#DYK that the first Mexican “Flag Day” was celebrated on February 24, 1940?
The tradition of celebrating the National Flag Day started in the year 1935 when Benito Ramírez, an employee of the Bank of México, organized a guard of honor to the Mexican flag.
This practice continued until 1940, when President Lázaro Cárdenas, declared February 24th as the official National Flag Day. From then on, every year Mexicans honor the flag with ceremonies that commemorate the heroes who gave their life for Mexico’s freedom and independence.
In 1968, President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz declared in the Constitution that the flag should have a unique design that represents all Mexicans.
Learn about the history of the Mexican flag
1810 — Banner of Hidalgo
The priest Miguel Hidalgo took an oil painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe from the Sanctuary of Atotonilco and used it as the banner of the independence movement.
1812 — Flag of Morelos
First appearance in the center of the flag of a crowned eagle perched on a cactus, a reference to the origin and foundation of Tenochtitlan. General José María Morelos y Pavón used this white and blue flag to identify his army.
1821 — Flag of the Three Guarantees
The flag’s colors are green, white and red. After the Plan of Iguala is proclaimed, the Army of the Three Guarantees takes this flag as a symbol of its identity. The colors are displayed as diagonal stripes, the order is not the same as it is today and there is a crown at the center of the flag to signify the transition to the first Mexican empire ruled by Agustin Iturbide.
1822 — Flag of the First Empire
The stripes on the flag are vertical and the crowned eagle reappears, standing on a cactus on its left foot.
1847 — Flag of the San Blas Battalion
The flag bears the legend “Active Battalion of San Blas,” referring to the military group that defended Chapultepec Castle on September 13, 1847. From left to right the flag is green, white and red in vertical stripes. In the center of the flag, a front-facing golden eagle with outstretched wings devours a snake.
1863 — Flag of the Second Mexican Empire of Maximilian
During the empire of Maximilian of Hapsburg, who was supported by the conservative political group opposed to President Benito Juarez, the flag continued to use the green, white and red vertical pattern with an eagle in the middle. Four crowned eagles were also placed at each corner of the flag to evoke the coats of arms of the European families and courts.
1880 — Flag of Don Porfirio Diaz
Porfirio Diaz, who ruled Mexico for 30 years, used a flag with a front-facing eagle standing on a cactus and devouring a snake underpinned by a semicircle of laurels.
1968 — Current Flag
On September 20, 1916, President Venustiano Carranza issued a decree stating that the official coat of arms would show the eagle in profile, with its wings spread and devouring a rattlesnake, and the legend “United Mexican States.”
In 1968, during the government of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, it was decreed that the flag’s characteristics would be specified in the “Law on the features and use of the coat of arms, flag and national anthem.”
The symbols in the Mexican Flag represent the history of our country:
The flag of Mexico consists of three equal sized vertical stripes — green, white and red. In the middle of the Mexican flag and white stripes is the country’s national coat of arms. The green stripe represents hope; the white represents unity; and the red represents independence.
Before the Spanish arrived in 1519, Mexico was occupied by a large groups of Indians. The Aztecs migrated into the Mesa Central from the North and fulfilled a tribal prophesy by establishing a city where an eagle with a snake in its beak rested on a cactus. This became the national symbol of Mexico and is adorned on the country’s flag and official seal.
The Shield, the Flag and National Anthem are the Native Symbols of the United Mexican States.
