Santa Catarina (Brazil) (original) (raw)

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[ [Flag of Santa Catarina (Brazil)] ](../images/b/br-sc.gif) 8:11 image by André Pires Godinho
Adopted 29 October 1953

Flag of the State of Santa Catarina

The flag was adopted officially on 29 October 1953 based on a design in use from 1889. In the central shield, the stars symbolize the municipalities of the state, the eagle represents the productive forces, the key symbolizes the strategic position of the state in the south, the anchor refers to the ocean that bathes the state, and the date 17 November 1889 is that of the adoption of the republican regime. The branches correspond to the coffee plant and the phrygian cap also symbolizes the republican regime.
Jaume Ollé, 2 July 1996

At www.senado.gov.br/web/senador/casmalda/Frbander.htmis the text of law no. 975 of 29 October 1953, "Reestablishing the Flag of the State of Santa Catarina and Giving It New Composition," article 2:

The flag ... will have the following composition: (a) 3 stripes of equal width, the outer two red and the center white; (b) superimposed, a light green [verde claro, footnoted to mean verde-limão, or lime green] lozenge, whose extremities do not reach the stripes; (c) the lozenge will have the arms of the state on the center.

Article 2 of Decree No 605 of 19 February 1954 (summarizing here rather than quoting):

dimensions 11 units fly by 8 units hoist

vertices of the lozenge to lie one unit from the edges of the flag

the arms will be circumscribed by an imaginary circle of radius 2.75 units

the crossing of the key and the anchor in the arms to lie at the center of the flag

the vertices of the star to fall on the circumference of an imaginary circle of radius 0.5 units, centered 0.375 units above the crossing of the key and the anchor

the red stripes to be encarnadas and the lozenge verde claro

The arms are the same as those adopted in 1899.
Joseph McMillan, 8 July 2001

With state law 975 of 29 October of 1953, which created the flag of the State of Santa Catarina, I saw the attachment showing a drawing of the flag. The image above is based on this drawing.
André Pires Godinho, 17 August 2003

Flag of the State of Santa Catarina (1889-1937)

image by Jaume Ollé

The State of Santa Catarina had a different flag from 1889 to 1953 [ed. note: actually to 1937 when all Brazilian state flags were abolished].
Source: Flagscan 55.
Jaume Ollé, 8 December 1999

From www.senado.gov.br/web/senador/casmalda/Frbander.htm, article 3 of law no. 126 of 15 August 1895, "Establishing the arms and flag of the state:"

The flag of the state is composed of white and red [encarnadas] stripes disposed horizontally, in a number equal to the_comarcas_ [counties or judicial districts] of the state; a green lozenge located in the center of the flag, thereon as many yellow stars as the municipalities of the state.

According to the official state website, "The flag, as well as the arms of the state, were deactivated by the Federal Constitution of 10 November 1937 and by Decree-Law 1202 of 8 September 1939." All state symbols were abolished at this time as part of Getulio Vargas's effort to eradicate regionalism in the name of the creation of his New State (Estado Novo).
Joseph McMillan, 8 July 2001

The image above appears to match one in Clóvis Ribeiro,which would have been current as of 1933. However, I recently received from Michel Lupant by way of Falko Schmidt an image with two more stripes (15 instead of 13) and many fewer stars, captioned in Portuguese "The flag of Santa Catarina created by the imagination of José Arthur Boiteux and made official by Governor Hercílio Luz," which is a reference to the 1895 law. Since the stripes and stars were intended to represent the state's judicial districts (comarcas) and municipalities respectively, it is natural that the flag would have evolved over the four decades.
Joseph McMillan, 15 September 2002

Reported (Erroneous?) Variant

image by Joseph McMillan

A set of cards illustrating Brazilian state flags that was distributed with bars of Eucalol soap in about 1930 shows the lozenge as white fimbriated black with 21 red stars, and the field with 15 stripes. This is probably an error, since we have a legal text from 1895 clearly describing the lozenge as green and the stars as yellow.
Joseph McMillan, 13 February 2003

Possible Second Flag of Santa Catarina (1937)

image by Joseph McMillan

I also got from Michel Lupant via Falko Schmidt another image, this time of a three-stripe flag like the current one but with a single star (I assume yellow) on the center of the green lozenge, rather than the coat of arms that appears there now. The caption for this flag reads "The second flag of Santa Catarina, until 10 November 1937, when the Brazilian Constitution deprived the states of the right of the use and respect for coats of arms, flags, and anthems." I know nothing about an adoption date, which would presumably have to be between 1933, when Ribeiro showed the multi-star, multi-stripe design, and 1937 when Vargas abolished state flags. Beside the picture, which is a construction sheet, is the note: "This heraldic arrangement was supposedly the second flag of the State of Santa Catarina. No cloth flag has ever been found, nor any picture or photo of the flag flying anywhere. It is accepted that it was abolished, like other state flags, by the Federal Constitution of 10 November 1937. When [the flag] was reestablished on 19 February 1954, the lone star was replaced by the coat of arms."
Joseph McMillan, translated by Jorge Candeias, 15 September 2002

What this seems to mean, in my opinion, is that the actual existence of this flag is doubtful. No information is given, at least in this paragraph, about an adoption date, there seem to be no pictures to prove it, and the same for actual cloth flags. So, all this vagueness seems to be a sign of caution.
Jorge Candeias, 17 September 2002