Flying the flag: Haitian’s gear up for 215th Flag Day celebrations

Residents look at a mural depicting the independence heroes ahead of the Flag Day celebrations in Haiti.

Haitians celebrate the 215th anniversary of the creation of their national flag on Friday.

Haitian lore holds that revolutionary leader Jean-jacques Dessalines created the flag in 1803 by taking a French tricolour and ripping out the white centre, which he discarded.

He then asked Catherine Flon, his god-daughter, to sew the remaining bands together to create a new flag.

The white pale removed, the blue was taken to represent Haiti’s black citizens and the red the gens de couleur.