Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia
Adopted	February 22, 2002
Designed by	Dunstan St. Omer
Proportions	1:2

The flag of Saint Lucia is blue, with a gold isosceles triangle below a black arrowhead; the upper edges of the arrowhead have a white border.

Flag of the British Windward Islands

Symbolism

• Cerulean Blue represents fidelity. This blue reflects the tropical sky and also the emerald surrounding waters — the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
• Gold represents the prevailing sunshine in the Caribbean and prosperity.
• Black and white stand for the cultural influences — the white part, the white culture; the black part, the black culture — the two races living and working in unity.
• The design impresses the dominance of the Negro culture vis-à-vis that of Europe, against a background of sunshine and ever-blue sea. This is represented by the three triangles in the centre of the flag, symbolising three pitons.
• The Triangle, the shape of which is an isosceles triangle, is reminiscent of the island's famous twin Pitons at Soufriere, rising sheer out of the sea, towards the sky — themselves, a symbol of the hope and aspirations of the people.

History

For most of its colonial history under the French and British, Saint Lucia did not have a distinctive flag of its own. In August 1939, however, the British granted the island a coat of arms, which was also used as a badge on the British Blue Ensign. The shield was black and bore gold roses for England and fleur-de-lis for France, separated by pieces of bamboo forming the shape of a cross. With the failure of British attempts to form a federation of its Caribbean possessions, Saint Lucia advanced to the status of associated statehood on March 1, 1967. The original version of the flag in use today was hoisted at that time, designed by local artist Dunstan St. Omer.

At the time of independence on February 22, 1979, the shade of blue and the relative sizes of the yellow and black triangles in the flag were slightly altered.

1875-1939

1939-1967

1967-1979

1979-2002

Since 2002