La Rioja Province (Argentina) (original) (raw)


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Provincia de La Rioja

Last modified: 2013-06-22 by francisco gregoric
Keywords: [la rioja](keywordl.html#la rioja) | [provincia de la rioja](keywordp.html#provincia de la rioja) | bend | wreath | fruit | [quiroga (juan facundo)](keywordq.html#quiroga %28juan facundo%29) | [araoz de lamadrid (gregorio)](keyworda.html#araoz de lamadrid %28gregorio%29) | [sarmiento (domingo faustino)](keywords.html#sarmiento %28domingo faustino%29) | rn.o.m. | [religion o muerte](keywordr.html#religion o muerte) | [religion or death](keywordr.html#religion or death) | [cross: (red)](keywordc.html#cross: %28red%29) | skull | bone |
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[[Province of La Rioja flag]](../images/a/ar-f.gif) 9:14
image by Jaume Oll�, 18 Dec 1996 and 26 May 2008

Description of the flag

Adopted 14 August 1986. The 18 red fruits symbolise each department of the province. Ratio: 9:14.
Jaume Oll�, 18 Dec 1996 and 28 Aug 2000

La Rioja became an autonomous province in 1815. Before that it had been a part of the Province of C�rdoba.

Although the flag of the Province of La Rioja is a modern designed one, it is obviously inspired by the two stripes of the Andes Army flag and the red diagonal of the Artigas Flag and the federalist flags used around 1815-1820 in the R�o de la Plata area.

It is believed that around 1815 the Artigas Flag was raised in La Rioja to show the support of the province to Artigas federalist ideas and protectorate.
Francisco Gregoric, 1 Dec 2005

Flag law

En uso de las atribuciones conferidas por el Pueblo, la Convenci�n Constituyente resuelve:

Using the powers given by the People, The Constitutional Convention establishes:

As noted the law just defines the Ceremonial flag. In outdoors flags the corbata ribbon is not present, and other dimensions could be possible
Francisco Gregoric, 1 Dec 2005

Although the law text defines the color of the lower stripe as "azul" (blue), the color that appears in La Rioja Province flags is sky blue, sometimes of little darker shade than the national flag, while other times the same one.
Francisco Gregoric, 26 May 2008

Historical flags of Facundo Quiroga (1826-1833)

Juan Facundo Quiroga was born in 1788 in a very small hamlet named San Antonio, (nowadays in the Province of La Rioja, Argentina). He was a federalist, a militar leader and a landowner. In the 1810s he went to Buenos Aires where it is believed that he was a soldier of General San Martin�s Mounted Grenadiers Regiment for a short time.

In late 1810s Quiroga was back in La Rioja as the commander of small military forces very influent in local Politics. His power grew stronger and Quiroga became the most important and powerful political figure in La Rioja.

In 1820 the central government of the United Provinces (Argentina) disappears and the Argentine provinces are formed into autonomous states.

In the Province of Buenos Aires, Martin Rodr�guez is elected as governor. The unitarian (centralist) politician Bernardino Rivadavia becomes secretary of Mart�n Rodr�guez�s Government (Rivadavia has been a political figure since 1811 in the del R�o de la Plata). As Mart�n Rodr�guez�s minister Rivadavia starts to implemente different liberal reforms.

Among those reforms Rivadavia tries to make changes within the religious area. He establishes freedom of religion and also takes actions that affect the collection of money by the Roman Catholic Church. Rivadavia wanted the government to have control of the funds administered before by the Roman Catholic Church. He also wanted to estimulate the immigration from non-Roman Catholic European countries.

These steps are soon imitated by several provincial governments, and even deepened when later the national power is restored and Bernardino Rivadavia is elected as President of Argentina.

These changes produce resistance in a lot of places of the Argentine territory. Lots of Roman Catholics protest against these actions and there are some insurrections. Facundo Quiroga leads some of them and presents himself as the "defender of the (Roman Catholic) religion" against that religious reform sponsored by Bernardino Rivadavia.

For that reason Quiroga begins to use the phrase "Religi�n o muerte" (Religion or Death) on his flags.

Between 1825 and 1827 and 1831-1833, Quiroga commands federalist armies fighting against the centralists in several occasions. The mention of a flag with the motto "Religion or Death" appears in the memories of General Gregorio Ar�oz de Lamadrid, a commander of the centralist forces that fought against Quiroga in several occasions.

The centralists are defeated in the early 1830s and federalists governments are consolidated everywhere, even in the Buenos Aires Province. Quiroga leaves his military commands and establishes himself in Buenos Aires.

In year 1835 he travels to the Province of Santiago del Estero to mediate a conflict. During that trip he is murdered in a place known as Barranca Yaco. The Reynaf� brothers that ruled the Province of C�rdoba are accused of the crime and executed later.

