Last modified: 2010-01-02 by ian macdonald
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![[Flag of Pará (Brazil)]](../images/b/br-pa.gif)
7:10 image by Željko Heimer
The white stripe is the imaginary "planetary belt" representing the zodiac.
The star is of magnitude 1.0 and belongs to the constellation of Virgo. The
red color symbolizes the vigor that is in the blood of the Paraense people.
Željko Heimer, 13 Mar 1996
The Republic was proclaimed in Pará on 16 November 1889. The following year,
the municipalities of the state accepted the proposal of Governor Arturo
Indio do Brazil to recognize the flag of the Republican Club as the official flag
of the city of Belém. Afterwards the traditional republican symbol was adopted
as the flag of the state. In it, the red symbolizes the revolutionary victory, valor, and blood,
and the white band suggests a planetary belt
representing the zodiac. The star symbolizes the constellation of
Virgo.
Jaume Ollé, 28 June 1996
Information on the flag of Pará can be found at the official state website,
http://www.pa.gov.br/conheca2.htm and
"http://www.pa.gov.br/conheca4.htm.
"Elso," 13 February 2000
According to information at
www.brasilrepublica.hpg.ig.com.br, the flag was approved by the Pará state legislature on 3 June 1890
(but see below). It flew for the first time on
the occasion of Pará's accession to the Republic of Brazil on 16 November 1889 as the symbol of the Paraense
Republican Club. On 10 April 1890, the municipal council of Belém approved a proposal making the
club's emblem the flag of the municipality of Belém. The decree that finally transformed the
municipal flag into the state flag read as follows:
The flag which served as the emblem of the Paraense Republican Club before the proclamation of the Republic, and which was adopted as the flag of the municipality at the session of 10 April 1890, is hereby to be considered the flag of the State of Pará.According to this site, the white stripe not only represents the belt of the Zodiac but also the equator and the Amazon River. The star, part of the constellation of Virgo, is also known as Spica, and symbolizes the position of Pará above the equatorial line, just as on the national flag Pará's star is the only one placed above the stripe inscribed Ordem e Progresso. The red field is for "the strength of Paraense blood, which runs through our veins as a true spirit of harmonized struggle, giving proof of the dedication of our patriots to the causes of Paraense support for Independence and for the Republic. The design of the flag is attributed to the republican Philadelfo Condurú.
image by Joseph McMillan
Pará used a different flag in 1889-1890.
Jaume Ollé, 8 December 1999
Clóvis Ribeiro (1933) agrees that Pará adopted
and used a flag similar to that shown above, but contends that it was not red with a white diagonal
stripe and star, like the current state flag, but a vertical triband, red-white-red, with a blue star
on the center. The text of the decree gives us no help, since it does not describe the flag in any way.
Secondly, Ribeiro says that, although legislation to adopt this flag was passed by the state chamber of
deputies on 3 June 1898 [sic], it was rejected by the state senate on the urging of the governor, who did not
believe states should have symbols. As a result, Ribeiro concludes that the flag was still unofficial in 1933.
On the other hand, on plate 23 Ribeiro shows the state coat of arms as it is presently, and says it
was officially adopted by law 918 of 9 November 1903, the same time [he says] that the Senate rejected
the proposed flag. The current flag is essentially a banner of these arms. He goes on to say that
the coat of arms was already in de facto use as early as 1901, with the national flag
and the vertical version of the Pará flag as "supporters." Tentatively, I think we can conclude that
Pará used a flag, at least de facto and possibly de jure from 1890 until
President Vargas abolished state symbols in 1937, and again from some time in the late 1940s to the present;
and that the vertically stripoed flag shown by Ribeiro was at least a variant if not the only flag
used up to the 1930s.
Joseph McMillan, 2 September 2002
image by Joseph McMillan
Some states had old maritime ensigns in the 19th century, including Pará.
Jaume Ollé, 8 December 1999
The French Navy's Album de Pavillons of 1858
shows a set of galhardetes
(normally translated pennants) flown by Brazilian merchant ships to indicate their province of origin.
The galhardetes were rectangular, approximately 1:6. They were all simple
geometric patterns, more or less like signal flags.
Joseph McMillan, 17 April 2001
Some discussion has been found on blogs about a possible split of the state
of Pará into two new states, Carajas and Tapajós. A flag has been
proposed for Tapajós and is posted at
http://blogdowaldyr.blogspot.com/2007_08_19_archive.html. Although the
proposal has been circulating for some time, it is not yet official.
Condensed from comments by Pascal Prince, António Martins-Tuválkin,
and Jaume Olle, 11-28 September 2008
