Lábaro

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Cantabri Lábaro. The etymological meaning "that which speaks" makes reference to its utility as a standard used to send orders or signals to troops during battle.

The Lábaro is an ancient military standard of the Cantabri people of pre-Roman Spain. It consists of a purple cloth on which there is what would be called in heraldry a "saltire voided throughout" made up of curved lines, with knobs at the end of each line.

Etymologically, the word comes from (p)lab- which means to speak in a number of Celtic languages, many of which have derivatives. For example, in Welsh llafar means "speech", "language", "voice". Ancient Cornish and Breton have lavar, "word", and ancient Irish has labrad: "language", "speech". In Latin, the lábaro became known as the Cantabrian Labarum.

This type of standard and its variants were well distributed among the Celtic peoples, as is demonstrated by the triumphal arch of Orange, France. Its display is connected with the ancient Celtic symbol of the triskelion, and its religious symbolism is related to sun worship.

A Cantabri Estela in Barros, Spain from around the second century BC with a representation of a lábaro.

Through the Cantabrian Wars and the conquering of the Cantabri by the Romans in 19 AD, the Roman legions adopted from them the solar symbolism of the twin crosses and lunar symbols, probably by the incorporation of Cantabrian auxiliary troops, or for the mere pride of having conquered the fierce people after years of war.

Today, certain social and political groups in modern Spanish autonomous community of Cantabria advocate the use of this ancient standard instead of the current flag