Flag protocol in Mexico: honours, salute and colour guard

Few flag laws describe the ceremonial in as much detail as Mexico’s. The Law on the National Arms, Flag and Anthem sets how the flag is saluted, which part of the anthem is sung during honours, how a flag is presented to a school or an institution and how a colour guard marches. This guide summarises those rules, which can be seen every Monday in the country’s schools.

Honours to the flag

Under article 9, at civic celebrations or official ceremonies where the national flag is present, it receives the honours due to it; at a minimum, the simultaneous civil salute of everyone present. Article 12 provides that honours to the flag always come before those rendered to persons.

Honours are compulsory at the authorities’ buildings on 24 February, 15 and 16 September and 20 November (article 11), and in schools every Monday, at the start of the school day or at the time set, as well as at the start and end of the school year (article 15). Authorities and institutions may render them on other occasions, with the solemnity the law describes and with the national anthem (article 11).

The civil salute

Article 14 describes the civil salute: standing at attention, with the right hand extended across the chest, palm down, at the height of the heart. Men also salute bareheaded. The President of the Republic, as supreme commander of the Armed Forces, gives a military salute. For the anthem, the civil mark of respect is to stand at attention, men bareheaded (article 45).

The anthem during honours

Under article 42, honours to the flag are accompanied by the music of the chorus and the first verse, ending with a repeat of the chorus. When a band and a bugle-and-drum corps are both present, the band performs the anthem and the corps plays the call «Bandera» at the same time (article 43). At no ceremony is the anthem performed more than twice to honour the flag. If the national anthem and a foreign one are played at an official ceremony, the national anthem comes first (article 47).

When the flag salutes

The flag itself salutes only in specific cases. Under article 13, it does so by dipping slightly, without touching the ground, before another national or foreign flag, before the remains or symbols of the nation’s heroes in a special ceremony, and in return for the salute of the President of the Republic or a foreign head of state on a reciprocal basis. Otherwise it salutes no person or symbol.

The presentation of the flag

The abanderamiento is the official presentation of the flag to an authority or institution (article 1 Bis). It is carried out by the representative of the executive of the Federation, the federal state, the municipality or the borough. Under article 25, the presenter takes the flag and addresses the recipients with a set pledge, asking whether they promise to honour and defend the flag, which symbolises their independence, honour, institutions and territorial integrity, with loyalty and constancy. The colour guard answers «Sí, protesto» (yes, I pledge). The flag then passes from the representative to the guard’s flag bearer while the anthem and «Bandera» are played, and the guard carries it to the most prominent place in the room.

The colour guard

The law also describes how the colour guard marches. Under article 27, the flag bearer wears the flag sling so that its cup falls on the right hip, places the butt of the staff in the cup and holds the flag with the right hand at shoulder height, tilted slightly forward and never touching the ground. When halting, the butt is lowered to about ten centimetres to the right of the right foot (article 28). When two groups carrying the flag meet on the march, the flag bearers salute by dipping the flag as article 30 describes. Makers offer the regulation colour-guard flag in 0.90 × 1.58 metres; the guide to flag sizes compares them.

Next to other flags

Under article 24, when the national flag and one or more foreign flags are present at a ceremony, honours are first rendered to the national flag and then to the others, and the national flag takes the place of honour. The guide to foreign flags in Mexico covers international events.

For state flags, Jalisco’s symbols law, for example, provides that honours to the state flag and anthem follow those to the national flag and anthem. The guide to flag types presents the state flags.