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Flag of Chercos, as communicated by the municipal administration - Image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 October 2012
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The municipality of Chercos (284 inhabitants in 2013; 1,400 ha; municipal website) is located in the central valley of Almanzora in the Sierra de los Filabres, 80 km north of Almería.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 October 2012
The flag and arms of Chercos, adopted on 26 March 2002 by the Municipal Council and validated on 9 October 2002 by the Royal Academy of Cordóba, are prescribed by Decree No. 307, adopted on 17 October 2002 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 9 January 2003 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 5, pp. 519-520 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular flag, one and a half longer than wide, vertically divided into two equal stripes, Prussian blue at hoist and white at fly. In the center of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms, on which the or and argent tinctures are replaced by the yellow and white colours, respectively.
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent a holly oak eradicated vert fructed or, 2. Azure two villages [represented by a pyramid of six rectangles ordered 1:2:3, each rectangle with a door and two windows sable]. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
No representation of a municipal seal was found either in the National Historical Archives or in any provincial sources. Furthermore
Francisco Piferrer's Nobiliario de los Reinos y Señorios de España does not include any coat of arms of local gentry.
In the eastern Filabres, with Tahal as its capital, were some Arabic fortresses. Various chroniclers of the Granada campaign of the Catholic Monarchs mention Chercos, sometimes, however, denoted also as Cherto, Xercos or Chorto.
Valera and Pulgar report that the Catholic Monarchs erected the
lordship of Los Filabres in 1490. Before the 17th century a
State of Tahal was established. The local Enríquez family gained proper arms, but whether those were used in all settlements of the region is not sure.
Three stones, Piedra Labrada (Formed Stone), Piedra Encantada (Enchanted Stone) and Piedra del Puntal (Lithic Stone), are placed upon the Cerro de las Piedras de los Moros (Hill of Moorish Stones). According to García Ramos, they are pre-neolithic petroglyphs showing animals and human figures all pointing to the south. Those, however, were considered as not suitable for a coat of arms, because most people would not be able to recognize such a symbol.
García Ramos further said that Chercos was derived from the Latin word quercus, which would be an oak. Thus the oak on the dexter
quarter of the arms makes the arms canting. The villages are Chercos Viejo [Old Chercos] and Chercos Nuevo [New Chercos]. These elements symbolize the close connection between both hamlets and between past and future.
[Information kindly forwarded by the municipal administration of Chercos]
Klaus-Michael Schneider & Ivan Sache, 22 October 2012
