The law also defines public mistreatment of the flag as a felony.Įvery year, on July 10th, the pledge to the flag of Chile is recited on military bases across the country to commemorate the 77 soldiers that lost their lives in the 1882 Pacific War battle of La Conception. As late as October 2011, the law forbade the exhibition of the flag in public, without official approval, on days besides the holidays requiring its display. Homes and buildings must fly the flag on several different national holidays. Tens of thousands died on each side as they struggled for power over land in Chile.Ĭhilean law dictates strict rules concerning the display and use of the national flag. The body of the flag features five red and white stripes, with three red stripes and two white stripes. The Arauco War, an armed conflict between the Spanish and the Mapuche, lasted for centuries, beginning with the early Spanish conquest in the 1500s and ending years after Chilean independence. Puerto Rico uses a red, white, blue, and one-star flag. Most interestingly, early descriptions of a flag used by the indigenous Mapuche troops during the Arauco War depict an all blue flag with a white star in the middle nearly identical to the blue part of today’s Chilean flag. Others say it symbolizes a guide to progress and honor. Some say that it points out the fact that Chile is a unitary state. A number of possible influences could have inspired the inclusion of the lone star. In the case of Chile’s flag colors, the white traditionally represents the snow of the Andes Mountains, the blue symbolizes the sky, while the red recalls the blood shed by early Chileans fighting for the country’s independence from Spain. The star and colors of each of these flags represent different respective elements of cultural and historical significance. Their similarity is probably a coincidence, as the star and stripe features and their colors are common to flags around the world, including the Cuban flag and the Liberian flag. Americans may easily mistake the flag of Chile for the Texan flag, the only difference being that the blue square of the Texan flag stretches to the bottom when displayed in a horizontal position and not just to the bottom of the white band. The flag may also be flown horizontally, in which case the blue square and white star must continue to appear in the upper left corner. In the top left corner of the flag, a lone white star sits in the middle of a blue square. The Chilean flag features two horizontal bands, the top one is white and the bottom one red.
Today’s national flag of Chile, adopted in 1817, does, however, bear a striking resemblance to a flag used by the indigenous Mapuche people of the Chilean region, as described in the epic poem "La Araucana" by the 16th-century soldier-poet Alonso de Ercilla. The original Chilean flag, hoisted for the first time during the determined fight for independence from the Spanish empire, looked nothing like today’s version, which federal law requires Chileans to wave on all homes and businesses on certain yearly holidays.
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