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Acebedo (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of Acebedo - Image by Antonio Gutiérrez (VexiLeón website), 29 May 2011

Presentation of Acebedo
Symbols of Acebedo
Submunicipal entities
- Liegos

See also:

Presentation of Acebedo

The municipality of Acebedo (225 inhabitants in 2015; 5,018 ha; municipal website) is located in the mountains (1,160 m) of the northeast of the Province of León, 90 km of León. The municipality is made of the villages of Acebedo, Liegos (65 inh.) and La Uña (48 inh.).

Acebedo was mentioned for the first time in 1020, as Aceveto, on a parchment kept in the Cistercian monastery of Otero de las Dueñas; the name of the village comes from Latin acevetum, "a place planted with hollow", a tree commonly found in the neighboring mountains.
La Uña, located 3.5 km of Acebedo, is the last village in the Province of León before entering Asturias via the Tama pass. It was among the first areas settled in the Leonese Eastern Mountains, as evidenced by remains found in the Donkeys' Cave, dated to the Age of Copper (2000 BC).

Ivan Sache, 10 February 2019

Symbols of Acebedo

The flag and arms of Acebedo are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 11 June 2009 by the Municipal Council, signed on 25 June 2009 by the Mayor, and published on 29 July 2009 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 143, p. 23,882 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular, in proportion 1:1, divided by the descending diagonal, the triangle at fly red, the central stripe yellow and the triangle at hoist blue. In the middle is placed the coat of arms, in full colours.
Coat of arms: Chappe or a branch of hollow [acebo] proper in flower, dexter azure a key or in lower canton sinister gules an arrow head argent. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

On the arms, the hollow (acebo) is featured in the center and in bigger size than the two other charges, emphasizing the function of Acebedo as administrative seat of the municipality.
The key on a field azure is borrowed from the arms of Liegos.
The spearhead represents La Uña, alluding to the remains found in the Donkeys' Cave.
The arms are also featured on the obverse of the municipal medal, which was first granted (silver) to Acevedo-born Tomás Álvarez (1923-2018), a Carmelite friar considered as the world's best specialist of the life and works of St. Theresa of Jesus. In his obituary (Salamanca RTV al dia, 27 July 2018), the Carmelite Order evoked "a whole life dedicated to the text's edition, its theological and mystic interpretation, as well as to the historic context of the woman and writer".
[Municipal website]

Ivan Sache, 10 February 2019

Submunicipal entities

Liegos

Flag of Liegos - Image by Antonio Gutiérrez (VexiLeón website), 22 February 2011

Liegos is located in the San Pelayo Valley, 5 km of Acevedo. The parish church, mostly built in the 15th century, keeps the breviary of San Juan del Prado (1563-1631; beatified on 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII); dispatched to Morocco for the sake of evangelization by Urban VIII in 1630, Juan del Prado was martyred the next year by the Marrakesh ruler.

The flag and arms of Liegos are prescribed by an Agreement adopted on 12 May 2006 by the Village Council, signed on 15 May 2006 by the Mayor, and published on 26 June 2006 in the official gazette of the Province of León, No. 120, pp. 13-14 (text). The Agreement does not seem to have been subsequently published in the official gazette of Castilla y León, while it should have been. Accordingly, the symbols are not official, strictly speaking.
The symbols, which were validated by the Chronicler of Arms of Castilla y León, are described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular, in proportions 1:1, vertically divided in two stripes, at hoist, blue, in proportions 1/3 of the side, and at fly yellow in proportions 2/3 of the side. The latter stripe charged in the center with the coat of arms in full colours.
Coat of arms: Azure three keys or fimbriated sable. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

The Royal Academy of History validated the proposed coat of arms of Liegos, acknowledging its simplicity and visual balance. The charge is of simple choice, without any claimed symbolism or connection to a local event. The Academy simplified the description of the arms - this was not retained on the official text, but my translation suppressed the unnecessary details for the sake of simplicity. The arrangement of the three keys has not to be specified, since it follows the use. The different placement of the third key, for the sake of esthetic balance, is not significant; it should not be mentioned, either, since a variation in the design would not change the identity of the arms. The keys are not "fimbriated" as said in the description, the outline being part of the graphic representation, sometimes present, sometimes omitted. The Academy also validated the proposed flag and medal.
[Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia 204:1,152. 2007]

Ivan Sache, 10 February 2019