The colors of the El Descenso Internacional del Sella flag have nothing to do with the LGTBIQ+ collective, but with the tradition of the Canoe Festival. The 84th edition is celebrated on August 6th.
Some people confuse it with the flag of the LGBTI community… and all the acronyms that are yet to come, but the flag of Piraguas has nothing to do with it.
O Sella’s international offspring It is a canoeing competition that was first held nearly a century ago at the initiative of Dionisio de la Huerta. The son of Indian parents, an athlete and a lover of canoeing, he went down the Coya River to Arriondas, in Asturias, with some friends in 1930. The following year they made it to Ribadesella. Since then, with the exception of the stoppage of the Spanish Civil War and the pandemic, the International Descent of the Sella takes place periodically between Arriondas and Ribadesella, both in Asturias. Almost 20 km of trip through a shallow river and some rapids.
The flag with the colors that identify this sporting competition was used for the first time in 1947. It responded to the need to differentiate one team from another. The shelters were then made of canvas and painted with tar to make them waterproof. Distinguishing one from the other and finding out who was in the lead was a very complicated task for the first timekeepers of the race. It was then established the convenience of painting the canoe with different colors depending on the origin of the participants or the place of origin. The norm underwent several modifications until in 1954 the definitive flag was established. In the banner, with horizontal lines, the red was assigned to the Asturian teams; blue, spanish; whites, foreigners; green, the previous year’s team champion; and yellow for the winning canoe of the last edition.
Today, participants’ boats have abandoned this code for digitized numbers, but the spirit of this rainbow flag continues to survive on many balconies in the cities of Arriondas and Ribadesella, the two cities between which the International Descent of the Sella is celebrated.