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Puntallana (Municipality, Canary Islands, Spain)

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

Symbols of Puntallana

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Symbols of Puntallana

The flag and arms of Puntallana are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 19 June 1995 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 12 July 1995 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 87, pp. 6,696-6,698 (text). The symbols were approved on 12 June 1995 the Heraldry Commission of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
The symbols qre described as follows:

Flag: Horizontally divided (2:1) dark green-yellow. Five yellow five-pointed stars shadowed on top in red are placed in a semicircular pattern in the upper stripe.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Vert five stars or shadowed on top placed in a semicircular pattern, 2. Azure a cross argent a shell of the same [pouring water down to waves azure and argent]. Grafted in base gules three wheat spikes or. An escutcheon or a jay volant proper. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed. [Beneath the shield a scroll gules inscribed with the] motto: "Dios - La Virgen - Mi Amada".

According to José Manuel Erbez (Banderas y escudos de Canarias, 2007; website), the flag is based on the 1st quarter of the shield. The stars represent the five boroughs forming the municipality (Puntallana, El Granel, La Galga, Tenagua and Santa Lucia), arranged on the shield to form sunrays emerging from the east, recalling that Puntallana is located on the eastern side of the island.
The cross and the shell are the symbols of St. John the Baptist, the municipality's patron saint. The water pouring from the shell recalls the several sources found on the municipal territory, while the waves symbolize insularity. The wheat spikes recall that Puntallana was once known as the island's "grain barn". The jay, the emblematic bird of La Palma and found nowhere else in the Canary Islands, is said to have appeared in Puntallana and then to have spread all over the island. The motto (God - The Virgin - My Love) refers to the legend of the Lover's Leap; accordingly, a young man shouted these words to conquer the heart of his lover while turning around his spear near an abyss, in which he eventually fell down.

Klaus-Michael Schneider & Ivan Sache, 9 February 2014