Estelada depicts five-pointed star
Design and meaning
The flag dates from the early 20th century; it was most probably designed in 1918 by Vicenç Albert Ballester i Camps. It came from combining the traditional four red stripes over a yellow field of the Senyera with a blue triangle at the hoist containing a five-pointed white star, inspired by the flags of Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Later designs combine the Senyera with a yellow triangle at the hoist containing a five-pointed red star. In both designs the lone star motif means Catalan independence.History
The 3rd Article of the provisional Constitution of the Catalan Republic, written and approved in 1928 in Cuba by the Assemblea Constituent (Constituent Assembly) of Catalan separatism, specifically provided that the official flag of the Catalan Republic should consist of four red bars on a yellow field, superimposed with a white five-pointed star in a blue triangle.
The star in the flag comes from the early days of nationalism, the lone star symbolising national freedom and independence. Cuba's fight for its independence was watched closely by the Catalanists of the nineteenth century and in 1906, when the Cuban War of Independence ended, the Centre Catalanista de Santiago de Cuba (Catalanist Centre of Santiago de Cuba) was created. An embryonic Catalan estelada flag could already be seen: in the middle of a senyera there was a white star with five points.
The first star with a clear nationalist intent known in Catalonia is from before 1904, associated with the Unió Catalanista (Catalanist Union). It is a stamp commemorating the acquisition of the Pi de les Tres Branques (Three-Branched Pine) by the Catalanist Union.
Later, in 1906, a star appeared in the nameplate of the magazine Fora Grillons! (Breaking Chains!), published in Santiago de Cuba by Catalan exiles - a publication that had already clearly proclaimed the independence of Catalonia.
During the late 1910s, once World War I was over, Europe saw a wave of new nation-states being created, with the assistance of President Woodrow Wilson.
The politics of the League of Nations (and later the United Nations) allowed many nations to seize the opportunity of independence, and Czechoslovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland did so in 1918; other nations like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia, were declared independent, but were then immediately annexed by the Soviet Union.
From the nations that hoped for independence, pressure groups began to mobilize internationally. In the Catalan case, the Comitè Pro-Catalunya (Pro-Catalonia Committee) was one of the most active. It was in this context that a need was perceived to have a flag as a symbol of Catalan aspiration; and, of course, a star appeared on it. Since then the estelada flag began to be spoken of. It was probably designed by Vicenç Albert Ballester, with the blue triangle signifying the blue sky of humanity, and the white star symbolizing freedom.
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