The coat of arms of Pichilemu ( es, Escudo de armas de Pichilemu) is the official

heraldic symbol Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

representing the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of Pichilemu, the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of the Chilean province of Cardenal Caro. It consists of a ''party per cross'' referencing the importance of tourism in Pichilemu, and the commune's agricultural, ''

huaso A huaso () is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the American cowboy, the Mexican charro (and its northern equivalent, the vaquero), the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay and Rio Grande Do Sul, and the Australian stockman. ...

'' origins. The coat of arms is crested with a "symbolical representation of Pichilemu's past and present: a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

fused in a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

", worn by

José María Caro Rodríguez José María Caro Rodríguez (June 23, 1866 – December 4, 1958) was a Chilean Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Santiago from 1939 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius ...

, the first

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

of the Chilean

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, who was born in the village of

San Antonio de Petrel San Antonio de Petrel (Spanish for ''St. Anthony of Petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. Description The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of th ...

, in Pichilemu. In September 1986, the municipality of Pichilemu and the Council of Communal Development (CODECO) made a public call for tenders to create a coat of arms for the commune, similar to that of the province of Cardenal Caro. A design made by Hernán Martínez Morales from

Curicó Curicó (), meaning "Black Waters" in Mapudungun (originally meaning "Land of Black Water"), is the capital city of the Curicó Province, part of the Maule Region in Chile's central valley. The province lies between the provinces of Colcha ...

was eventually adopted by the local government on 19 December 1986, under the administration of

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

René Maturana Maldonado. The original date inscribed in the coat of arms, "21-XII 1891" (21 December 1891), prompted criticism from local historians Antonio Saldías and

José Arraño Acevedo José Santos Arraño Acevedo (14 October 1921 – 23 November 2009) was a Chilean journalist and historian, who worked in several regional newspapers, including '' El Rancagüino'' from Rancagua, ''La Discusión'' from Chillán, amid others. He ...

, who have pointed out it is "incorrect". Saldías has suggested to commemorate the first municipal meeting of 6 May 1894, or the grant of the title of ''

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

'' of Topocalma on 24 January 1544, for example.

Origin

During the earlier years of the municipal administration of Pichilemu by

René Maturana Maldonado (1984–92), the municipality made use of a drawing resembling a sun as the official logo and seal, which was used in official documents. Escudo Provincia Cardenal Caro

In September 1986, the local government and the Council of Communal Development (', CODECO) made a public call for tenders to create a coat of arms for the commune, with the purpose of "counting with a symbolic expression of representativeness, and to exalt distinctive features of the area and its people," adding that they were "seeking a coat of arms similar, but not identical to that of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Cardenal Caro." Participants could send as many designs as they wanted, as far as it included the name of the commune and the date of its creation, 21 December 1891. Authors could add a

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

and an inscription to their coat of arms if they wanted to. An article in local newspaper '' Pichilemu'' stated that the new coat of arms was to be chosen by a jury composed of the mayor of Pichilemu, the director of Municipal Works, two members of the CODECO, a representative of the culture department of the regional secretariat of the

Education Ministry An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, an artist, and a teacher. The eventual winner would earn a prize of 100,000

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

, and a diploma. Once past the deadline, set for 31 October 1986, the jury had a month to make a decision. The winning design for coat of arms of Pichilemu was announced in December 1986. It was created by Hernán Martínez Morales from

, Region of the Maule, who was described in the '' Pichilemu'' edition of that month as a "fan (of Pichilemu), and regular vacationer" in the city. He told the newspaper he took knowledge of the public call made by the local government by reading a previous edition of ''Pichilemu''; Martínez requested the municipality for more details on his ''Fiestas Patrias'' holiday, and sent a design "with a lot of faith." Martínez Morales was, at the time, a student of graphic design at the

University of Valparaíso The University of Valparaíso (UV) is a state public university in Chile, with its headquarters and the majority of its campuses in the city of Valparaíso. It has several other campuses in the Valparaiso Region of Chile ( Quinta Región) and in ...

. His design was adopted by decree of mayor René Maturana Maldonado on 19 December 1986 as the official coat of arms of the commune of Pichilemu in a public ceremony.

Description

The

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

is divided '' party per cross'': that is, it is divided in four equal parts. The first quarter is '' or'', and the remaining are ''

bleu celeste Bleu celeste (, "sky blue") is a rarely occurring and non-standard tincture in heraldry (not being one of the seven main colours or metals or the three ''staynard colours''). This tincture is sometimes also called ciel or simply celeste. It ...

