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Haiti

République d'Haïti, Repiblik Dayti, Republic of Haiti

Last modified: 2023-07-08 by rob raeside
Keywords: haiti | caribbean | mdn | cabbage palm | palm | royal palm | emperor palm | liberty cap | phrygian cap | anthem | duvalier |
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(3:5) image by Željko Heimer, 10 November 2003
National and War Flag and Ensign

(3:5) image by Željko Heimer, 30 October 2001
Civil Flag and Ensign

Official Name: Republic of Haiti (Republique d'Haiti)
Capital: Port-au-Prince
Flag adopted: 17 February 1986 (Officially 29 march 1987)
Coat of Arms adopted: 25 February 1986

• Overview
• National and War Flag and Ensign
• Construction Sheet
• National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics
• Haitian Flag Anthem
• Haitian Voodoo Flags
• Duvalier portrait flag

See also:

• Coat of Arms
• Subdivisions
• Historical Flags
• Political Movements Flags
• Historical Presidential Flags
• Flags for Use at Sea
• Military Rank Flags
• Aircraft Marking
• National Police
• Red Cross
• CORPUHA - Conference of Rectors, University Presidents and Institute Leaders
• Fondation Eric Jean Baptiste
• Liechtenstein for another national flag with the same colours

Overview

From www.haiti.org:
Constitution of 1987 (Article 3):

The emblem of the Haitian Nation shall be a flag with the following description:

• Two (2) equal-sized horizontal bands: a blue one on top and a red one underneath;
• The coat of arms of the Republic shall be placed in the center on a white square;
• The coat of arms of the Republic are: a Palmetto surrounded by the liberty cap, and under the palms a trophy with the legend: In Union there is Strength [L'Union Fait la Force]

Dov Gutterman, 7 January 1999

I have found the original French version (national languages in Haiti are French and Creole) of the Constitution at: www.haiti-montreal.org (Website of the General Consulate of Haiti in Montreal):

ARTICLE 2:
Les couleurs nationales sont: le bleu et le rouge. (National colours are: blue and red)

ARTICLE 3: as above, but: Les Armes de la République sont : Le Palmiste etc...

What is puzzling is that the original French text and the English translation do not refer to the same tree!
According to DOD Bourke's French-English horticultural dictionary (CAB International, 1989), palmette (Fr) = palmetto (En) = Sabal palmetto, palmiste (Fr) = cabbage palm (En) = Roystonea oleracea. Palm cabbage is the growing point eaten as a vegetable. DK Pocket Book calls the tree the 'royal palm', thus referring to local palmist species (Roystonea regia in Cuba, R. oleracea in Barbados, and R. borinquena in Puerto-Rico). I suggest to change 'palmetto' to 'cabbage palm' to avoid confusion. Smith (1976) calls it 'emperor palm', a palm I have not found in any of the botanical books I have searched in.
The motto on the emblem (L'Union fait la Force) is NOT the national motto, which is Liberte - Egalite - Fraternite, fide Article 4 of the Constitution , as erroneously reported in DK Pocket Book and Smith (1976 & 1980)
According to Album des Pavillons, the flag with the emblem is the national flag and ensign as well as the war ensign, and the 'plain' flag is the civil ensign. This is seconded in Pedersen (1970) showing the Duvalier's era flags (with black instead of blue) .DK Pocket Book  shows the flag without the emblem, with the caption 'For official and state purposes, the flag is charged with the national arms on a central white disc . Smith (1976 & 1980) also shows the Duvalier version (black instead of blue) without emblem as state and war flag and ensign.
Ivan Sache, 12 December 1999

I have here a letter dated 1 December 1987 sent to Roman Klimes by Ministère de l'Information et de la Coordination of Haiti . It says more or less the same as your sources, with the following details
- "Palmiste royal"
- flag 2,90 x 1,74 m
- a drawing  b & w showing the flag with coa on a white rectangle 0,55 x 0,45 m

I also have a photo of President Preval in Jane's Defence Weekly dated 14 01 98, the white rectangle is much bigger in the flag than in your web photo.

When visiting me here on 25 September 1997, a Haitian hydrographer brought me a flag and told me that :
- the size of rectangle is variable
- blue should be the same as French blue but we often see a variable blue
- civil flags are without rectangle and coat of arms
- there is no war navy, air force (last aircrafts have been sold), so no jack, no aircraft markings.
Armand du Payrat, 13 December 1999

Palmiste royal agrees with royal or emperor palm mentioned in my first message, so it makes sense to consider the tree as a cabbage palm, locally called royal palm, in Latin Roystonea sp. (sp. for species because the species status of this particular palm is not clear).
Ivan Sache, 13 December 1999

