The national flag of Panama was made by María de la Ossa de Amador and was officially adopted by the "ley 48 de 1925". The Panamanian flag day is celebrated on November 4, one day after the Panamanian separation from Colombia, and is one of a series of holidays celebrated in November known as the Fiestas Patrias.
The first flag proposed in 1903 consisted of thirteen horizontal stripes of alternating red and yellow, with a blue canton containing two golden suns, joined by a narrow line to depict North and South America joined by the Isthmus of Panama (see the depiction below). However, this was not accepted by the Panamanian leader, Manuel Amador Guerrero, whose family designed a new flag.
The stars and quarters are said to stand for the rival political parties, and the white is said to stand for the peace in which they operate. Blue was the color of the Conservatives and red was the color of the Liberals.
History
Bunau-Varilla proposal
thumb|200px|right|[[File:FIAV proposal.svg|23x15px Reconstruction of the Bunau-Varilla design]]
thumb|200px|Original design of the flag, according to Manuel E. Amador. It was the first flag of Panama, from November 3, 1903 to 1904
thumb|Flag of Panama flying from a pole
The wife of Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla designed the first serious proposal for a Panamanian flag. Bunau-Varilla's design was based on the flag of the United States, possibly on account of that country's hand in Panamanian independence. Retaining the thirteen stripes, she changed the white stripes to yellow, emphasizing the Panamanian connection to Colombia and Spain (whose flags both prominently feature red and yellow). Bunau-Varilla replaced the stars in the blue canton with two interconnected yellow suns; the suns represent North and South America, and are connected because of Panama's position connecting the two continents. Bunau-Varilla's proposal was rejected by Manuel Amador Guerrero and his fellow revolutionaries because it was too similar to the U.S. flag, and they, therefore, gave the task of designing a flag to Guerrero's son.
María de la Ossa de Amador proposal
The original Panamanian flag was made by María de la Ossa de Amador, the first First Lady of Panama, on November 1, 1903. Manuel Amador Guerrero's son, Manuel Encarnación Amador, generally recognized as a skillful draftsman, sketched the flag and showed it to María de la Ossa de Amador, who, after much difficulty in avoiding the Colombian army, eventually produced three copies of the flag, with help from her sister-in-law Angélica Bergamonta de la Ossa and niece, María Emilia de la Ossa Bergamonta. All three flags were flown in Panama City upon independence, and distributed widely. The original flag differs from the present flag in that the upper left quadrant was blue. After independence, when blue was chosen as a color of one of the political parties, the quadrants were shifted to make the top left quadrant white.
Description
The Panamanian government officially described the flag in law on December 15, 1949, as follows:
This flag was to reflect the political situation of the time:
- The blue was intended to represent the Conservative Party;
- The red to represent the Liberal Party;
- The white was intended to stand for peace and purity;
- The blue star stands for the purity and honesty of the life of the country;
- The red star represents the authority and law in the country, and together the stars stand for the new republic.
500px|Construction Sheet for the Flag of Panama
Color scheme
The official colors of the Panamanian flag were established by decree 337 of 2017 on December 22, 2017. The colors are:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ;
|-
! 30px|border<br>Colours scheme !! style="background-color:#072357ff;color:#FFF;" |Blue !! style="background-color:#da121aff;color:#FFF;" |Red !! style="background-color:#ffffffff" |White
|- white
| RGB || 7,35,87 || 218,18,26 || 255,255,255
|-
| Hexadecimal || #072357 || #DA121A || #FFFFFF
|-
| Pantone|| 295C/296U || 187C/186U || -
|-
|CMYK
|100-46-0-70
|0-100-79-20
|0-0-0-0
|}
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games listed the Pantone colours of the flag as red: 186 and blue: 300.
Protocol
Daily use
thumb| National flag hoisting ceremony at the [[Panamanian National Police|National Police Headquarters.]]
The Panamanian flag can only be hoisted if it is in good condition and it must be hoisted after seven in the morning and lowered before six in the evening. The rope of the flagpole must be white and braided with a thickness of 1/4 inch, and the flagpole must have a height of six times the width of the flag, except when the flag has a special dimensions. In the following places it must always be flown: The oath must always be recited after the flag has been raised.
It is said as follows, raising the right hand at a 90º angle and showing the palm of the hand: