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Bercial de Zapardiel (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of Bercial de Zapardiel - Image by Ivan Sache, 11 February 2011

Presentation of Bercial de Zapardiel
Symbols of Bercial de Zapardiel

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Presentation of Bercial de Zapardiel

The municipality of Bercial de Zapardiel (245 inhabitants in 2009; 1,700 ha; unofficial website) is located in the north of Ávila Province, 60 km of Ávila.

Bercial de Zapardiel is believed to have been named for berceo, the giant feather grass (Stipa gigantea Link), a grass common in the drylands of Spain, Portugal and North Africa. Another explanation calls the anthroponym Vercius.
Bercial was mentioned for the first time in 1209 in a document signed by King Alfonso VIII, as Verceal. In the 13th century, the village was incorporated into the Community of the Village and Land of Arévalo.

Ivan Sache, 11 February 2011

Symbols of Bercial de Zapardiel

The flag (image) and arms (image) of Bercial de Zapardiel are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 28 October 2000 by the Municipal Council, signed on 18 December 2000 by the Mayor, and published on 23 February 2001 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 39, p. 3,138 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular flag, with proportions 1:1, crimson red with a yellow stripe running from the upper hoist to the lower fly. In the middle is placed the crowned coat of arms of the municipality of Bercial de Zapardiel.
Coat of arms: Or five giant feather grasses [berceos] vert over waves argent and azure, a bordure gules with eight castles or. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

The symbols were designed by Juan Pablo de Quevedo y Llorente, President of the Spanish Society of Heraldry and Vexillology.
The berceos pants allude to the name of the municipality; the waves are the heraldic representation of a river, here river Zapardiel. The castles recall that Bercial belonged to the Kingdom of Castile and belongs now to the Community of Castilla y León. The field was made or for a better contrast with the charges.

Ivan Sache, 11 February 2011