The Mexican flag is a red, white and green banner with the Mexican Coat of Arms right in the center of it. The red symbolizes the blood that was shed during the battles for independence. The white symbolizes purity. The green symbolizes the earth’s fertility.
Now, the coat of arms is interesting because it consists of an eagle sitting atop a thorny cactus eating a rattlesnake. This collection of images has an equally interesting story, a story that dates back to the time of the Aztecs, before Mexico existed. The Aztecs were a nomadic people that travelled around the American continent. According to the legend, their god of war, Huitzilopochtli, informed their leader through his dream that they are supposed to stop wandering around and that they are supposed to settle in a place that was allotted for them. The god of war said that they would know the place to settle in by the marker that he will place there: yes, an eagle eating a snake perched atop a prickly pear cactus.
This picture is thick with symbolism. The eagle was a representation of the sun god Huitzilopochtli, also the god of war, who appeared to the Aztec leader. The sun and the sun god are very important to the Aztec as they call themselves the “People of the Sun.” The eagle on the Mexican flag is a golden eagle, also the official bird of Mexico.
Though the place where they saw the sign was not really suitable for human settlement back then, what with it being a swamp area surrounded by lakes, the Aztecs nevertheless went ahead and built the great city of Tenochtitlan, which is where modern day Mexico City stands.
