Adolf Durán's Proposal for Eastern Aragon 1985 (Aragon, Spain)

Franja de Ponent

Last modified: 2015-07-29 by ivan sache
Keywords: franja de ponent | aragon | stripes: 9 (yellow-red) | chequy: hoist |
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2:3
N.B. this was a proposal, never actually hoisted
image by António Martins

• Description

See also:

• Aragon (Spain)
• Spain

Franja del Ponent is Catalan for "Western Fringe," a strip of territory in Eastern Aragon, where Catalan is the local language. (...) This proposal is inspired in the Catalan senyera. A vertical hoist area (about 1/6th of the width) is counterchanged, creating five red stripes standing for the five historical comarques [counties or subprovincial areas] of the region, from North to South: Alta Ribagorza, Ribagorza, Llitera, Baix Cinca and Matarranya. The design of the flag thus symbolizes the number and geographical situation of these comarques, west of Catalonia (with the hoist at the viewer's left hand). Source: Jaume Ollé.

António Martins, 09 Jun 2000

I fully disagree with the alleged use of such flag in several municipalities in eastern Aragon. I frequently travel in that area and I have never seen any flag as the one described. Apart from that, I disagree with the Franja de Ponent term used to refer to the eastern comarcas [unofficial subprovincial areas] of Aragon, which ought to include from a historical point of view that of Ribagorza and the Aran Valley – currently under Catalan administration – both of which were historically and administratively Aragonese until the provincial division during Isabel II's reign [mid-19th century].

Chuse Fernández, translated by Santiago Dotor, 03 May 2001

I agree. This flag was a creation suggested by the Catalan mayors of this zone in the years of the so-called transition [late 1970s and early 1980s], but its use is doubtful. (...) Until early 19th century the Catalan administrative frontier was always the Cinca River (thus including this stripe), and after that the river continued being the linguistic frontier. During the Napoleonic occupation this land was part of two departments (Segre, capital Solsona, and Boches-du-Ebre, capital Tarragona) except Val d'Aran [Aran Valley] that was annexed to France.

Jaume Ollé, 10 May 2001

I live in the "Franja de Ponent" and have been arguing with several Catalan and Aragonese citizens about the "catalanity" of the "Franja." This flag never arised in any conversation, and I have never seen it before (and I have seen many flags and coats of arms).

Enrique Naval, 09 Sep 2003

According to Banderas, this flag was designed by Adolf Duran to suggestion of the elected Catalan majors of the zone, but never reached official status, as Catalan cultural rights in Aragon are unrecognized de facto yet. In all, the communication of Enrique Naval is very dubious, because:

1. Catalan people were in the zone for more than 1000 years, and the zone was part of Catalonia for 900 years (until provincial division in the early XIX century); even after the annexion of Catalonia to Castilla this zone remained for more than 100 years under the rule of the Castillan governor of Catalonia (Cinca River was for 800 years the western boundary of Catalonia).

   Calling the zone "Eastern Aragon" is a recent political claim from the Aragonse and Castillan displaced in Franco times to the zone.

2. The name "Lo Timó" is wrong in correct catalan. Correctly it must be written as "El Timó," unless it is written in old catalan. The name mean "the rudder."
3. His name is not Catalan. (Enrique = Enric in catalan; Naval is not a Catalan surname)
4. Lately theres many ethnic atacks against Catalans in the acts called "correllengua" and Catalan flags were fired in Fraga and at less other town (by extremists displaced from other zones that acted with full impunity). It is possible that this communication can be only a part of the current political game, but I prefer to believe that Enrique Naval acted in good faith and that simply he don't see neither heard about the flag because was de facto forbidden and was less then nothing used.

Unluckily there's about 60 issues with Duran's collaborations and is hard to search each one, each page and the drawings are in w/b and many local flags have similar appearance to this flag then the research must be slow, reading captions if any, or articles. Sorry I don't have time for this.

Jaume Ollé, 01/02 Oct 2003

Actually, the kind of reference Duran is to Portuguese vexillology is about the same Znamierovski is to Russian vexillology: his work has way too many blatant errors to be credible, even when his information is correct. It's just that one can never really know – there's always good reason for doubt.

Jorge Candeias, 03 Oct 2003

Tomás Rodríguez, the SEV secretary wrote me (my translation):

Con la ayuda de Jorge te puedo contestar. Adolfo Durán en su comunicación en el XI CIV, celebrado en Madrid, cita la propuesta de dicha bandera, que diseñó él mismo "a instancias de una autoridad municipal de la zona." En mi opinión, no pasó de una propuesta en papel.

I can answer you with Jorge [Hurtado]'s help. In his communication to the 11th ICV held in Madrid [1985], Adolfo Durán mentioned this flag proposal, designed by himself "following the initiative of one local authority in the area." In my opinion, it never got beyond a proposal on paper.

• the proposal was not the initiative of several mayors but of one local authority – not necessarily a mayor, maybe only a high ranking local official;
• the proposal does not appear to have been published in Banderas, but in the ICV's proceedings.

Santiago Dotor, 10 Oct 2003