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San Joaquin (Carabobo, Venezuela)

Last modified: 2021-08-26 by klaus-michael schneider
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San Joaquin image by Luis Manuel Lopez Rojas, 18 April 2020



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Description of the flag

The flag of San Joaquín Municipality is official Since October 14, 2015.

Green represents the geographical location to the north, its mountains, vegetation, hills and mountains that unite and limit us
with the Coastal Range.

Blue represents the location to the south, limited and connected to Lake Tacarigua or Valencia, represents this expanse of water as a mirror of our sky that covers horizontally from beginning to end of the municipality; and our rivers as a hydrographic source with the emblematic Ereigüe River (formerly called Hato Viejo) recreational and tourist potential of the San Joaquín municipality.

Between the green and blue stripe are the emblems of the star and gajillo of our maximum cultural representation of the Shepherds of San Joaquin, whose figurative shapes it represents: the six-pointed star representative of the star guide of our Shepherds of San Joaquin, represents our populated center, its autonomy, its people; his nobility and ingenuity, forgers of one of the fourteen municipalities of the Carabobo state that, like the stars, shines with its own light. The gajillo of figurative form of musical instrument, of the dance of the Shepherds and Little Shepherds of San Joaquín.
Luis Manuel Lopez Rojas, 18 April 2020

These are extracts of the Municipal Ordinance:

Article 3.
The flag of the municipality of San Joaquín, created by José Ramón Castillo Peraza, was selected in a public open competition sanctioned by a popular, universal, direct and secret vote held on 4 and 5 July 2014.
The winning design was technically fitted by Lic. Carlos Zambrano, matching the following description.

Symbology.
Attributes: Composed of a rectangular panel divided into two horizontal stripes of equal size, green in the upper part and blue in the lower part. Over the stripes a six-pointed white star and a "gajillo" of the same diagonally superimposed to the star.

Semiology.
The green stripe represents the northern part of the municipality, its mountains, vegetation and the hills that unit it and form its limit with Cordillera de la Costa.
The blue stripe represents the southern part of the municipality, united and limited by Lake Tacarigua (Valencia), representing the lake as a reflect of the sky that horizontally covers our municipality from the beginning to the end. It also represents rivers as hydrographical resources, namely emblematic river Ereigüe (once known as Hato Viejo), the recreation and tourism potential of the municipality of San Joaquín
Over the green and blue stars are placed, in white, the star and the gajillo, the highest cultural representation of the Pastores de San Joaquín:
- the six-pointed star represents the guide for the San Joaquín Shepherds, the urban nucleus, its autonomy and people, their nobleness and ingeniousness as the builders of one of the 14 municipalities in Carabobo State, which, like the stars, shine with proper light.
- the "gajillo", the figurative form of the music instrument played in the dances of the San Joaquín Shepherds, is a religious, cultural and historic icon of the devotion to Baby Jesus, the pride of San Joaquín's identity.

§1. The Pantone color specifications are composed of 8 basic colors, starting with the municipal colors (San Joaquín blue and San Joaquín green), Pantone 293cv and 357cv, respectively.[...]
https://fr.scribd.com/document/397385991/Ordenanza-Simbolos-del-Municpio-san-Joaquin-Carabobo

The "gajillo", aka "chineco" is an idiophone percussion instrument composed of a cross-shaped wood skeleton of 1.60 m to 2 m in length, with one or more horizontal arms and sometimes topped by a crescent or other ornaments, equipped with small bells and colored ribbons. "Gajillo" players hit the soil with the instrument or shake it in the air.
The "gajillo" is widely used in Lara, Yaracuy, Aragua, Carabobo and Portuguesa States to rhythm "aguinaldos" (Christmas festivals) and "parrandas" (street festivals). In Mariara (Aragua) and San Joaquín, it is specifically used by shepherds in late December to celebrate Jesus' birth.

https://dokumen.tips/documents/diccionario-de-instrumentos-musicales-de-venezuela.html
Margarito Morales. Diccionario Básico de Instrumentos Musicales de Venezuela. FUNDACEC. April 2011

The San Joaquín Shepherds tradition are preserved by the San Joaquín Shepherds Foundation. While dancers should be adults, the Foundation encourages younger "pastorcitos" and "pastorcillas" to practice dances similar to the adults', to ensure the transmission of the traditions from generations to generations.

Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpUemCzVlqI San Joaquín Shepherds' Children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx_bOv9jBdw San Joaquín Shepherds school performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKGn0ZBcnGw Aguas Calientes school performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBcfQ9G6fSQ Aguas Calientes Shepherds "Gajillos" hold by the dancers are here completely "draped" with ribbons.

Ivan Sache, 19 April 2020