[1] It was most recently readopted on 25 February 2012 under Title I, Chapter I, Article 3 of the current Constitution of Haiti:L'emblême de la Nation Haïtienne est le Drapeau qui répond à la description suivante: The English translation adopted by the Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C., reads:[2]The emblem of the Haitian Nation shall be a flag with the following description: Contrary to the constitutional mandate, the white field is rarely (if ever) rendered as a square.

Haitian lore holds that the newly appointed revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the flag by taking a French tricolor and ripping out the white center, which he discarded.

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

The story is widely known in Haiti: the anniversary of the date is celebrated as the Flag and Universities Day and images of Catherine Flon have appeared on Haitian currency and stamps.

[citation needed] During the period of the Haitian Empire of Faustin I, his coat of arms was used on the flag and for official functions, but it was subsequently abandoned upon his removal from office.