The piece of the month of February 2025

THE FLAG OF THE TOWN OF FITERO

Ricardo Fernández Gracia
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art

In the centuries of the Ancient Regime we do not know precise data of how was the flag of the regiment of Fitero. With great probability it was the banner of the brotherhood of the Vera Cruz the municipal ensign. This brotherhood is among the oldest in the town and together with those of San Miguel, Santa Lucía and the Santísimo Sacramento, were founded in the times of the abbot Fray Miguel de Egüés y Pasquier, in the first half of the 16th century. Its board of trustees was exercised by the regiment which, still in 1805, appointed the abbot and stewards of the same "in conformity with the style and custom inviolably observed since time immemorial". When the municipal corporation attended civic and religious events, it was accompanied by the banner of the confraternity and in important pages of local history, such as the famous riot of 1675, witnesses testify about the presence of the aforementioned emblem as a corporate symbol threatened by the power of the abbot and monastery.

In 1833 it was ordered to make one "for the processions and other public acts, for being the old one useless", that would be replaced by others throughout the XIX and XX centuries (1853, 1881, 1912 and 1945), all of them with the image of the Virgin of the Barda. Of the one of 1853 it contributes some news to us the request that made the parish priest fray Joaquín Aliaga to the bishopric of Tarazona on August 30 of that year in order to proceed to its blessing. Thus it is expressed in his handwritten letter to the diocesan authority: "The City Council always that goes to the church in Corporation, it is used to take the flag with the emblem of the Patroness of the town María Santísima de la Barda and that the one that has been using until the day was quite deteriorated and has ordered to make a new one that will premiere in the celebration of this year, the 11 of September". Then, he expresses the wishes of the municipal Corporation so that it is blessed and asks for authorization to proceed in agreement with the instructions that are given to him and the suitable rubrics. From the bishopric they condescended to the parish priest to do it with the prayer of the Ritual corresponding to the blessing of images. The execution of that flag of 1853 was made, together with another black one in Zaragoza. Both imported 1,085 reales, and at the same time and in the same city were made some tapestries for the balconies that cost 255 reales. The flag of 1881 was made by municipal agreement of July 17, together with other tapestries for the balconies of the Town Hall, because the old ones were very old.

Municipal Corporation of Fitero in 1916, with the standard-bearer Eloy Andrés

Of the flag of 1912, we possess a much more eloquent testimony, a long journalistic chronicle, signed with the pseudonym of "Chantecler", in the issue corresponding to June 16, 1912 of the weekly La Voz de Fitero. There it gives an account of its realization in the high school of the Sisters of Santa Ana, of which Sister Petra Goñi was superior, an expert embroiderer, as she had demonstrated some years before, in 1891, in the mantle and apron of the Virgin of La Barda. On this occasion, the direction of the project was carried out by another veteran nun, Sister Antonia Itarte, the same one who was in charge of the nursery school between 1908 and 1911, together with two other nuns of the same congregation of Santa Ana. The commission by the City Council was motivated by the celebrations in Pamplona of the Centenary of the Battle of Navas de Tolosa. Among the information about the piece, it is noted that it was premiered on the day of Corpus Christi and that it measured 1.25 x .55 cms. It had a luxurious silver metal pole, rich fringe and four tassels and a luxurious maroon velvet flag holder. Regarding the embroidered motifs, the same chronicle states: "In the center of one of its sides is painted the image of Our Lady of the Barda on embroidered clouds of a precious hue and with a crown so well embroidered that it seems metallic with precious stones and placed the Virgin between two bunches of palms of a perfect shade, joined at the bottom by a beautiful and artistic maroon ribbon. In the upper left and lower right corners is embroidered the coat of arms of Fitero that, as is known, consists of a rosemary tree and a vine in which some bunches of grapes stand out perfectly and in the upper right and lower left corners is the cross of Calatrava and joining the coats of arms of the four corners is a border formed by a beautiful garland of palm leaves of a well understood coloration...".

