 22 banners that he Count of Cabra took Boabdil in the Battle of Lucena in 1483, they had white and green colors.
Green was also the standard that the Catholic Monarchs delivered in Granada to the Old Guards of Castile while in 1521occurred the Green Banner Mutinya riot due to lack of food in which the people of Seville took to the streets carrying the green banner that Alfonso X had taken from the Moors, which until then had been kept in the church of the Omnium Sanctorum.
And in 1641during the Conspiracy of the Duke of Medina Sidonia the alliance between this duke and the Moriscos of Tahir Al-Hörr (The Falcon), was represented by a split flag in green and white. A year later, in 1642, there was a revolt in which Al-Hörr had a white and green flag as a symbol of the revolution.
Then it’s not until 1918when the creation of the flag is approved as well as the anthem and the coat of arms of Andalusia. She was entrusted to Blaise Infant who wrote that the idea of the green and white flag arose after a protest demonstration by the women of Casares, which carried a green and white flag, in two horizontal stripes. But in addition to this, he gave another explanation for the use of those colors and the design of the flag that was definitely approved, although later it would be a long time before the flag was officially waved.
It was on November 6, 1932, on a balcony of the Aracena Town Hall (Huelva) when the Andalusian flag waved for the first time in an official consistory of the region. Then before the coup d’état of 1936 he also waved on the balcony of the Seville town hall. Soon after the Civil War it was banned and forgotten, until it was approved and flown again in 1977. Since then, the arbonaida has been considered the official flag of Andalusia and one of its three symbols, along with the anthem and its shield.
The meaning of the colors of the Andalusian flag
Now we know and we know that the flag of Andalusia is represented by three stripes in green, white and green that, as we have mentioned was designed by Blas Infantewho aside from being inspired by women who already wore it in their demonstrations, chose green to represent the Umayyads (Arab dynasty that incorporated al-Andalus into the Muslim world and ruled it as an Emirate and Caliphate from 756 to 1031), yel white to the Almohades (the Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty that ruled Al-Andalus in the form of a caliphate from the mid-twelfth century to 1212) given that it considered these two periods as those of the greatest splendor of political power in the current territory of Andalusia.
In addition to the historical (and political) significance for the choice of these colors, we have to add that the The green color of the Andalusian flag also represents hope, while the white represents peace. two colors that are, in fact, relevant to the Andalusian people, although these two concepts of hope and peace are also reflected in their official anthem.
In addition to the importance in choosing its colors, the Andalusian flag also has the Andalusian coat of arms in the center, in which it appears represented Hercules accompanied by two lions, between two columns joined together forming an arch, so that it is situated symbolically, in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Above Hercules’s head is an arch inscription in yellow capitals that reads: “Dominator Hercules Founder” (Sovereign Hercules, the Founder) and the lower part is written «Andalusia for itself, for Spain and Humanity».