ARGENTINE COCKADE: HISTORY, WHO CREATED IT? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Argentine cockade is blue and white, the same colors as the national flag. It is one of the most popular patriotic symbols of this country because it is used on the chest (on the left side) every time a national date is commemorated or at any time.

The protocol of national symbols allows it to be used every day, since its use is not exclusive to a specific date. Despite being so popular, not too many details are known about who created the Argentina cockade.

Argentine cockade

There are different versions of its creation. One of them says that the colors worn by the cockade and its use (the Patricios regiment was the first military group to use it) date back to the so-called English invasions that happened between 1806 and 1807.

Apparently, after this event, it became more and more popular among the inhabitants of the urban area of ​​Río de la Plata.

A little history of the cockade

In addition to the belief about the use of the cockade by the Patrician regiment during the English invasions, it is also said that it was used for the first time during the May Revolution by the people who gathered next to the Cabildo building, or by a group of very important ladies from Buenos Aires in an interview with Colonel Cornelio Saavedra, in the same year of the revolution.

During the independence battles, all the soldiers began to use the blue and white cockade, especially those led by Manuel Belgrano (who would later create the Argentine flag).

The main reason that Belgrano argued for its use was that the soldiers could no longer use the colors of Spain (which included red), and that their own colors should be used.

Official Institution of the National Symbol

One of the first governments that the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata had was the First Triumvirate.

This group of three men, Feliciano Chiclana, Manuel de Serratea and Juan José Paso, ruled between September 1811 until October 1812.

Manuel Belgrano

By 1812 Manuel Belgrano already had a political and military importance that allowed him to be heard by the First Triumvirate. For this reason, on February 13, 1812, he sent them a note requesting that the use of the blue and white cockade be established by law.

Finally, the Argentine cockade with the colors, with which it is known today, was recognized by the First Triumvirate on February 18, 1812.

It is said that Belgrano later created the flag with the same colors inspired by the celestial sky and white clouds of Argentina.

However, some historians affirm that the celestial and white colors were also the colors of Carlos III de Borbón of Spain.

Cockade day

The Education Council of the Argentine Republic established in 1935 that May 18 would be recognized as the day of the cockade, and it has been so ever since.

Although the established date does not have any specific historical foundation, what was instituted by the First Triumvirate is remembered, and homage is paid to this patriotic symbol that all Argentines share with pride, from the youngest in schools to adults throughout the country..

References

1. "The Argentine cockade" in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies of the Province of Corrientes (2013). Retrieved on: August 18, 2017 from hcdcorrientes.gov.ar
2. "The Argentine cockade" at the National University of Santiago del Estero. Retrieved on August 18, 2017 at fhu.unse.edu.ar
3. «National symbols» in Casa Rosada, Presidency of the Nation. Retrieved on August 18, 2017 at casarosada.gob.ar
4. «Course on national symbols» in Prensanet Noticias (2011). Retrieved on August 18, 2017 in prensanetnoticias.com.ar.