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Saint Lucia

Last modified: 2023-01-05 by rob raeside
Keywords: saint lucia | beach | volcano | america | santa lucia | st. lucia |
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(1:2) image by Željko Heimer, 4 January 2003

Official Name: Saint Lucia
Flag adopted: 22 February 1979
Designer: Dunstan St Omer
Coat of arms adopted: 1 March 1967

• The New Flag
• The Flag - Overview
• 1967 Flag
• 1979 Flag
• Construction Sheet
• National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics
• Choiseul
• Storm Warning Signals

See also:

• Saint Lucia - Governor-General's flag
• Government flags
• Saint Lucia - Naval Flags
• Saint Lucia - Colonial Flags
• Saint Lucia - Subdivisions
• Commercial flags

Other sites:

• The Coat of Arms of Saint Lucia

The New Flag

At <www.stlucia.gov.lc> is the official flag of Saint Lucia. The colours has been changed in the last time, because at sites before November last year the colours was as known (dark blue and yellow). Did anybody knows when the colours was officially changed (22.02.2002(?)) ? "
Falko Schmidt, 15 April 2002

Did you notice that in the quoted website the flag behind the photo of St Lucia Prime Minister is still dark blue ?
Armand Noel du Payrat, 17 April 2002

Note that the present PM is in office since 1997 so that his photo might be quite old. It's interesting that both image and description are compatible - they both describe the flag as "cerulean".
Jan Zrzavy, 17 April 2002

The most intriguing fact is that the flag description says cerulean (sky) blue since its design, but has always been render a darker blue. I have been in St. Lucia, but many years ago, and it was a darker blue then.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 17 April 2002

The light blue flag is a new flag. Confirmed by the UN office of St. Lucia, who wrote me that the flag was adopted after their website had been completed, and so they show the old design in dark blue. The adoption date lies between December 2001 and March 2002. The office promised me complete infos.
Ralf Stelter, 13 May 2002

The web mentions that the flag was designed by Dunstan St. Omer.  I believe he is a designer of the first national flag.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 31 May 2002

St. Lucia is probably returning to the original flag colors. Some older sources, at least the Czech vexillological book written by Ludvik Mucha, did show the light blue flags in 1970's and early 1980's. I think that the color change took part in about 1979, together with changes of the flag geometry.
Jan Zrzavy, 1 June 2002

The Flag - Overview

In use since 1 March 1967, officially adopted 22 February 1979. Used as civil, state and war flag and ensign. Proportions 1:2.
Mark Sensen, 29 January 1996 and Željko Heimer, 13 March 1997

St. Lucia was first settled by France in 1650. During French rule, it used the same flag as Martinique, its neighbouring island to the north. It became British in 1814 - so the first ensign could date at least to this time. Afterwards, the two rulers were changed several times, but it finally remained a British dependency into the 'modern era'. In 1939 the arms were granted. Internal self-government was granted in 1967 (when it became an Associated State of Great Britain). Full independence in 1979.
Željko Heimer, 18 March 1997

The flag represents the island surrounded by the sea - two triangular shapes on the flag represent two volcanic hills, the Pitons, which are recognized by the people of St. Lucia and by the world as the symbol of this island. Please refer here, for an illustrative photo of the Pitons.
Joseph Sexton, 14 August 1998

From Dorling-Kindersley Pocket Book [udk97]:
"It [the flag] was designed by a local artist, Dunstan St Omer. The blue field represents the sea, from which arise the twin peaks of the Pitons said to be 'rising sheer out of the sea and looking skyward - a symbol of hope'. The yellow triangle stands for sunshine and the black arrowhead on white, for the twin cultures of the island. [...] A new form of the arms was also adopted, symbolizing the national motto 'The Land, the People, the Light'.Apart from the Governor-General's flag and that of the capital Castries, no other flags are known."
Ivan Sache, 31 January 2000

From <www.stlucia.gov.lc>:

Description:

Saint Lucian artist Dunstan St. Omer, designer of the National Flag, has described it as follows:

1. On a plain blue field, a device consisting of a white and black triangular shape, at the base of which a golden triangle occupies a central position.
2. The triangles are superimposed on one another the black on the white, and the gold on the black. The black ends as a three-pointed star in the centre of the flag.
3. The width of the white part of the triangle is one-and-a-half inches on both sides of the black. The distance between the peaks of the black and white triangles is four inches.
4. The triangles share a common base the length of which is one-third of the full length of the flag.

