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Vejer de la Frontera (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Vejer de la Frontera, as seen on 7 November 2009 in front of a shop - Image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 2 December 2009

Presentation of Vejer de la Frontera
Symbols of Vejer de la Frontera
Variant / erroneous depiction of the flag

See also:

Presentation of Vejer de la Frontera

The municipality of Vejer de la Frontera (12,882 inhabitants in 2013; 26,288 ha; municipal website) is located 60 km south-east of Cádiz.

Ivan Sache, 2 December 2009

Symbols of Vejer de la Frontera

The flag of Vejer de la Frontera was adopted on 31 March 1995 by the Municipal Council, as signed on 20 May 1997 by the Mayor and published on 26 June 1997 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 73, p. 7,857 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular flag, in proportions 2:3, olive green with the crown municipal coat of arms in the middle.

The file suporting the proposed flag was declared null and void by a Decree adopted on 19 May 1998 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 18 June 1998 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 67, p. 7,530 (text). The Royal Academy of Cordóba decided on 30 October 1997 to postpone the evaluation of the proposed flag until the coat of arms is officially adopted. The Municipal Council failed to submit a new proposal within five months after the notification by the Academy, released on 20 November 1997.

The flag in use appears to feature the coat of arms represented on a municipal seal dated 1913. The shield is gules with a castle placed upon a high wall and surrounded dexter by a tower, sinister by a lion rampant, and in base by a vixen passant all or. The whole ensemble is surrounded by the inscription "IN NOMINE DEI AMEN" [In the Name of God, Amen] argent, placed just like it would be on a bordure gules - therefore, here invisible. The shield is placed on a mantling or and surmounted by a Ducal coronet.
The central figure probably symbolizes the local fortress. The tower and the lion are, of course, the symbols of Castile and León, respectively. The vixen alludes to the ancient name of the town, Melaria. This is also the name of a plant, giving a lot of sweet juice like honey and therefore a preferred food of foxes. Others claim that the vixen would be an allusion to the insidiousness, cleverness and precaution against the attempts by Vejer's neighbours to spoil the town.
This version of the arms has always been critized, as being complicated and "unheraldic". Accordingly, there is another coat of arms, "Per fess, 1a. Castile, 1b. León, 2. Or a vixen sable langued gules".
[José Antonio Delgado y Orellana. Heráldica Municipal de la Provincia de Cádiz (1969)]

Klaus-Michael Schneider & & Ivan Sache, 2 December 2009