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Today, the Day of the Flag, key to highlight the civility and values
Posted On 26 Sep 2018
Ecuadornews:
The three stripes cross horizontally, the first yellow tone represents the gold and the riches of the country, while blue refers to the sea and sky, and red, to the blood shed by heroes in the libertarian struggles.
This concept is narrated to the students of the first years of basic education in Social Studies classes on the current flag, which in 1860 was changed to the current colors. That year the use was decreed as an official and sacred symbol.
This newspaper gathered 183 of 393 standard-bearers totaling in Zone 8, between Guayaquil, Samborondón and Duran. Of the standard-bearers, 266 are women and 127 men who today wear the national banner in the flag swearing that 57,422 students in this area serve.
“It is very important because the symbols of the country are the identity of the people. A town that does not have an identity is as if it did not exist, “says Carmen Avilés, president of the Fundación Símbolos Patrios, created 36 years ago.
The life president of the foundation, Laura Zambrano, points out that it is vital that from infants the importance of symbols be imparted, in order to motivate the construction of a better society that seeks the good of their country. At the beginning of the 50s, at Santa Rosa de Lima School (Cañar), Zambrano remembers that as best students she was only given a medal, there was no swearing of the flag.
And is that in 1955, the National Congress established on September 26 as the Day of the National Flag and with that they began to give the traditional swears of flag, symbol that has varied its design.
By the 70s, stadiums such as the Model or Forest Park served as a meeting place for massive swearing of flags, today most schools do the ceremonies at their headquarters.
The times have changed like the history of the flag. According to historical accounts, in the independence episode of August 10, 1809, the first appearance of a red flag with a white blade occurs, while in the heroics of October 9, 1820, the five blue and white stripes were raised, then obtained from the emancipation of May 24 began the use of the tricolor.
That design varied between 1822, 1845 and 1960, which went from a white flag with a celestial painting and a five-pointed star to having three vertical stripes with three stars that passed to seven stars.
Finally, on September 26, 1860, President García Moreno decreed that the use of the Grancolombino tricolor be restored. Then in 1900, Eloy Alfaro ratified the design and incorporated the current shield.
In the most recent, in 1991, the Congress established that in the week of September 22 to 29, honors should be paid to the symbols of our country with academic, civic and cultural events, recalls Avilés. Thus, in several schools murals, declamation, etc. are made.
In recent years, the customary swearing in of the flag in which the seventh year students of basic education participated is no longer given, now only the students of the third year of high school meet.
“We must always remind them of the importance of knowing the symbols as the slogan ‘Love the national symbols is to love the country’,” says Avilés, who believes that the Government should resume the civics and morals in the curriculum, highlighting the study of the patriotic symbols and love to the Nation.
Zambrano stresses that it is fair to continue recognizing the best students. “It is a way of raising the student’s awareness of the love of the flag, the importance of being a great man, motivates the flag to win as a medal for his good behavior.” (I)
