Facts on the New Mexico State Flag
Like all member states of the United States, New Mexico has a series of official state symbols, amongst them the state flag. New Mexico was admitted as the 47th state of the Union in 1912. The current state flag has a unique history, and is not the state's first official flag.
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Previous Flag
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The state's first flag was designed by historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell in 1915. His design was mainly blue, with a small United States flag in the upper left corner and the state's great seal in the lower right corner. Embroidered diagonally from upper right to lower left were the words "New Mexico."
New Flag
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Twitchell's flag was not popular with everyone in New Mexico, and in 1920 the state chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution suggested that a new design, more representative of the state, should be chosen. They held a competition in 1923, which was won by Dr. Harry Meda, a distinguished medical doctor and archaeologist, although the design was in fact the creation of his wife Reba. In 1925, the new design was officially adopted as the state flag.
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Symbolism
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Reba Meda's design drew on an ancient symbol representing the sun, which Reba had seen on a 19th century water jar from Zia Pueblo. Four is a sacred number in Zia, and as a result the design features four sets of lines radiating out from four points of the circle. According to the "New Mexico Blue Book," the "distinctive design reflects the Pueblo's Tribal philosophy, with its wealth of pantheistic spiritualism teaching the basic harmony of all things in the universe."
Colors
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Meda's design used a striking combination of yellow and red. These were the colors of Isabel of Castilla in Spain, brought to North America with the Spanish Conquistadors. The flag's design thus incorporated elements of both native and Spanish culture.
Flag Salute
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According to Jan Compton Ross, 2008 President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, New Mexico was the third state in the Union to adopt its own flag salute, preceded only by Georgia and Arkansas. The salute, which reads, "I salute the flag of New Mexico, the Zia symbol of perfect friendship among united cultures," was adopted in 1963, and a Spanish language version of the salute was also later adopted.
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