![[Flag]](../images/e/es-mu-cl.gif)
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Flag of Calasparra - Image by Ivan Sache, 2 May 2015
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The municipality of Calasparra (1,527 inhabitants in 2014; 18,490 ha; municipal website) is located in the north of the Region of Murcia, 80 km of Murcia.
Calasparra is famous for rice cultivation, initiated in the 18th
century and officially recognized on 16 November 1982 by the "Arroz de
Calasparra" protected designation (municipalities of Calasparra,
Moratalla and Hellín (Province of Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha). The
particular race variety, known as bomba rice or Valencian rice, is a
main component of paella.
Calasparra was located on the border between the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the Kingdom of Castile. On 9 June 1289, King Sancho IV transferred the castle of Calasparra to the Military Order of St. John. The Order re-settled the town with Christian colonists in 1412-1414, establishing a stable social and political organization that would last until the 19th century.
Ivan Sache, 2 May 2015
The flag of Calasparra (municipal website) is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 30 April
2009 by the Municipal Council, signed on 4 May 2009 by the Mayor, and
published on 23 June 2009 in the official gazette of the Region of
Murcia, No. 142, p. 33,570 (text).
The "rehabilitated" flag is not described in the Decree, which does
not seem to have been confirmed by the Government of the Region of
Murcia.
The coat of arms of Calasparra is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 28
January 2010 by the Municipal Council, signed on 29 January 2010 by
the Mayor, and published in 12 February 2010 in the official gazette
of the Region of Murcia, No. 35, p. 6,969 (text).
The "rehabilitated" coat of arms is not described in the Decree, which
does not seem to have been confirmed by the Government of the Region
of Murcia.
Ivan Sache, 2 May 2015
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-mu-c3.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-mu-c4.gif)
Buendía's proposals - Images by Ivan Sache, 2 May 2015
A reconstruction of the historical banner of Calasparra was proposed
by Luis Armando Buendía (Estudio para la bandera de Calasparra, Via Crucis +++, No. 2, September 2008, pp. 8-14 [PDF]).
The author analyzes two historical sources describing the flag of
Calasparra. The first source, already reported by Juan Ginés Sánchez Llorente (El Noroeste, No. 49, 17 July 1999), is an official record of the Town Council, dated 18 July 1602; the Council commissioned the Councillor Rodrigo Pérez Mateo to order in Murcia a flag "charged with the Cross of St. John". The second, hitherto unpublished source, gives a more precise description of the flag; in a deed dated 12
September 1638, Juan Díaz describes the flag hoisted by Francisco
Mateo Pérez in the name of the king, as "a banner made of four blue,
green, tawny and golden yellow pieces of taffeta with a big Cross of
St. John applied on the two sides of the flag...".
Based on the two documents, Buendía reconstructed the flag of Calasparra as follows:
- Obverse and reverse.
The flag should have similar obverse and reverse, that is being
symmetrical around an axis; Buendía assumes that the original source
did not care mentioning the symmetry but would have indicated the
differences between the obverse and the reverse, if any.
- Proportions.
Most municipal flags are derived from old militia banners. In most
cases, these banners were quadrangular, with proportions 1:1, although
some of them were more elongated or even triangular. Buendía adopted
the 1:1 proportions as the simplest solution and to clearly
distinguish the flag of the council from the black pennant designed in
the 1980s for the town festival and once featured on the municipal
website.
- Colours.
Blue, green and yellow are common colours, while tawny (Spanish,
leonado; French, tenné) is sparsely used in Spanish heraldry to designate a light brown or chestnut brown colour. According to the chromatic system recommended by FOTW, the author selected darker shades to increase contrast, recalling that such differentiation of the shades, allowed by modern technology, would have been totally meaningless under the Ancient Regime.
Colour FOTW RGB Blue B++ 0-0-153 Green V++ 0-102-0 Tawny M- 153-102-0 Golden yellow Y+ 255-204-0
- Division.
Here again, the lack of precision by the source indicates that the
division was quite simple. The simplest division in four parts are:
quartered by cross, quartered by saltire, horizontally divided,
vertically divided. The more complex divisions would result in visual
confusion.
Quartering per saltire is dominant in Spanish iconography, because of
its formal identity with St. Andrew's Cross. Such a pattern is
featured in the flags of Caravaca de la Cruz and Valdemorillo. The
horizontal division, also common, as related with the Aragonese flag,
would also be a simple solution; Buendía turned it down because of the
recent, immoderate use of this pattern by sports clubs.
- Colour distribution.
Buendía assumes that the flag was described in the source according to
the rules of blazoning, therefore, 1st quarter, blue, 2nd quarter,
green, 3rd quarter, tawny, 4th quarter, golden yellow. Another
possibility is that the colour enumeration is based on a mnemonic
principle. Distributing the four colours according to the four
selected divisions yields 96 variants of the flag. Assuming that blue
had to be in the 1st quarter, the number of variants is decreased to 24.
- Charge.
Buendía retained a white Maltese cross, of the simplest design, drawn
after an octagon. More stylized versions featured on seals and coat of
arms have a lower symbolic value. To represent the cross with the
biggest size, it was deemed necessary to place it in the center of the
flag. The side of the cross is 2/3 of the flag's side.
At the end of the article, Buendía illustrates two proposals, one with
the flag quartered by cross and one with the flag quartered by
saltire, stating that the final proposal shall be the flag quartered
per saltire.
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-mu-c2.gif)
Uncredited proposal - Images by Ivan Sache, 2 May 2015
Further on in the same issue of Via Crucis +++ (pp. 63-67) appears an anonymous article, Propuesta de bandera de Calasparra.
It is recommended to change the proportions from 1:1 to 2:3 and to
consider "adaptations" of the design according to the wishes of the
municipality - would it accept the proposal.
A possible adaptation is to add the emblem of the town, as represented
on the Corredera Fountain (1775). Neither in Spanish shape nor
surmounted by any Royal crown, this oval-shaped emblem is not a coat
of arms but a religious emblem. Superimposed to the cross, the emblem
would make it more connected to Calasparra.
The proposed blazon, for a coat of arms in regular, Spanish shape, is
"Argent dexter a tower proper (tenné) masoned and port and windows
sable standing on rocks proper (sanguine) sinister a grapevine vert
fructed gules the tower ensigned by a pennant sable hoisted sinister.
The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed. The proper tinctures
are kept to match the colours of the proposed flag. The blazon is
credited to "L. A. / J. J. M. M. (2008)", that is Luis Armando
Buendía / José Juan Moya y Martínez.
The colour specifications are given as follows.
Colour Pantone Flag Blue 2738 CVC Chestnut 1245 CVC Yellow 123 CVC Green 364 CVC Coat of arms Red 172 CVC Dark red 186 CVC Sanguine 484 CVC
Luis Armando Buendía and José Juan Moya y Martínez published a version of the aforementioned article, as La bandera de Calasparra; in Banderas [ban], No. 110, March 2009 (indeed, the proceedings of the 23rd National Congress of Vexillology held in Basauri, 8-9 November 2008), pp. 157-183 [PDF]. Dedicated to Francisco Mateo Pérez, the article features a photo of the square version of the flag quartered per saltire.
Ivan Sache, 2 May 2015
