Last modified: 2025-10-25 by daniel rentería
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Images from Pete Loeser, 18 July 2020
original photo by Pete Loeser on 16 July 2020
Just as I suspected, the flag submitted by Pete is indeed a commemorative flag. The original image is located here. (source)
The news article is titled "MEXICANOS DE LOS ÁNGELES CELEBRAN INDEPENDENCIA DE SU PAÍS" (LA Mexicans celebrate their country's independence) and it was uploaded on September 6, 2008. Mexico's independence day is observed on the 16th of September of every year. This festivity is known to Mexicans as the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores), back when local Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bell in the ciy of Dolores (now Dolores Hidalgo honoring the priest), Guanajuato and gave the call to arms that triggered the Mexican War of Independence, on September 16, 1810.
Esteban Rivera, 18 July 2020
I found this picture in a folder I had cleverly named "photos" on my computer. The original source is unremembered, but the unusual Mexican flag looks religious in nature and possibly from a celebration in the United States? Does anybody recognize the flag or the event?
Pete Loeser, 16 July 2020
It looks like a Cristero flag.
Jean-Marc Merklin, 17 July 2020
Not so unusual, I think. I guess in the centre is a replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadelupe (Virgen de Guadelupe). According to Whitney Smith (German edition p.74) her image had been the 1st national flag of Mexico, according to our page for just some eight weeks in 1810.
[Editor's Note: This flag was not a national flag but rather a standard used by rebels, still commonly recognized to this day].
The Virgin is a replacement of the Aztec Goddess Tonantzin. The Spanish conquerors removed all Aztec symbols by Christian ones. Though having been abolished very quickly, the white flag with the image had never been forgotten. Pope Benedict XIV said about the Virgin, that God never acted in this way to any other nation. The Virgin, talking Nahuatl, appeard to a indigene peasant named Juan Diego in 1531 on top of a hill north of Ciudad de Mexico. Her image was wondrously stamped on his coat, which is already kept in the basilica of Dolores Hidalgo. Beneath the Virgin is a little angel. The colours of its wings are the current national colours of Mexico. The words are not reported, who talks Nahuatl?
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 July 2020
Very similar to the Cristero flags indeed, but missing the text Viva Cristo Rey (Live Christ Our King) and y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (and Our Lady of Guadalupe), and the Mexico Coat of Arms below the lady, that are normally associated with those revolutionary flags.
Notice the first (#19b) shows the Mexican Shield/Coat-of-Arms 1968 to present while the second (#19c) shows the Mexican Shield/Coat-of-Arms 1823-1864 (readopted 1867-1881), making it much more accurate because it was drawn by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán.
I'm thinking that this current flag is not meant to be revolutionary in character at all, as the short-lived Cristero Rebellion Flags of 1926-1929 versions were, but was made for religious celebrations and parades instead.
Pete Loeser, 18 July 2020
It is a Mexican religious flag and can be used by citizens as a devotion to both God and Country. These are also sold as tourist flags, as I found one in San Antonio a few years ago. It does have the Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) in the center in the colors of the Mexican flag (with some accents) and it does not contain any text. As for when this flag can be flown, from what I have seen here in the USA, it is used during demonstrations or during cultural events. As for this specific photo, I could not find a source of it but this flag is very much real and very much common.
Zachary Harden, 18 July 2020
My guess is that it is a flag made to represent Mexican heritage. It has the colored stripes of the Mexico flag and the Virgin of Guadalupe that was on the banner carried by Father Hidalgo. I have seen numerous variations of this - made in China.
Rick Wyatt, 18 July 2020
It is interesting that the Cristeros flag is not currently featured on FOTW-ws (yet) and hopefully it will after this thread is uploaded, but the flag query that started this conversation is IMHO, a religious parade flag (very common in catholic countries), which are used when special religious occasions occur, such as Easter (Holy Week) or even the commemoration of any festivity for that matter (i.e. a Saint's Day, or even the Virgin of Guadalupe festivity, which is celebrated on December 12).
Esteban Rivera, 18 July 2020
