JULY 3, 2025 — Antigua and Barbuda and Curaçao both commemorated National Flag Day on July 2nd with events that honoured national heritage and called for renewed commitments to civic identity and development.
In Antigua and Barbuda, the day also marked the 91st birthday of the country’s flag designer, Sir Reginald Samuel, while in Curaçao, Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas used the occasion to launch a sweeping nation-building agenda.
According to the Antigua Observer, tributes were paid to Sir Reginald Samuel in Antigua and Barbuda, whose creation of the national flag in 1966 has come to symbolize the island’s journey from colonialism to independence.
The celebration was both national and personal, honouring not only the flag but also the man behind it. According to historian and Pan-Africanist Alister Thomas, who was a close friend of Sir Reginald, “He holds the view that the creation of the flag symbolizes our freedom, emancipation, and independence to a greater extent than the Constitution does.”
Sir Reginald’s design, selected from a national competition shortly before independence, features a seven-pointed golden sun rising over horizontal bands of red, blue, and white with a black backdrop. Each colour bears symbolic weight.
As Thomas explained, “The colour red signifies the lifeblood of the ancestors… The blue represents the ocean, the seas, the journey, and the passage endured by the enslaved… The colour black symbolizes the African heritage of the enslaved and their descendants, the soil, our exploitation, our labour, our sweat, our tears.”
The push to formalize July 2 as National Flag Day began in 2024, spearheaded by Thomas, who sought to align the day with Sir Reginald’s birthday.
Meanwhile in Curaçao, Flag Day took on a forward-looking tone as Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas used the occasion to present a new nation-building plan rooted in social equity and community renewal, reports the Curaçao Chronicle.
Speaking in Willemstad, Pisas stated, “We cannot celebrate if our people don’t feel the benefits in their daily lives.”
