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Guatemala

by Jorge Candeias, 22 May 1999

Flag and arms adopted at 15 September 1968

Civil and state flag
Coat of arms
Historical flags
Subnational flags
Guatemalan maya flag
Possible flag of an unidentified guerilla movement
Guatemala - military regions

Civil flag

by Jorge Candeias , 22 May 1999

The right colors, ratio and national arms (seal), in an "html" version of the guatemalan flag, can be seen at: http://www.quetzalnet.com/bandera.html
Guido Solares, 27 July 1998

As far as I know, Guatemala follows a practice common to several other nations (Germany and Austria are examples) of having two official flags for use at land: the one known as civil flag is the blue-white-blue with no further ornaments, to be used primarily by the citizens, and the one known as state flag, which adds the coat of arms to the civil flag. Usually, this flag is to be used in any official condition to represent the country, though the specifics of it's usage varies from country to country.
Jorge Candeias, 17 October 1998

From the number of messages we've been receiving saying that the blue-white-blue flag is wrong, it looks like in Guatemala the state flag is much more in use than the civil flag, or even that the civil flag is not used at all.
Jorge Candeias, 3 April 1999

Coat of arms

by Jorge Candeias, 22 May 1999

The Flag Bulletin #184 says that on 26 December 1997 the spelling on the arms was altered from SETIEMBRE to SEPTIEMBRE.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 14 March 1999

According to my sources, the branches (coffee?) surrounding the arms should bear four red berries each.
Ivan Sache, 4 April 1999

My sources show no berries. Can someone else confirm Ivan's info? And tell me where these berries would be placed if it gets confirmed?
Jorge Candeias, 5 April 1999

I can at least give my sources: Album des Pavillons, DK Pocket Book, Pedersen and Smith all show these berries. And I just discovered there were not four, but five berries per branch.
It's rather difficult to describe their location, this would need a detailed botanical description of a coffee branch.
One berry is located at the lowest node. For the other, let us count the "voids" (only the big ones) between successive leaves, beginning at the top of the branch; first berry fits in "void" number 3, second berry in "void" number 5, third berry in "void" number 6, and fourth berry in "void" number 13.
Ivan Sache, 5 April 1999

I can't confirm or deny Ivan's info, however, in Pedersen, 1971 English edition, there do appear to be beans at the base of the major leaf groups, but in mixed numbers, usually pairs. The bird is like a parrot (Pedersen describes it as "a quetzal, the 'bird of freedom', derived from a local Indian legend") with the head turned back over its left shoulder.
Michael Smuda, 5 April 1999

Hum... that's very different from all other Guatemalan emblems I've seen so far, that look just like my image. I suspect that either it is a wrong depiction (the "parrot" makes me wonder - see below) or an early version.
The quetzal is a real bird that lives in the forests of Central America. It was considered sacred by the pre-colombian civilizations, and the priest that "incarnated" the god Quetzalcoatl wore it's feathers. The depictions of the bird in the Guatemalan symbol I've seen so far show the real bird in the position I depicted it.
Anyone knows of changes or standartization of the Guatemalan symbol since 71?
Jorge Candeias, 6 April 1999

The image sent by Michael is pretty much like the one shown by Kannik. He says it is from 1871, and based on the emblem (he says arms) from 1843. He has no blue oval and no background colour, though.
According to Pedersen, 1979, the emblem was changed at 9 September 1968 to the one sent by Jorge. Pedersen has a light blue background in the emblem, (symbolizing fantasy), but not when it is in the flag. Pedersen mentions 18 November 1871 for the older emblem.
Pedersen shows many berries, by the way. I counted 14 on each branch. He also has a light yellow tone in the scroll.
Ole Andersen, 8 April 1999

All Guatemala's CoA's on the web, got no berries at all.
All the official sites uses the same image. Example is at: http://www.concyt.gob.gt/edicion/logos/escudo.gif

Unofficial sites uses a better COA. Example at: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/6886/escudo.gif

The best one (see here) and info in spanish are at: http://www.mdngt.org/agremilusa/symbols.html#EL ESCUDO
Dov Gutterman , 9 April 1999

Ole reported already 14 berries per branch, and from Pederson and FTAAATW I can confirm that (about 14, the images are very dim and the berries very small). The position of the berries are mostly against the branch, not on it, as you giffed them. They are at irregular intervals, a bit winding around the branch. The background of the COA is definitely lightblue. BTW the branches are laurel-branches. Laurels have black or darkblue berries naturally, but the Guatemaltec brand is red.
Jarig Bakker , 9 April 1999

Kannik ('56) has no background for the emblem, but he has _22_ berries (of which two lack colour - certainly an error).
Pedersen ('79) has the emblem on a light blue circular background. He has 28 berries.
The DK book ('98) has no background, and 10 berries.
The background is omitted in the flag
Ole Andersen, 12 April 1999

It looks like the presence or absence of these berries and their number if present is not regulated, varying from rendition to rendition.All the newer renditions of the COA that I've seen show no berries at all. See also http://www.quetzalnet.com/bandera.html.
Jorge Candeias, 22 May 1999

Guatemalan maya flag

by Jan Oskar Engene

A colleague returned recently from an assignment in Guatamala and brought with him a photograph of a flag which was presented to him as the flag of the Mayas.
The Maya flag is divided diagonally into four fields, the one closest to the hoist is white (for peace), the field in the fly end is yellow (for the sun), the top field is blue (for the sky) and the bottom field is red (for fire). The flag was fringed in light blue. The photographed flag also had a red stripe at the hoist, but this seems to be a sleeve for hoisting.
My colleague was explained that these flags are not for sale in shops, so they are all home made. I don't know what the status of the flag is or anything about its history.
And yes, it does look like the P&O house flag with the colours in a different order.
Jan Oskar Engene, 5 December 1998

Possible flag of an unidentified guerilla movement

the "Che" flag
by Jorge Candeias

If I recall correctly a similar design to the above with different inscription was used by one of the guerrilla movements in Guatemala.
Jaume Olle', 3 August 1998