The Flag of Belize
It`s About History!

This is the flag of Belize

The reason I am writing about it is not for any political interest, but to understand what the Belize National symbols mean and why the people chose them.

The symbols are all inter-related that are pictured on the shield, the Belize coat of arms. As you can see, it is divided into 3 segments. The top right section has the symbol of an axe for squaring, along with a paddle. Then in the top left section this time it has an axe for beating along with a saw. On the bottom section there a sailing ship out at sea. What though do these symbols mean?

Up until the middle of the 20th century Belize was one of the main exporters of mahogany, a hard wood sought by many countries, especially the British, for its durability and beauty. During the middle of the 19th century the Belize economy thrived as the mahogany trade continued to support the colony.

The axe for squaring depicts a tool that was used by the lumber jacks to cut the wood in straight lines, squaring the wood for timber houses, railway lines and other uses that required straight planks. This axe on the flag of Belize is also known as a broad axe.

After the wood was cut it would be floated down or up river. Belize is riddled with water ways, and this used to be the main mode of transporting goods and people. The paddle represents moving the logs to the harbours to be shipped.

The saw and the beating axe are also tools used in the timber trade, but I don`t exactly know what they did with the beating axe. If anyone knows the answer, please write in and let us know.

The wood was transported around the world by ship, hence the ship pictured in the bottom section.

The Two Men on The Flag of Belize

You will notice the two men holding the shield on the Belize flag are of different nationalities. This country is a melting pot of migrants who came as freemen or slaves. So the two woodcutters represent this racial diversity.

Last of all, we have the Latin motto inscription, "Sub Umbra Florero", which means, "Under the Shade I Flourish". And Belize did for a while flourish through the mahogany trade but it wasn`t to last. The market was saturated with timber, mahogany dropped in price, and the trees that were cut down were never replaced simple because they take a long time to grow.

My dad was a Belizean lumber jack, who came with teams of men to Scotland during the war. They were invited because of their expertise in cutting trees to work in the North and supply the railway lines in support of the war effort. This was a shock to their systems as they had not endured such cold weather before.

I love to listen to the men`s story of what it was like in those days. I have in my possession an audio tape recording of their experience while they worked at the camps in the cold. They were introduced to the Scottish music and dancing through the local women, which they loved, but also to the bitter prejudice that the Scottish Lairds of the land dished out.

The trees were like match sticks compared to the hard woods of Belize, so the men found the work easy. It was the coldness that they had to bear up to from the people, as well as the weather.

Yes, the flag of Belize tells a story. A story of people who have endured a multitude of hardships, yet they hold no animosity or bitterness towards visitors. They are indeed the most friendliest of people to be found in the whole of this old earth.

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