Last modified: 2008-07-05 by dov gutterman
Keywords: gorican | medjimurje | mount | flower | forget me not |
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image by eljko Heimer, 15 July 2006
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Gorican is a community in the Medimurje County, 20 km east of Cakovec, totaling 3,150 inhabitants.
Today the place is best known as being the site of the most
important border crossing towards Hungary (the new highway beaing
also main road toward most of Eastern Europe). The Hungarian side
of the border corssing is Letenye.
According to the pictures availabe at the official web site of
the community at <www.gorican.hr>
(click the small coat of arms to get a larger image plus the
flag), the coat of arms is: gules a mount issuant from the base
vert and in the chief argent three roses azure seeded or. The
mount in the coat of arms is canting as the palce name suggest it
to be on a higher ground - a hill. I am not sure about the
symbolism of the roses, though.
The flag is light blue with the coat of arms in the middle
bordered yellow.
eljko Heimer, 15 July 2006
In the mean time I located the decision on the adption of the
symbols: Odluka o grbu i zastavi Opcine Gorican, 3. 2. 2006,
Slubeni glasnik Medimurske upanije, br. 1/2006, 4. 2.
2006 on <www.gorican.hr>.
The decision provides us with the adoption date - 3rd February
2006. It also provides an other details, the blue flowers in the
chief are named "potocnica" which is Croatian name for
the flower known in English as "forget-me-not" (also
known in Croatian as "nezaboravak" where the theme of
remembrance is more obvious).
eljko Heimer, 16 July 2006
The flower is known in French as "Ne-m'oubliez-pas"
(Forget-me-not) or "Plus-je-te-vois-plus-je-t'aime"
(The more I see you, the more I love you) but mostly under its
Latin name of myosotis (lit., mouse's ear). The genus
Myosotis belongs to the family Boraginaceae, its taxonomy is
fairly complex, with several hybrids and variants.
Translations in other languages on Wikipedia at <en.wikipedia.org>
as well as the legend: "Legend has it that in medieval
times, a knight and his lady were walking along the side of a
river. He picked a posy of flowers, but because of the weight of
his armour he fell into the river. As he was drowning he threw
the posy to his loved one and shouted "Forget-me-not".
This is a flower connected with romance and tragic fate. It was
often worn by ladies as a sign of faithfulness and enduring
love." And, of course, such a romantic legend could
only come from France.
Ivan Sache, 16 July 2006
In an article "Uskoro grb i zastava", Medimurje,
upanijske novine, br. 2650, 07.02.2006. the drawing of the
proposed symbols is shown with the news that the design has been
adopted (and as we know from official gazette it was indeed done
on 03.02.2006.). The shown sheet showes the coat of arms, the
flag and the ceremonial flag, together with a seal of the Rijeka
company Heraldik-art - so we now know who designed it.
The ceremonial flag, which is not mentioned in the decisions, is
a light blue gonfalon ending triangularly and with golden fringe
with the coat of arms in the middle, above it golden inscription
'OPCINA GORICAN' and below it a wheat and corn (?) stalks.
eljko Heimer, 26 August 2006
The symbols were designed by the Heraldic
Art d.o.o. from Rijeka.
eljko Heimer, 3 November 2007
image by eljko Heimer, 15 July 2006