🌾 Did Wichita steal the flag?

April 12, 2023 | Sign Up | Support Us

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Good morning Wichita!

Happy birthday to Lyndsey Copple (today) and to Rhonda (tomorrow)! Thank you for sharing this newsletter!

In today's Wichita Life Update

Did Wichita steal it's flag?
History of New Mexico and the Zia tribe
History of the Wichita Flag

Let's get to it!

- Landon Huslig

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Did Wichita steal the flag?

Did we steal the logo / symbol on our beloved flag?

Before we answer that, who or what would Wichita even be stealing from?

The whole debate really started back in 2019 when an Albuquerque news organization wanted to stir the pot.

Let's take a look at the Wichita Flag:

and now let's take a look at the flag of New Mexico:

The New Mexico Flag is beautiful. It has a yellow background, but in the center is a symbol that looks somewhat familiar to Wichitans.

This icon is the sacred Zia sun symbol.

History of the New Mexico Flag

New Mexico became the 47th state in the US of A in 1912, but they didn’t have a flag. Years later, physician and anthropologist Dr. Harry P Mera came across a sun-like design on a 19th-century clay pot at the Santa Fe museum.

How this pot ended up in the museum in the first place is another story.

In 1890, anthropologist James Stevenson got to know the Zia people and even attended sacred ceremonies.

He wanted to buy some pieces of pottery with the Zia sun symbol, but the Zia people were not having it so he stole it and wrote about it in a book he later published.

Since then the pottery was returned to the Zia people.

Dr. Mera used the bright red Zia sun symbol on the yellow color from the Spanish flag and submitted to a flag competition where he won $25 ($350 in today monies).

Who are the Zia people?

The Zia are an indigenous tribe that is originally from the Four Corners region before they migrated to the base of mountains in northern New Mexico.

There are two things that are sacred to the Zia people:

the sun
the number 4

The Zia sun symbol nicely wraps up the two of those things. Obviously it’s in the shape of the sun, but the number 4 is intertwined beautifully. It stands for:

4 periods of each day: morning, noon, evening, night
4 cardinal directions: north, east, south, west
4 seasons of the year: spring, summer, fall, winter
4 seasons of life: childhood, youth, middle years, old age

The 4 elements are then tied together by a circle of life. This symbol is as sacred to the Zia tribe as the cross is to Christians or the Star of David is to Jews.

The Zia do not want businesses to use their symbol, although it is already entrenched in New Mexican culture (see the flag). It is not technically trademarked since it’s been in the public domain for 40+ years, but they do own the cultural property right. Businesses have started to pull back on using the logo.

Madison, Wisconsin even uses the specific Zia sun shape on their flag since 1962 (that also got them into some hot water).

The Wichita Flag

That brings us to the Wichita Flag.

Wichita was founded in 1864, but the flag as we know it wasn’t adopted until 1937 (10 years after the New Mexico Flag was adopted).

Local artist Cecil McAlister submitted the now famous and beloved design to a flag design competition from the rotary club where he won $40.

The red and white stripes represent honor and virtue, but what does the circle in the middle represent?

That is what is known as a hogan or Hoag which is a Navajo or American Indian symbol that represents a permanent home aka Wichita.

The white circle represents the sun and the white stripes are symbols of courage that radiate from the circle.

According to McAlister, he drew inspiration from several sources including traditional symbols from Plains Tribes.

This design is also not trademarked which means anyone and everyone can use it.

TL/DR (Too Long, Didn't Read):

Did Wichita steal the logo? Eh, maybe. But at this point, nearly everything has been done already.

The Wichita flag is different enough that it doesn’t touch on the sacred number 4 of the Zia people. And it is also different colors.

Now, I’m not vexillogist (someone who studies flags), but I’m going to call it all a gray (or grey?) area where ole Cecil may have drawn inspiration from the Zia sun symbol, but who is to say?

What do you think?