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San Andrés y Sauces (Municipality, Canary Islands, Spain)

Last modified: 2015-03-07 by ivan sache
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[Municipal flag]

Flag of San Andrés y Sauces, as seen on the local Town Hall - Image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 11 February 2014


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Presentation of San Andrés y Sauces

San Andrés and Los Sauces have been two independent municipalities for a long time. The older San Andrés is located in the coastal region, while Los Sauces, the modern centre of the municipality, is located ca. 250 metres above the sea level. Due to a sales crisis of sugar cane the economy of both municipalities seriously declined so they were forced to merge to survive. The today's main source of income is the cultivation of banana, sweet potatoes and, marginally, sugar cane. An excellent rum is produced in Puerto Espindola, although the cane mostly comes from nearby Barlovento.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 11 February 2014


Symbols of San Andrés y Sauces

The flag of San Andrés y Sauces is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 2 August 2013 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 9 August 2013 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 153, pp. 21,992-21,994 (text). The flag was originally approved on 6 May 2013 by the Municipal Council and validated on 23 July 2013 by the Heraldry Commission of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular flag, in length 3/2 the width, charged with a yellow saltire (St. Andrew's cross) whose ends reach the corners of the panel and whose arms are in in width 1/5 of the panel's width. The upper and lower triangles formed by the cross are green, while the two other are red.
When the flag is charged with the municipal coat of arms, this should be placed in the geometrical center of the panel, with a height of 1/2 of the panel's height.

According to José Manuel Erbez (Banderas y escudos de Canarias, 2007; website), the flag is based on the coat of arms, repeating the three colours (green, red and yellow). The two villages forming the name of the municipality are represented, San Andrés by the St. Andrew's Cross, and Los Sauces (lit. The Willows), by the green colour.

The coat of arms of San Andrés y Sauces is prescribed by Decree No. 957, adopted on 8 April 1972 by the Spanish Government and published on 19 April 1972 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 94, pp. 6,944-6,945 (text).
The coat of arms, validated by the Royal Academy of History, is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Quarterly [by black lines], 1. and 4. Gules a bend or engulfed by dragon's heads vert langued of the same, 2. and 3. Gules a cross vert fimbriated and flory or cantonned by four wheat spikes or. Inescutcheon or a St. Andrew's cross coupe gules. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

According to José Manuel Erbez (Banderas y escudos de Canarias, 2007; website), the coat of arms displays the arms of the conqueror Alonso Fernández de Lugo, whose lineage owned the lands forming the today's municipal territory. The escutcheon alludes to St. Andrew, the municipality's namesake.

Klaus-Michael Schneider & Ivan Sache, 11 February 2014