Mexican Flag. All about the Flag of Mexico.

The Mexican flag sports three vertical bands, the central band being slightly smaller than the outside bordering bands.

On one side of the flag of Mexico is a band of green, symbolising:

Hope and Fertility

The Hope symbolised on the Mexican flag is that of the Independence movement and its dream of an independent state.

The Green also symbolised Fertility, that of the soil.

The central white band symbolises Purity. The purity being that of the Catholic faith.

And the outer band is red, symbolising the Blood of the National Heroes shed during the Wars of Independence.

In the centre of the Mexican flag is the Mexican Coat of Arms.

Click on the little Mexican flag to see a bigger one.

The Mexican Coat of Arms features an eagle on a cactus bush lunching on a tasty snake.

According to legend, the Aztecs while searching for their promised land, were told by the god Huitzilopochtli, that the spot would be marked where an eagle was devouring a snake on a nopal cactus tree.

When the spot was thus duly located, the eagle, serpent and cactus being seen on a marshy lake, they founded Tenochtitlan. When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico Tenochtitlan was a thriving city of between 150,000 to 300,000 inhabitants.

The exact spot is now the zócalo, or main plaza of what is today Mexico City, capital of Mexico.

We know not what happened to the eagle, or the cactus bush, but the snake was eaten.

History of the Mexican Flag

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Aztec's standard had pictures of panthers and eagles.

After the Spanish conquest of Mexico, colonial leaders installed a flag, so that the Mexican flag of the period resembled the flag of Castille, (Spain) and on 13th August 1530, Don Alonso de Estrada's government held the first flag parade, commemorating the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521, some 9 years previous.

In the 1800's with the War of Independence, new leaders came along as did new Mexican flags.

The standard of the Virgen of Guadalupe was unfurled by Don Miguel Hidalgo at the beginning of the Revolution.

Several different Mexican flags were used and amended during the Wars of Independence, and at independence in 1821, Generalísimo don Jose María Morelos added the Flag of the Three Guarantees.

The current Mexican flag maintains the traditional colors green, white and red and with the Mexican national shield in the middle.

Since 1937 Mexico has celebrated Flag Day annually before the Monument to General don Vicente Guerrero. Guerrero was the first to swear allegiance to the Mexican flag on March 12, 1821 in Acatempan.

El Día de la Bandera (Mexican flag day) is celebrated every February 24th.

Facts on Mexico and the Mexican flag.

Map of Mexico.