Dimensions of the National Flag

The dimensions of the National Flag shall be in the following proportions: 6'x3' and 9"x4.5"

Meaning of the Flag

1. Cerulean Blue represents fidelity. This blue reflects our tropical sky and also our emerald surrounding waters: the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
2. Gold represents the prevailing sunshine in the Caribbean and prosperity
3. Black and white stand for the cultural influences - the white part, the white culture; the black part, the black culture -the two races living and working in unity.
4. The design impresses the dominance of the Negro culture vis-à-vis that of Europe, against a background of sun­shine and ever-blue sea. This is represented by the three triangles in the centre of the flag, symbolising three pitons.
5. The Triangle, the shape of which is an isosceles triangle, is reminiscent of the island’s famous twin Pitons at Soufriere, rising sheer out of the sea, towards the sky -themselves, a symbol of the hope and aspirations of the people."

Falko Schmidt, 15 April 2000

According to Album 2000 [pay00] - National Flag (CSW/C-- 1:2) - The Album 2000 has medium blue field, while corr. 2 has it much lighter, after the recent reports.
Željko Heimer, 2 January 2003

1967 Flag

image by Željko Heimer, 18 March 1997

In use 1-MAR-1967 to 1979: same as current flag, but the golden triangle was lower. The blue background was lighter than today. Proportions about 5:8. Used as civil and state flag and state ensign. Reference: [smi80].
Željko Heimer, 13 March 1997

1979 Flag

image by Željko Heimer, 4 January 2003

Flag adopted: 22 February 1979

Construction Sheet

image by Željko Heimer, 4 January 2003

Corr. 2 to Album 2002 [pay02] also include some basic construction details (i.e. flag length is shown as 2+2+2, height 6; though exact measuring of the image there proves that the image was not made according to the numbers, the base of the triangle being some 30% longer then the distances to the edges). Above we have quote from the government site, quoting the flag designer, so we know that the width of the visible white stripes is 1.5" and the distance between the tops of the white and black triangles is 4", however we don't know exactly on how big flag this is measured. But, I think that we may safely assume that one of the two official sizes of the flag might be a safe choice. The same site mentioned above continues with flag description, but now not quoting the author any more: "Dimensions of the National Flag The dimensions of the National Flag shall be in the following proportions: 6'x3' and 9"x4.5". We may safely assume that Dunstan talks about the 3'x6' flag (i.e. 1x2m), and not about 4.5"x9" (which is ca. 10x20cm, presumably the table flag. Apparently, now the Dunstan's description is enough to construct the whole flag, with few assumptions that I'll point out on the way.
Knowing the dimension 1.5" and 4" as described above and knowing that the base of the triangles is 1/3 of the flag length 2' = 24", it is fairly easy to show using basic geometry that the length of the sides of the white isosceles triangle are 32". If we interpret the description rightly, the top of the yellow trangle is in the midpoint of the flag.
For those who like to know measures, even approximately along the main axes, it is fairly simple to compute that the height of the emblem is ca. 29.6". Rounding this to 30, one may easily show the construction details as: (3~+30~+3~):(24+24+24) or rationed as (1~+10~+1~):(8+8+8).
Admittedly, this produces the triangle somewhat taller that I am used to see in vex-books, but it may well be so.
All this assuming that Dunstan is talking about 1:2 flag. As we have shown, the original 1967 Flag might have been 5:8~. However, the story about the flag ratio change, just as the reports on the different blue shades sound quite fishy to me, and while these may well be true reports of the flags seen in use, it may well be that the official flag specification (if there was one) was never changed since 1967 actually.
Željko Heimer, 4 January 2003

