Symbolism of the Brazilian flag: colours, stars and motto

Brazil’s flag is one of the few in the world to show a real sky. The blue circle reproduces the stars over Rio de Janeiro on the morning the Republic was proclaimed, and each star corresponds, by law, to a state or the Federal District. The colours come from the flag of the Empire, and the motto from a nineteenth-century philosophical formula. This guide brings together what the laws and official sources say about the meaning of each element.

The colours

Decree No. 4 of 19 November 1889, which adopted the republican flag, explains in its recitals why the Republic kept green and yellow: the colours of the old flag recall the struggles and glorious victories of the army and navy in defence of the homeland and, regardless of the form of government, symbolise the perpetuity and integrity of the homeland among the other nations. Article 1 of the decree says the republican flag keeps the tradition of the old national colours.

Today, under article 28 of Law 5,700, green and yellow are the national colours, which may be used without any restriction, including together with blue and white (article 29). The law does not give a meaning of its own to each colour.

The sky of 15 November 1889

Under article 3(1) of Law 5,700, the constellations on the flag correspond to the sky over the city of Rio de Janeiro at 8.30 a.m. on 15 November 1889 (twelve sidereal hours), the day of the Proclamation of the Republic, and are considered as seen by an observer outside the celestial sphere. That is why the sky on the flag appears mirrored compared with what is seen from the ground. The Southern Cross is in the centre of the circle.

Law 5,443 of 1968, now repealed, gave reference points for the design: Spica, in the constellation Virgo, above the white band, corresponds to the third letter of PROGRESSO, and the stars Sigma Octantis, Alpha and Gamma Crucis and the letter P of PROGRESSO lie on the vertical diameter of the circle.

One star for each state

The 1889 decree provided for 21 stars, representing the twenty states and the Neutral Municipality, the capital. Under article 3 of Law 5,700, as worded by Law 8,421 of 1992, the flag is updated whenever a state is created or abolished: new states receive stars from the same sky, without affecting the original arrangement, and the stars of abolished states are removed. Today there are 27 stars, in nine constellations. The appendix to Annex No. 2 of Law 8,421 sets the correspondence:

Spica, for Pará, is the only star above the white band. The Federal District is represented by Sigma Octantis, which lies on the vertical diameter of the circle, according to Law 5,443 of 1968. Under article 5(IX), the stars come in five magnitudes, and the annex gives the magnitude of each.

Ordem e Progresso

The motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (Order and Progress) is written in green letters in the middle of the white band (article 5(VIII)). According to a text published by the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo on Flag Day 2013, it is a shortened form of the formula of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, founder of positivism: "Love as the principle and order as the basis; progress as the goal". The same text attributes the flag design to positivists such as Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos. The guide to the history of the Brazilian flag covers its authors.

The national arms

The national arms, another national symbol, repeat elements of the flag. Under article 8 of Law 5,700, the round shield has a sky-blue field with five silver stars in the shape of the Southern Cross and a border with as many stars as there are on the flag. The whole rests on a ten-piece star in green and gold and a wreath of a fruiting coffee branch and a flowering tobacco branch. The national seal uses the circle from the flag, with the words República Federativa do Brasil around it (article 9).