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Occitany (France, Germany, Italy, Spain)

Occitany
Dimensions of the flag
History and meaning of the flag

Occitany

Occitany is the name given to the area speaking Occitan or Provençal or Langue d'Oc: 32 département of Southern France, the Aran valley in Catalonia, Piemont alpine valleys and the calabrian city of Guardia Piemontese in Italy and some villages in Wurtemberg (Germany, now extinct).

Dimensions of the flag

The flag has no official dimensions. The flags I've seen use to have the same proportions as the French one.

History of the Flag

The Occitan flag now in use has two variants: with or without the star.

The original flag (without the star) is the Languedoc star. It was the County of Toulouse emblem before the annexion by France (1271) and then became the Languedoc province emblem. It is said it was brought to Occitany by Raimond de Sant Gèli, the Raimond IV of Toulouse, back from a Crusade in the XIIth century. The twelve terminations represent the 12 months of the zodiacal wheel. A christian interpretation of the 12 apostles came later.

The star is the emblem of the Felibrige revival movement, founded the 21st May, 1854 by Frederic Mistral and other 6 Provençal poets. So the 7 number. The 21st May is the Saint Estela Day, Estela is a woman name meaning star. The felibre word comes from an old provençal text: "the seven felibres of the Law". Again 7.

The star was added to the flag by the Partit Nationalista Occitan, a nationalist/separatist organisation founded in 1959. It permits to differentiate the Languedoc province and the Occitany as a group of provinces including Auvergne, Gascony, Limousin, Provence and a part of Dauphiné. It is now in use by many "occitanists" even not members of the PNO.
Joan-Francés Blanc 30-OCT-96