Honduras National Anthem

Himno Nacional de Honduras

National Anthem of Honduras

Written 1904

Adopted 1915

Lyrics Augusto Constancio Coello

Music Carlos Hartling

🚩 Flag 🕊 Freedom ⚔ Battle / War 🌿 Nature ✝ God / Faith | Proud

Key Facts

1. A 2019 Ministry of Education protocol says the anthem is always to be sung in full, above all in schools; when an event lacks the time, it may be shortened to the chorus and the seventh stanza. In practice, by custom and for lack of time, that short form is the usual one: the chorus, the seventh stanza and the chorus again.
2. Only two people are named in the anthem: Lempira, the Lenca chief who led resistance to the Spanish conquest, in the third stanza, and Danton, in a fifth stanza devoted to revolutionary France.
3. For more than ninety years after independence in 1821 Honduras had no official anthem and used several unofficial ones, among them "La Granadera" by Rómulo E. Durón. Coello and Hartling's anthem was itself first heard in public on 15 September 1904, sung by pupils of a girls' school at the Comayagüela town hall.

Honduras National Anthem Lyrics

[Coro] Tu bandera es un lampo de cielo por un bloque de nieve cruzado; y se ven en su fondo sagrado cinco estrellas de pálido azul; en tu emblema, que un mar rumoroso con sus ondas bravías escuda, de un volcán, tras la cima desnuda hay un astro de nítida luz. I India virgen y hermosa dormías de tus mares al canto sonoro, cuando echada en tus cuencas de oro el audaz navegante te halló; y al mirar tu belleza extasiado, al influjo ideal de tu encanto, la orla azul de tu espléndido manto con su beso de amor consagró. [Coro] II De un país donde el sol se levanta, más allá del atlante azulado, aquel hombre te había soñado y en tu busca a la mar se lanzó. Cuando erguiste la pálida frente, en la viva ansiedad de tu anhelo, bajo el dombo gentil de tu cielo ya flotaba un extraño pendón. [Coro] III Era inútil que el indio tu amado, se aprestara a la lucha con ira, porque envuelto en su sangre Lempira en la noche profunda se hundió; y de la épica hazaña, en memoria, la leyenda tan sólo ha guardado de un sepulcro el lugar ignorado y el severo perfil de un peñón. [Coro] IV Por tres siglos tus hijos oyeron el mandato imperioso del amo; por tres siglos tu inútil reclamo en la atmósfera azul se perdió; pero un día gloria tu oído percibió, poderoso y distante que allá lejos, por sobre el atlante indignado rugía un león. [Coro] V Era Francia, la libre, la heroica, que en su sueño de siglos dormida despertaba iracunda a la vida al reclamo viril de Dantón; era Francia que enviaba a la muerte la cabeza del rey consagrado y que alzaba, soberbia a su lado el altar de la Diosa razón. [Coro] VI Tú también ¡Oh mi patria! te alzaste de tu sueño servil y profundo; tú también enseñaste al mundo destrozado el infame eslabón. Y en tu suelo bendito, tras la alta cabellera de monte salvaje como un ave de negro plumaje la colonia fugaz se perdió. [Coro] VII Por guardar ese emblema divino marcharemos ¡Oh patria! a la muerte; generosa será nuestra suerte si morimos pensando en tu amor. Defendiendo tu santa bandera, y en tus pliegues gloriosos cubiertos, serán muchos, Honduras, tus muertos, pero todos caerán con honor. [Coro]

[Chorus] Your flag is a gleam of sky Crossed by a bar of snow; And on its sacred field are seen Five stars of pale blue; In your emblem, which a murmuring sea Shields with its fierce waves, Behind the bare summit of a volcano There is a star of clear light. I A virgin and beautiful Indian maiden, you slept To the sonorous song of your seas, When, lying in your golden basins, The bold navigator found you; And, enraptured as he gazed on your beauty, Under the ideal spell of your charm, The blue hem of your splendid mantle He consecrated with his kiss of love. [Chorus] II From a land where the sun rises, Beyond the blue Atlantic, That man had dreamed of you And put out to sea in search of you. When you raised your pale brow In the keen anxiety of your longing, Beneath the gentle dome of your sky A foreign banner was already flying. [Chorus] III In vain did the Indian, your beloved, Make ready for battle in wrath, For, wrapped in his blood, Lempira Sank into the deep night; And of that epic feat, in memory, Legend has kept only The unknown site of a tomb And the stern profile of a crag. [Chorus] IV For three centuries your children heard The imperious command of the master; For three centuries your futile protest Was lost in the blue air; But one day, O glory, your ear Caught, mighty and distant, That far away, across the Atlantic, An indignant lion was roaring. [Chorus] V It was France, the free, the heroic, Who, asleep in her sleep of centuries, Was waking in wrath to life At the manly call of Danton; It was France who sent to death The head of the anointed king And raised, proud, at her side The altar of the Goddess Reason. [Chorus] VI You too, O my homeland, rose From your deep and servile sleep; You too showed the world The infamous chain link shattered. And on your blessed soil, beyond the high Tresses of the wild forest, Like a bird of black plumage The fleeting colony vanished. [Chorus] VII To guard that divine emblem We shall march, O homeland, to our death; Generous will be our fate If we die thinking of your love. Defending your holy flag, And covered in your glorious folds, Many, Honduras, will be your dead, But all will fall with honor. [Chorus]

Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals

Analysis

Editorial

Written by poet Augusto Constancio Coello with music by German-born Carlos Hartling, the anthem was adopted in 1915. It has a chorus and seven stanzas of eight lines each. Stanzas one to six recount Honduras's history in chronological order, from the pre-Columbian era to independence from Spain; the seventh is a civic call to all Hondurans to defend the flag.

Learn More

National anthem on Wikipedia Official state symbols

Sources & References

Cátedra del Himno Nacional de Honduras, §3.3 . Secretaría de Educación de Honduras (2023)
La Gaceta No. 35,024: Acuerdo Ministerial No. 0764-SE-2019, Protocolo del Himno Nacional . La Gaceta, Diario Oficial de la República de Honduras (UNAH repository copy) (2019)
Himno Nacional de Honduras . es.wikisource.org
National Anthem of Honduras . en.wikipedia.org

Source & Review

Source status: Official source verified
Translation: AI-assisted working translation
Rights status: Third-party rights may apply
Last reviewed: 2026-09-27
Editorial review: Pending
Editorial owner: Nationalia
Report a correction: rights@nationalia.org

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