A new flag was painted and embroidered in 1945, again position the Sisters of St. Anne, respecting faithfully, on the front and back, all the iconographic program that had been collecting elements and symbols of the history of the town, more forgotten.

Let's move on to the iconographic and symbolic motifs of the flag. The protagonism of the image of the Virgen de la Barda in the center of the obverse is fundamental as a sign of identity of the town since in 1785 it was made a special vow, which would end up supplanting the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, which was since the mid-seventeenth century. On the back, a Latin cross on a purple background and with the registration Cross in wood color on the back, with the registration: "IN HOC SIGNO VINCES - ES DE LA VILLA DE FITERO", as a reminder of the old ensign of the Vera Cruz, brotherhood of municipal board of trustees , to which we have referred to at the beginning of this text.

City Hall tribute to Miguel de los Santos Díaz y Gómara in 1921.

Both the Marian image and the cross, which are the main motifs of the flag, are bordered with a palm and a laurel, symbols of triumph and immortality.

In the corners and alternating the cross of Calatrava appears -flordelisada and red- and the coat of arms of Fitero with its arms: the vine and the rosemary, that were emblem, at least from 1653, in times of confrontation with the abbot and the monastery. The cross of Calatrava would be added to the municipal heraldic emblem very late, possibly around 1946, when the figure of San Raimundo de Fitero, in his second commemorative monument, was claimed, if possible even more, together with the epic of his military order of Calatrava. In fact, since the last decades of the 19th century, his figure has been the protagonist of different tributes, such as the procession in the patron saint's festivities or the dedication of the great promenade. His figure was considered as belonging to the town, as it had been before the monastery. 

Municipal corporation with the standard-bearer at the head in 1959

I end with a testimony about the respect and homage to the municipal flag observed by the one who was municipal secretary for more than three decades, between 1969 and 2001, Antonio Sayas. On several occasions he has told me that, among what most struck him in his first civic-religious parades with the corporation, back on the day of Corpus Christi in 1969, just arrived in town, was the respect that the neighborhood had for the flag, something that translated into how all men, without exception, took off their berets on holidays, as the municipal corporation passed by with the flag. To this we will add the salute in the form of a solemn bow of the head and an osculum that all the councilors and authorities gave and give to the flag before it was picked up to be hoisted on the balcony. We are not sure if the testimony of a 1925 chronicle refers to the municipal flag. It is possible that it does. On the occasion of a workshop of adhesion to Primo de Rivera and a Te Deum, sung in the parish, when leaving the flag by the door of the old town hall, we are referred that "When the flag appeared at the door of the Casa de la Villa, the band of music interpreted the Royal March, and the numerous public there parked saluted it respectfully uncovered, giving it a great ovation". We do not believe that it refers to the flag of Spain, because in corporative acts, it has rarely accompanied the town hall.

The last memory that I can contribute about the emotion of the old place of the Villa with the flag, is the one that starred the mayor Carmelo Aliaga, in 1979, making it tremble vibrantly for several intense minutes in a memorable end of September festivities, in the balcony of the old City Hall, shortly after the beginning of the democratic period.

Procession of the patronal feasts in 1966, presided by Bishop José María García Lahiguera.

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Municipal file of Fitero. Libro de Cuentas de Propios 1818-1839, accounts of 1833; Libro de Cuentas 1839-1868, accounts of 1853 and Libro de Acuerdos Municipales 1876-1882, fol. 208.
Diocesanfile of Tarazona. Property Section. Fitero, 1853
Diario de Navarra, January 27, 1925, p. 1.
FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., The childhood of Don José María García Lahiguera. Fitero, Comisión I Centenario José María García Lahiguera, 2003, pp. 80-81.
FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., Eight centuries of history, art and devotion in Fitero. La Virgen de la Barda: de titular del monasterio a patrona de Fitero, Pamplona, Parroquia de Santa María la Real, 2018, pp. 69-71.
La Voz de Fitero, June 16, 1912, no. 11.
OLCOZ YANGUAS, S. and FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., "La bandera de Fitero", Programa de fiestas de Fitero 1983.