I suddenly noticed that Sesam Encyclopedie (1977) has two coloured plates of flags. Concerning Haiti (State flag), the central rectangle noticeably larger, with the same ratio as the flag. If there ever was an official description saying this should be a square, than it's never followed; all flags I can recall have always had clearly rectangular shapes in the center. it's not exactly the same ratio as the above flag. The rectangle takes almost half the height of the flag, and just over half the length. The difference is just enough of to stop the rectangle from looking like a flag (or hole) inside the flag, if one pays attention to it.
I noticed we have the English description, and though we don't have the relevant part of the French description, we do have a link showing it. Both describe the white field as a square, but I would like to hear from anyone who ever saw an actual square white field on an Haiti flag. I'm beginning to think that, regardless of what the law says, even the Haiti government will most likely use an oblong field, simply because it fits the coat of arms better.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 6 October 2000

At "Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustre" (1924) - Haiti: Version with rectangle (not square), with a very wide image. I'd say some three quarters of the rectangle's width is taken up by flag cloth, or higher up by palm leaves, this being wider than the rectangle's height.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 29 October 2000

Pavillons Nationaux et Marques Distinctives [pay00] clearly states that:
- the flag with the arms is the National and War Flag and Ensign.
- the flag without the arms is the civil flag and ensign.
Note that Dorling-Kindersley Pocket Book shows the flag without the arms only and says "for official and state purposes the flag is charged with the national arms on a central white disc" (sic).
The flag is sometimes 3:4 in proportion and several variations in shade and size of the rectangle including the arms have been reported.
Ivan Sache, 5 January 2001

According to Album 2000 [pay00] - Civil Flag and Ensign (C--/C-- 3:5) - Civil variant of the flag is without the coat of arms, so just a blue over red bicolour. This is the flag that once "inspired" Liechtenstein to add the crown on
its flag. Recently we discussed an objection from a visitor, claiming that the flag with coat of arms is "true" national flag of Haiti. Either this has changed since 1930's (when the Liechtenstein "incident" happened) or indeed the visitor's perception of the
national flag is somewhat distorted.
Željko Heimer, 30 October 2001

National Geographic [gmc17] show the coat of arms, state and civil flags (fig. 486, 490, 491) that are virtually the same as those reportedly used today according to Album 2000 [pay00] , with some differences in the representation of the coat of arms, that could be ascribed to artistic rendition, and are of no significance.
Flaggenbuch [neu92] agrees again, but giving the size of the coat of arms much bigger and more elongated (and again with different artistic rendition).
Smith [smi75c] and [smi82] show the 1964 version of the flags, vertically divided black and red.
Željko Heimer, 31 October 2001

The official dimensions quoted as being supplied by the Ministry of Information on 1 September 1987, were, in fact, taken from Article 3 of a Law of 1949 (published in 'Le Moniteur' of 18 September 1949) which was, in turn, based on the report of a commission (appointed 3 May 1948) whose report was dated 10 June 1948.
The flag with arms replaced the bi-colour as National Flag under Article 3 of the Constitution dated 10 March 1987, where in all legislation before that date it was referred to as "The State/Official Flag and Naval Ensign (the plain bi-colour being referred to as the National Flag).
Christopher Southworth, 10 November 2003

Haiti celebrated its 200th anniversary of independence on 1 Jan 2004, and there were several news reports in German TV about the celebrations and the riots there. During the celebrations all the people listening to president Aristide's speech waved Haitian flags with the coat of arms, in a rectangular field much bigger than we have above. The flag seems to be widely used by the "common" people (as far as people listening to the president's speech can be called "common"), so this is obviously not only the state/war flag, but also at least one variant of the Haitian civil flag.
On the other hand, some protesters had two plain flags without coat of arms. So both versions are used as civil flag. It would be interesting to know, if the different usage is due to political reasons (with coat of arms = pro-government; without coat of arms = anti-government), or simply due to the fact, that poor protesters can't afford buying the flag with the coat of arms, but can just sew a plain flag from two pieces of cloth.
Marcus Schmöger, 3 January 2003

Could it be, perhaps, that most Haitians do not know the distinction?
Guillermo Aveledo Coll, 4 January 2003

Guillermo is probably right about the people of Haiti, and I, myself, would probably disagree with many of my fellow vexillologists about what constitutes a "National Flag".  However, none of us would disagree that where the law (or the Constitution) states such and such a flag is the 'National Flag' of a country that is the flag we show here.
According to the Constitution/laws of Haiti, until a change in 1987 the plain bi-colour was the 'National Flag' and the flag with arms the State Flag and Naval Ensign.
Christopher Southworth, 4 January 2003

According to www.haiti-reference.com, the 1987 constitution (which contain the text relating to the flag) was officially ratified on 29 march, making this the adoption date for the current flag. Note that the re-adoption by the government is given as 17 February 1986 .
Marc Pasquin, 8 August 2004