''. According to descriptions by the designer of the coat of arms, Hernán Martínez Morales, in the December 1986 edition of '' Pichilemu'', the forest and sea quarter, which has a yellow background, portrays "the richness of the area, its potential;" the

windsurf Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

boards quarter, which like the two remaining quarters has a sky blue background, depicts the tourism in Pichilemu,

water sport Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

s, and "the exceptional conditions for their practice;" the sea quarter represents "the men who work at the sea, in a symbolic manner;" the fourth quarter represents the local agriculture, "with the country and a

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to back ...

." The name of the commune, Pichilemu is written in the upper side of the coat of arms, while the date of creation of the commune is located in the lower side ("22-XII 1891", originally had incorrectly inscribed "21-XII 1891"). The

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

, according to its designer, "symbolically represents the past and future" of Pichilemu, with "a

that fuses with a

", worn by the first Chilean

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, who was born in the Pichilemu village of

, to Rita Rodríguez Cornejo and

José María Caro Martínez José María Caro Martínez (; 1830 – 11 November 1916) was a Chilean politician and civil servant. In May 1894, he was unanimously elected as the first mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, with Pedro Nolasco de Mira and Francisco Reyes ma ...

, the first mayor of Pichilemu. Martínez described the colors used in his creation, beginning with the yellow, which "represents the sun, the light and the warmth of a welcoming place. Sun which stays in Pichilemu to make us spend beautiful moments." The green color and its tones represent the "forest, economic potential of the area, which augurs the countryman a promising future." He described the blue color and its tones used in the coat of arms as "speaking of the sea off the coast of Pichilemu, sea that is present in every moment of our stay in Pichilemu. Sea that is richness and that 'promises us a future splendor'." Martínez used the red color to represent "the tourism along all colors, happiness, vacations, sport," while described the use of greenish gray as the "touch of distinction, elegance, nobleness."

Possibly inappropriate date

Concerns were raised by Antonio Saldías (pen name Don Antonio de Petrel) regarding the appropriateness of the date used to celebrate the anniversary of Pichilemu, which commemorated the creation of the commune, on 21 December 1891, a date also used in the coat of arms. Saldías pointed out that, since there was no act of foundation of Pichilemu nor record of date of the first inhabitation of the area by the

Promaucae Promaucae, also spelled as ''Promaucas'' or ''Purumaucas'' (from Quechua ''purum awqa'': wild enemy), were an indigenous pre-Columbian Mapuche tribal group that lived in the present territory of Chile, south of the Maipo River basin of Santiago, C ...

s, the date of 24 January 1544, specified in the title of ''

'' of Topocalma given by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, whe ...

to Juan Gómez de Almagro, another ''conquistador'', was the most correct date to be used to commemorate the anniversary of Pichilemu. The current territory of Pichilemu was part of the ''encomienda'' of Topocalma. Later, in a March 1987 article for ''Pichilemu'', Saldías condemned the use of an "incorrect" date in the coat of arms, stating that all Chilean communes were created on 22 December 1891 and not on 21 December, as it appeared in the coat of arms. The historian wrote that "Pichilemu possesses its own events, many of them with more valid and rightful dates .. But overall, very ours," and went on to suggest some "more appropriate dates" for the coat of arms and the anniversary of Pichilemu, including: the grant of the Topocalma ''encomienda'' title, the date of the purchase of the current territory of central Pichilemu by Daniel Ortúzar Cuevas (1884), the date of purchase of the "rustic farm" of

by Agustín Ross Edwards (5 September 1885), the ''merced de tierra'' of

Cáhuil Cáhuil ( arn, Place of seagulls, ) is a Chilean village located south of Pichilemu, at the mouth of the seasonal Nilahue Estuary, in the O'Higgins Region. Its economy is based on the production of sea salt, oysters, and mussels. The estuary is ...

given to Leonor de la Corte (1609), the ''merced de tierra'' of

given to Francisco Rojas y Puebla (1611), the date of the first municipal meeting of Pichilemu (6 May 1894). In September 1987, local journalist and historian

said after declining the ' (11 September Award) award given by the Municipality of Pichilemu that his nomination was an "inconsequence", "when I have gone to the municipality to tell them that they have committed an error by using a wrong date in the official coat of arms of the commune, and although I have spoken with reasonings, they have not heard me."

Notes

References

{{Pichilemu Pichilemu History of Pichilemu Government of Pichilemu Pichilemu Pichilemu Pichilemu