I have today received official specs for the flag of St Lucia via Jos Poels, and the details are as follows:  
"Notice.
Saint Lucia National Flag and Coat of Arms.
Due to concern over the various representations of the National Flag on souvenir items and other memorabilia, and the need for standardization of such items, permission should be sought from the Office of the Prime Minister before the importation of all souvenir items bearing the Coat of Arms and Flag of Saint Lucia.
This request is in accordance with Clause 15 of the Third Schedule Part II (Restricted Imports) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act No. 23 of 1990.
The official colours, proportions and dimensions of the Saint Lucia National Flag are given as follows: Colours of the Saint Lucia National Flag: Cerulean Blue (Process Cyan 100%), Light Chrome Yellow, Black, White.
Proportions of the Saint Lucia National Flag: Width of the white part of triangle - 1 ½ inches on both sides of the black; Distance between peaks of black and white triangles - 4 inches; Length of common base shared by triangles - 1/3 of the length of the Flag.
Dimensions of Saint Lucia National Flag: Pole Flag - 6 feet x 3 feet; Hand Flag - 9 inches x 4 ½ inches; Desk Flag - 6 inches x 3 inches; Casket Flag - 11 feet x 5 ½ feet.
It is also recommended that the Coat of Arms, as the Official Seal of Government, should not be reproduced for commercial use or sale."
Source: Saint Lucia Nationwide, a publication of the Department of Information Services, No. 29, Saturday 25 October 2003, p. 8.  
I calculate (based on the above and a flag of 72 x 144 units) that the white triangle has a height of 54 units and a width of 48 units, while the black triangle (allowing for a 3 unit border at each side) has a height of 46 units and a width of 48, with the white being centred on the flag.  The height of the yellow triangle is not officially specified, but I have put its apex at the centre-point of the flag as being the logical place for it to be.
The details are taken from Saint Lucia Nationwide, a publication of the Department of Information Services, No. 29, Saturday 25 October 2003, p. 8.  It was, however, issued in accordance with Clause 15 of the Third Schedule Part II (Restricted Imports) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act No. 23 of 1990 (with no date or month given).
Christopher Southworth, 28 April and 4 May 2005

I took upon calculating the measures that Christopher Southworth sent and I reached to exactly the same conclusions as I gave above. Calculating trigonometrically from what dimensions are provided yield the length of the edge of the white triangle as 32". This again provided vertical division as approximately 3+30+3, that is not like Christopher give! (in Christopher measures "my triangle" is 59.33 while his is 46+8=54).
That the side is 32 is easily shown using basic geometry: since the right-angled triangles A and B are similar; A of sides 1.5 and 4 and B of sides 12 and x, where x is the length of the "white edge", x must be equal to 4*(12/1.5)=4*8=32.
Željko Heimer, 2 May 2005

"Chrome" can mean several different colours, but usually refers to yellow. In this case, it would mean that the yellow has a slightly amber tinge rather than being lemon yellow.
James Dignan, 3 May 2005

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 St Lucia: PMS 3005 blue, 109 yellow and black. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012

Choiseul

There is an anecdotal but exotic story involving the Caribbean island of Saint-Lucia and the French national flag.
In the south of the island, there is a city called Choiseul, whose history is the following:
"Many old maps of Saint Lucia show a place called Anse Citron where you would expect to see Choiseul. In English that means 'Lime Bay'. Perhaps the sailors who went ashore for food and water found limes growing there. This would have been an important discovery. Lime juice was a protection against scurvy, a disease caused by being too long at sea without fresh fruits or vegetables to eat. Until 1763, the village near the river mouth was also called Anse Citron. In February of that year, the English and the French signed a pact called the treaty of Paris. It made Saint Lucia a French possession. They celebrated by remaining the village Anse Choiseul in honor of the Duke of Choiseul, French Minister for Foreign Affairs. This was later shortened to 'Choiseul'. During the French Revolution, the Republican General Richard was sent to govern Saint Lucia. He gave all towns and villages new names. Choiseul was now called 'Le Tricolore', like the French flag with its bands of red, white and blue. In 1796, the British defeated the French and Le Tricolore became Choiseul once again." [Source: <aboutstlucia.sluhoo.com>].
Choiseul (1719-1785) signed on 10 February 1763 the treaty of Paris, by which France lost Canada, India and Louisiana (then much bigger than the today's state of Louisiana). During the French Revolution, all emblems of the Ancient Regime, including the administrative divisions and the coats-of-arms, were suppressed. The most zealous revolutionaries also changed the place names which alluded to the Ancient Regime. Although Choiseul had been fairly progressive, a good minister and close to the Encyclopedists, his name could not remain attached to a village, even in a very remote possession of the French Republic.
Ivan Sache, 26 February 2004

Storm Warning Signals

According to this WMO page, Saint Lucia use the US signal set:
- 40a (red pierced black): "Winds 49-63 kt".
- 41a (double set of red pierced black): "Winds above 63 kt".
- 39a (double set of red pennants): "Winds 34-48 kt".
- 56a (red pennant): "Winds 28-33 kt".
Jan Mertens, 30 March 2008

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