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Bullas (Municipality, Region of Murcia, Spain)

Flag of Bullas - Image by Ivan Sache, 1 May 2015

Presentation of Bullas
Flag of Bullas

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Presentation of Bullas

The municipality of Bullas (12,061 inhabitants in 2014; 8,220 ha; municipal website) is located in the north-west of the Region of Murcia, 50 km of Murcia. The municipality is made of the town of Bullas and of the village of La Copa de Bullas (720 inh.).

Bullas was settled in the Roman times by several villae. The most famous of them, Los Cantos (1st-5th century) yielded the statue known as "The Child with the Grapes". Legends conveniently invented in the 17th-18th century relate Bullas to old towns named Abula Basteana or Bulla Regia, founded by celebrities such as Queen Belkis or Bishop St. Secundus. Bullas was indeed established by the Moors; accordingly, the name of the town must have an Arab origin.
Bullas was mentioned for the first time in a document dated 22 July 1254, stating that the castle of Bullas should be transferred to Mula.
The next year, the village was granted, together with Caravaca and Cehegín, to the Order of the Temple. The local chronicle recalls that Alí Mohamed, coming from Huescar, besieged the castle of Bullas, forcing its commander, Bermudo Menéndez, to flee. This event is recalled in a popular manner during the St. James' Festival, celebrated in Bullas every year in July.

Bullas and the neighbouring area was transferred in the 14th century to the Order of St. James, which would rule the town until the suppression of the feudal system. Ruy Chacón, Commander of Caravaca, planned in 1347 to rebuild the ruined castle of Bullas. The black plague that scoured the area prevented all kind of work; nearly deserted, Bullas was shared in 1398 between Cehegín and Mula.
Bullas was re-settled in the beginning of the 17th century by the farmers who had been allocated plots ofland near the deserted town. In the middle of the 17th century, Bullas counted hundreds of inhabitants, who applied for separation from Cehegín, located three leagues away. Religious independence was granted in 1664 with the set up of a baptismal font in the St. Anthony chapel; sequestrated in Cehegín, the font was repatriated to Bullas by the villagers, therefore its name of "stolen font". Political emancipation was eventually obtained in December 1685.

The Bullas protected designation is granted to wines produced in the municipalities of Bullas, Cehegín, Mula, Pliego and Ricote, and, partially, Calasparra, Caravaca, Moratalla and Lorca. The vineyards cover 5,500 ha, mostly (80%) planted with Monasterll grapevine.

Ivan Sache, 1 May 2015

Flag of Bullas

The flag of Bullas (photo, photo, photo) is prescribed by Decree No. 1, adopted on 12 January 2001 by the Government of the Region of Murcia and published on 1 February 2001 in the official gazette of the Region of Murcia, No. 26, p. 1,427 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Panel in proportions 2:3. Tierced, doubled at the top, white the 4/6 and, below, 1/6 wine red and 1/6 green. At 1/4 of the hoist or 3/4 of the fly, on the white stripe, a castle proper, on the donjon the Cross of the Order of St. James (red), the castle covering 2/3 of the stripe and the cross the remaining 1/3.

The process of adoption of the flag was initiated in August 1999. The proposed flag, designed by Luis Lisón Hernández, was approved on 3 February 2000.
The purple and green stripes represent wine-growing and agriculture and forestry, respectively. Associated to the soil, they are placed at the bottom of the flag, forming the substrate of the town. White is the colour of the Order of St. James.
The castle is the main charge of the municipal arms. The Cross of St. James recreates the old banner of the Order (a red cross on a white field) that was hoisted on the castle, as represented on the door of the sacristy of the Our Lady of the Rosary church - most probably the oldest representation of the arms of the town.
[Municipal website]

Ivan Sache, 1 May 2015