February 24 is a Mexican national holiday celebrating Flag Day. The Mexican flag—the tricolor symbol with an eagle at its center—has gone through many iterations to become what it is today. The first emblem representing an emerging, sovereign nation happened on September 16, 1810 when the insurgents left the town of Dolores, they stopped in Atotonilco. Father Miguel Hidalgo took a painting of the Virgen of Guadalupe from the sanctuary and carried it aloft as they marched toward San Miguel el Grande to begin the fight for independence.
In 1812, a new flag was adopted with a central image of an eagle. The eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, while perched on top of a prickly pear cactus. The cactus on top of a rock that rises above a lake is part of an ancient Aztec legend. According to the story, the gods ordered the building of a city where an eagle on a nopal, was eating a serpent. Thus came the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City.
Then in 1821, the three colors appeared on a new flag—la bandera del Ejército Trigarante—the flag of the army of three guarantees: white for religion, green for independence, and red for unity of the Mexican people. The crown in the center was the continuation of monarchy, now with Agustin Iturbide as emperor of the New Mexican Empire.
The flag was modified a year later with the reappearance of the crowned eagle, standing on a cactus. The colors remained the same, but were arranged in a vertical manner.
Forty odd years later, with the Second Mexican Empire headed by Austrian Archduke Maximilian as emperor, a new flag was created. The eagle remained, as well as the three original colors, but the coats of arms of European nobility, and a crown were also included.
After the fall of Maximilian’s empire, and with the advent of major reforms by President Benito Juarez, the flag reverted to an eagle at the center, with the original colors in place. What did change was the meaning of the colors. The progressive reforms instituted by Juarez included a most important separation of church and state; green became a symbol for hope, white for unity, and red for the blood shed by national heroes. The next change in the flag’s design came in 1880 during the 30-year dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. The eagle was once again placed in the center, but it was no longer in profile, it was now seen face forward standing on a cactus, devouring a serpent. The eagle, ancient symbol for the sun, was now seen as overcoming earth in the form of a serpent. Below is the flag as it appeared during the centennial celebration of the Mexico’s Independence.
The final version of the flag, as seen today, was adopted in 1968 and confirmed by law in 1984. The eagle is facing sideways, to the right on one side and to the left on the reverse. The idea of a plain, tricolor flag, which was considered for some time, was abandoned when they realized that doing so would make it almost identical to the Italian flag which has the same colors. The central coat of arms, creates the significant difference that makes it uniquely Mexican.
Following are some interesting, and fun facts about the flag.
Ornithologists have had a long debate as to the exact identity of the eagle depicted on the flag. Some claim it is the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), but others contend it is really the Northern Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway). The latter is a plainer species revered as the sacred eagle, and known in the Aztec culture by the name iztaccuauhtli.
The flag also has a fascinating culinary history. Agustin Iturbide, the first post-Aztec emperor, visited the city of Puebla in 1821, and to celebrate the occasion, the nuns came up with a dish that would incorporate the three colors of the flag. Thus was created the famous chiles en nogada dish: stuffed chiles in a cream walnut sauce, decorated with pomegranate seeds. Those ingredients represent each of the colors: green, white, and red.
In 2008 a survey among 104 countries voting for the prettiest flag in the world, had Mexico’s emblem come out on top.
The highest flagpole in the world is in Mexico City and rises to 120 meters, or 394 feet. The dimensions of the flag is 60 by 30 meters; 200 by 111 feet.
On two occasions, in 2015 and 2019, a soldier became tangled up in one of these giant flags and was lifted up, the first to a height of 90 feet, the second to 20 feet. In both cases, in spite of their falls, the soldiers were fine.
With all this knowledge you can now celebrate Mexican Flag Day with typical Mexican verve!
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