The Sun of May () is a national symbol of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, appearing on both of their flags.

History

According to Diego Abad de Santillán, the Sun of May represents

Inti Inti is the ancient Inca mythology, Inca solar deity, sun god. He is revered as the national Tutelary deity, patron of the Inca state. Although most consider Inti the sun god, he is more appropriately viewed as a cluster of solar aspects, since t ...

, the

Incan The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

of the sun. The specification "''of May''" is a reference to the

May Revolution The May Revolution () was a week-long series of events that took place from 18 to 25 May 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, ...

which took place in the week from 18 to 25 May 1810, which marked the beginning of the independence from the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

for the countries that were then part of the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata or Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires ( or Virreinato de Buenos Aires or ) meaning "River of the Silver", also called the "Viceroyalty of River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in southern South America, was ...

. A legend claims that as the new government was proclaimed, the sun broke through the clouds, which was seen as a good omen.

Variations

In the

flag of Argentina The national flag of the Argentine Republic, often referred to as the Argentine flag (), is a triband (flag), triband, composed of three equally wide horizontal bands coloured light blue and white. There are multiple interpretations on the reas ...

, the Sun of May is the radiant golden yellow sun bearing the human face and thirty-two rays that alternate between sixteen straight and sixteen wavy. In the

flag of Uruguay The national flag of Uruguay (), officially known as the National Pavilion (), is one of the three official flags of Uruguay along with the Artigas flag and the flag of the Treinta y Tres. It has a field of nine equal horizontal stripes altern ...

, the Sun of May is the golden yellow sun bearing the human face and sixteen triangular rays that alternate between eight straight and eight wavy. Inspired by the Latin American wars of independence, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, which was a fellow former Spanish colony, also adopted the Sun of May as a revolutionary banner. The Sun of May later became a faceless sun symbol in its current national flag.

Description

The

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, called the Sun of May, is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin, approved in 1813 by the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, whose value was eight ' (a Spanish currency denomination). In form, it is similar to—and may be partially derived from—the sun in splendour, which is common in European heraldry. This, too, is usually depicted with a face, and with alternating straight and wavy rays (representing light and heat respectively), though it normally has only sixteen rays. A 1978 law describing the official ceremonial

specifies that the sun must be golden yellow ('), have an inner diameter of 10 cm, and an outer diameter of 25 cm (the diameter of the sun equals the height of the white stripe, and the sun's face is of its height), must feature 32 rays (16 undulated and 16 straight in alternation), and must be

embroidered Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

in the official ceremonial flag.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun of May National symbols of Argentina National symbols of Uruguay National symbols of the Philippines Heraldic charges Coats of arms with suns Inca gods Solar symbols

History

Variations

Description

See also

References

External links