Juan Facundo Quiroga is buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in the City of Buenos Aires, the same place where most Argentine governants, military and historical leaders are buried, like for example Juan Manuel de Rosas, Juan Lavalle, Bartolom� Mitre and Eva Per�n among others. This cemetery is next to the Centro Recoleta, where the International Congress of Vexillology Vexilobaires 2005 was made

According to the information available, Juan Facundo Quiroga used more than one flag in his military campaigns. These flags were not intended as official provincial flags of La Rioja. They were military and political flags.
Francisco Gregoric, 30 Nov 2005

Skull and crossed bones flag

Perhaps the most famous flag used by Quiroga was a black flag with a skull and crossed bones. It was apparently first raised at the Battle of El Tala on October 27, 1826. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento mentions it on Chapter VIII of his famous book Facundo: Civilizaci�n y Barbarie (Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism). Sarmiento writes:

"Facundo enarbola en el Tala una bandera que no es argentina, que es de su invenci�n. Es un pa�o negro con una calavera y huesos cruzados en el centro"

(Facundo raises in Tala a flag that is not Argentine, but of his own invention. It is a black cloth with skull and crossed bones in the middle).

There is a more detailed description of this flag in the memories of the centralist general Gregorio Ar�oz de Lamadrid. He fought against Quiroga in the Battle of El Tala. At the beginning of this battle, Quiroga�s flag was captured for a moment by the Unitarian forces. Finally at the end of the battle the federalists achieved victory and Quiroga�s forces recovered the flag. Araoz de Lamadrid writes:

"mis c�vicos llevaban ya en retirada a la columna de Quiroga y le hab�a arrebatado su bandera negra con dos canillas y una calavera blanca (sobre ellas) y la siguiente inscripci�n: Rn. O. M."

(my milita men made Quiroga's column to retreat, and had taken his black flag with two arm-bones, a white skull over them and the following inscription: Rn. O. M.)

"Rn. O. M." is a short form for "Religion o Muerte" (Religion or Death). It is important to make clear that the flag of Facundo Quiroga, has nothing to do with pirate flags. For Quiroga, the skull and bones have a religious meaning related to death. This symbol is complemented by the phrase "Religi�n o Muerte" (Religion or Death).
Francisco Gregoric, 30 Nov 2005

Black flag with red cross

The second black that we know of is a flag that Facundo may have used in the Province of San Juan shortly after the Battle of El Tala. Once again in the same Chapter VIII of his book Facundo, Sarmiento writes:

"Sofocada esta revoluci�n en San Juan, s�bese un d�a que Facundo est� a las puertas de la ciudad con una bandera negra dividida por una cruz sanguinolenta, rodeada de este lema: "�Religi�n o muerte!"

(Suffocated this revolution in San Juan, it is known that one day Facundo is next to the gates of the city with a black flag divided by a bloody cross, surrounded by this motto: "Religion or death!)

This is the only source of information about this second flag. It must be said that Facundo: Civilizaci�n y Barbarie is not a history book but a literature essay that uses some historical facts to show Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Unitarian political ideas. However it is possible that this second flag may have existed.

The possible reconstruction would be a black flag with a red cross (a Christian Cross as Quiroga thought of himself as defender of the Roman Catholic Church), and the phrase "�Religi�n o muerte!" (Religion or death!).

The motto may have been written in full "RELIGION O MUERTE" or maybe the short version described by Ar�oz de Lamadrid: "Rn. O M.". However since Sarmiento mentions "una cruz sanguinolenta, rodeada de este lema" (a bloody cross, surrounded by this motto) I have reconstructed the flag with the complete phrase, due to the word "surrounding" the cross and due that the full version of the motto would be needed to achieve that. But both variants could have been possible.
Francisco Gregoric, 30 Nov 2005

Flag made by the Ladies of Mendoza

(As preserved nowadays)

[[Flag made by the Ladies of Mendoza and used by Facundo Quiroga]](../images/a/ar%5Fqui3.gif)
image by Francisco Gregoric, 1 Dec, 2005

There is another and the third flag used by Juan Facundo Quiroga that is perfectly known because it is nowadays preserved at the Museo Hist�rico Nacional - MHN (National Museum of History) in Buenos Aires. It is the flag given to Quiroga as a gift by the Ladies of the Province of Mendoza.

It is a flag similar to the flag of the Andes Army used by General Jos� de San Mart�n, with an Argentine Coat of Arms. The part preserved has two vertical stripes red and white, with a golden embroidered coat of arms at the center.

Only the coat of arms and a little of the original fabric is preserved of the original flag. However this part was restored by the MHN by sewing it onto a bigger rectangular piece of cloth of two vertical stripes red and white.

The color red is the color of the Federalist Party of which Quiroga was a member. Federalist political flags had red combined with white in several times.
Francisco Gregoric, 30 Nov 2005

Sources:

Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.