Last modified: 2019-01-13 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-bu-ag.gif)
Flag of Alfoz de Santa Gadea - Image from the Escudos y Banderas de la Provincia de Burgos website, 4 January 2014
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The municipality of Alfoz de Santa Gadea (131 inhabitants in 2007; 3,439 ha; municipal website) is located in the north of the Province of Burgos, 100 km of Burgos. The municipality is made of the villages of Santa Gadea (capital, 131 inh.), Higón (31 inh.) and Quitanilla de Santa Gadea (22 inh.). Another famous inhabitant of the region is la paparrasolla, who lives in the bottom of the wells - and scares children so much that they don't even peek down into the wells and are not at risk of falling down.
Alfoz de Santa Gadea is named for St. Agatha ("Águeda") of Sicily. The area was christianized from La Rioja, maybe under the guidance of St. Mill‡n, said to have died in 574, aged 101. Mill‡n and his disciples are credited of the digging of cave hermitages, but some historians date these caves from the 9th century (Christian reconquest). It is highly possible that the villages forming Alfoz de Santa Gadea were part of the resettlement campaign organized by Duke Peter of Cantabria. The name of Santa Gadea appeared for the first time, as Sancta Agathea, in 934.
In the 14th century, Infant Peter of Castile (1290-1319) built a fortress in Santa Gadea. The domain was subsequently granted to the Tello family and the Counts of Aguilar, that kept it until the abolition of the feudal system in 1812.
In 1622, Alfoz (a jurisdiction grouping several villages) de Santa Gadea de Campoo grouped the villages of Santa Gadea de Campoo, Arija, Quntanilla de Santa Gadea and Igón (Higón). Arija seceded from Alfoz de Santa Gadea to form an independent municipality in 1928; at the time, the remaining components of the municipality had, together, 648 inhabitants.
Ivan Sache, 27 November 2010
The flag and arms of Alfoz de Santa Gadea are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 14 December 2006 by the Municipal Council, signed on 20 April 2007 by the Mayor, and published on 9 May 2007 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 89, pp. 9,978-9,979 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: The municipal flag of Alfoz de Santa Gadea shall be with proportions 1:1, quadrangular. Three horizontal stripes. The first, of 0.30 in height, blue; the second, of 0,40 in height, red; and the third, of 0,30 in height, yellow. In the middle of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms.
Coat of arms: The coat of arms of Alfoz de Santa Gadea shall be: Per pale, 1a. Azure the bust of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr in Catania (Sicily) in the 3rd century, nimbed or a palm argent, 1b. Gules a castle or of Castile, with three towers, port and windows azure and masoned sable, ensigned by three eight-pointed stars or, 2. Or an oak vert trunked sable terraced vert fructed or a cow passant. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.
Ivan Sache, 27 November 2010
