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Puntagorda (Municipality, Canary Islands, Spain)

Flag of Puntagorda - Image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 February 2014

Symbols of Puntagorda

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Symbols of Puntagorda

The flag of Puntagorda is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 9 July 1999 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 31 August 1999 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 117, pp. 13,065-13,066 (text). The Municipal Council commissioned on 31 July 1998 the Heraldry Commission of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands to draft proposals of municipal symbols. The proposal submitted on 11 March 1999 was approved on 30 April 1999 by the Municipal Council, as published on 26 May 1999 in the official gazette of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Province, No. 64.
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular [...] flag one and a half longer than wide, made of three equal horizontal stripes, the first (upper) green, the second brown, and the lower blue.
When the flag is charged with the municipal coat of arms, this should be placed in the middle of the panel, preferably on both sides of the flag.

The rationale for the colours of the flag is the following.
Green is the dominant colour on the municipal territory of Puntagorda, from the mountainous area surrounding the Taburiente caldeira to the lowlands. Green also represents the woods of Canarian pines [...], vineyards, almond tree groves, palm groves, dragon trees and the canopy of grasses and flowers in winter and spring.
Brown (locally called canelo, "cinnamon") represents the colour of the soil of Puntagorda, so fertile that is is sometimes imported in other places of the island to revamp farms. The brown colour has also cultural and historical significance. The typical dress is of brown colour. This is also the colour of the traditional roofs of the houses, of ripe almonds, of the Canarian pine, and of the rocks of the cliffs.
Blue is a symbol of the sea that bathes the coasts and contributed to the formation of the idiosyncrasy of the municipality.

The coat of arms of Puntagorda is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 14 December 2000 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 25 December 2000 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 167, pp. 18,832-18,834 (text). The coat of arms was validated on 9 June 2000 by the Heraldry Commission of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and eventually approved on 28 July 2000 by the Municipal Council, as published on 6 September 2000 in the official gazette of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Province, No. 102.
The coat of arms is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Quartered, 1. Argent a Gothical arch sable charged with a Bible surmounted by a mitre placed on a crozier all argent 2. Azure a Canarian pine proper, 3. Azure a pinewood press proper, 4. Or two waves azure surmounted by an island proper charged with two twin dragon trees. A bordure gules four branches of almond tree two in chief two in base the writings "Hiscaguan" dexter and "Garomé" sinister "Entre" in base. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown.

The rationale for the design of the coat of arms is the following.
1st quarter: The arch represents the church of St. Maurus, the patron saint of Puntagorda. The Bible, the mitre and the crozier are the saint's attributes.
2nd quarter: The Canarian pine has always been present in the landscape, culture, thinking, ethnography and idiosyncrasy of Puntagorda.
3rd quarter: The press recalls the production of the "pinewood wine" [made of grape juice extracted using a pinewood press and kept in pinewood barrels] in the area.
4th quarter: The famous, centenary twin dragon trees, growing in El Roque borough, are displayed on an island represented proper, that is of the brown colour of the soil. The waves represent the seashore.
Bordure: The four branches represent the four boroughs forming Puntagorda: Pino de la Virgen, El Pinar, Fagundo and El Roque. The writing reads "Between Hiscaguan and Garomé", referring to the two big, deep ravines that limit the municipal territory and to the aboriginal past in the history of the municipality.

The coat of arms was modified by a Decree adopted on 13 December 2002 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 1 January 2003 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 1, pp. 78-80 (text). The modificatin was decided on 23 February 2001 by the Municipal Council, validated on 9 April 2001 by the Heraldry Commission of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and eventually approved on 31 May 2002 by the Municipal Council.
The wording of the Decree is identical to the wording of the original one, with two modifications:
- The shape of the shield was changed from "Spanish" to "classical Portuguese". The description of the coat of arms was changed accordingly: "Shield in Portuguese shape ...".
- The writing on the bordure was re-arranged as "Entre Hiscaguán" dexter ans "y Garomé" sinister.

The rationale for the coat of arms was completed with a new introoducing paragraph:

The Portuguese heraldic tradition of the shield is justified by the huge influence exerted on the municipality by the Portuguese population settled in the area in the 15th-16th centuries. The adoption of this shape shall be a tribute to their memory.

José Manuel Erbez (Banderas y escudos de Canarias, 2007; website) notes that this shape of shield should not be called "Portuguese".

Klaus-Michael Schneider & Ivan Sache, 9 February 2014