National and War Flag and Ensign

Flags of participating nations are vertically displayed in the arena where the Judo World Championships take place in Munchen (Germany). The Haitian flag appears clearly to have non-rotated arms (i.e. their basis remains parallel to the original flag basis, now vertical.) I have not found reference to this case. Since there is a ribbon with a motto below the arms, I would expect a rotation of the arms to keep them horizontal and legible.
Ivan Sache, 30 July 2001

In all sport events I have seen on TV, Haiti is represented by the flag with coat of arms. All sources (except DK Pocket Book, which mentions a disk!) agree that the flag with coat of arms is not only the state flag and ensign, but also the national one, whereas the flag without coat of arms is the civil flag and ensign.
Ivan Sache, 13 October 2001

According to Album 2000 [pay00] - National Flag (-SW/-SW 3:5) - Blue over red bicolour with rectangular white panel in the middle with the national coat of arms. The ratio of the panel itself is something like 4:5. It appears to be less the 1/3 of the hoist high, but it seems to me that this size is (and never was) firmly decided on.

I have seen on the BBC lately, two forms of state flags used in Haiti. One was interesting in the fact that government building shown in the background flew a flag like the one above (with the arms and white area) in a small form, while in front of the building, like in a park in front, it showed larger white area and arms (like on the World Flag Database). Rarely does one see only the red over blue flag with white area and arms in news video.
Steve Stringfellow, 18 February 2004

3:4 variant

image by Željko Heimer, 30 October 2001

Note to the figure explains that beside this flag a variation with lighter blue, larger panel and in ratio 3:4 is also used.
Željko Heimer, 30 October 2001

Construction Sheet

image by Željko Heimer, 10 November 2003

National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Haiti: PMS 293 blue, 032 red, 355 green, 125 brown, 102 yellow, 430 grey and black. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012

Haitian Flag Anthem

The Haitian flag anthem is shown at windowsonhaiti.com, words by Christian Werleigh (My translation):
"Hail, beautiful Vertières flag
Holy emblem of the Union
Inspire us, Dessalines and Pétion's
Haughty colours

On this great day of our history
The 18th of May 1803
Thou appeared to guide our rights
Towards the sun of victory
And the ruler trembled all over when he saw,
Announcing the new dawn,
His beautiful tricolour standard,
Looming up, diminished of the white

In front of Vertières flag
Which call us to union
Let us remember Dessalines and Pétion's
Haughty souls."

The French troops were defeated during the battle of Vertières (18 November 1803). Their capitulation allowed the proclamation of Haitian independence on 1 January 1804 Dessalines and Pe'tion's were among the leaders of the anti-French insurrection movement. The 18 May 1803 was the closing day of the Arcahaie congress (15-18 May 1803), during which Dessalines had been appointed general-in-chief of the insurrection army and had adopted the motto "L'indépendance ou la mort" (Independence or death) He also "diminished" the French Tricolor of its white stripe to design the first blue-and-red Haitian flag. The flag anthem is very popular in Haiti. It is sung during flag hoisting ceremonies in school, barracks etc.
Ivan Sache, 2 December 2000

Haitian Voodoo Flags

A friend referred me to a special exhibit at www.egallery.com - Click : The Electric Art Gallery: Haitian Voodoo Flags. Very different designs from what we inculcate, but the purpose is very different, too.
John Ayer, 9 October 1999

In the Friday, March 5, 2010, issue of The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California), there was an article about a raffle of a Haitian Voodoo Flag.
Pete Loeser, 6 March 2010

Duvalier portrait flag

Studying the Smith's PhD thesis (see [smi69]), on page 228 there is a brief description of a phenomenon i.e. a flag that was, as far as I could remember, not mentioned on FOTW so far.
Let me quote Smith:
"President Duvalier of Haiti expresses the idea [of his exceptional characteristics qualifying him for leadership, noted Željko Heimer] succinctly, if rather badly, in a neon sign in Port-au-Prince which bears his portrait and the inscription "Je suis le drapeau de la nation, un et indivisible." ("I am the Flag of the Nation, One and Indivisible." - I guess :) )
This is followed with a footnote that is of further interest:
"Dr. Duvalier's portrait also frequently replaces the national coat of arms in the center of the Haitian flag."

I suppose that the Papa Doc's portrait in neon must have been an iconic image in 1960s when Smith was writing the thesis, relatively well known image from Haiti of the period - but it seems I cannot find it in the internet. Anyone have better luck? I suppose that such a portrait might have had relative popularity among his followers just as the portrait of Che Guevara had and still has.
A hasty interpretation of the footnote may suggest that the same drawing as the neon portrait was used in the flag - but when read more carefully, it does not imply it was the same graphic representation, simply "a portrait" of Duvalier. Does anyone have any info of any Papa Doc's portrait flag of Haiti? It would be black-red vertical bicolour with the portrait in the centre of it (on a white panel, I would imagine, but I may be wrong). One may guess that various portrait artwork may have been used. Certainly, these would be unofficial flags, probably used as hand weavers and other occasional ornamentation.
Željko Heimer, 5 April 2010

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