The flag of Brazil
Not long after I arrived in Rio, the flag of Brazil got me into trouble with Mrs Eat Rio. To be more specific, it was the motto written across the flag that got me into trouble. And to be more accurate, it was I who got myself into trouble – the flag and its motto just happened to be there at the time.
We had been waiting for hours in a hot and crowded Cartório (notary office) while our marriage documents were being processed. As I waited (impatiently), I was surprised to see that almost everything was being done on paper – form after form was stamped, signed, copied and filed away in enormous filing cabinets.
Then I noticed the Brazilian flag on the wall and flippantly suggested there was some irony in the motto: Ordem e Progresso (Order and Progress). Let’s just say that Mrs Eat Rio wasn’t impressed! Since those early days I have learnt to show a little more respect towards the flag (and motto) of my adopted country.
As a national motto it is aspirational but also rather open to satire. This is from São Paulo’s Os Gemeos.
As flags go, it has to rank right up there as one of the best, don’t you think? Not everyone agrees with me but I like the colours, I like the shapes and I like the star map.
Now a farmer from the wonderfully named town of Parapanema in São Paulo has paid a massive tribute to this much-loved flag. Jacobus Derks planted it!
This enormous flag is 860 x 540 metres!
Derks planted barley, canola, lupins and triticale to make this huge flag. He said it was in homage to the great events that are to take place in Brazil in the coming years and also to Brazilian agriculture.
It is yet to be confirmed officially, but it looks like this will go into the record books as the biggest flag in the world (Take that Romania – your flag of 349 x 227 metres looks puny compared to this!).
I’m not sure that the Brazilian flag is the most beautiful. It may be one of the most beautiful flags of the world. Brazilians say that because most of them are nationalistic, very patriotic indeed. I’m not patriotic and because of that I partially agree with you. I’m not proud of being Brazilian because in Brazil we can’t find two things that is writen on the flag: ordem e progresso.
Yes, I haven’t made up my mind if I think there is a “most beautiful flag in the world”, but I think that most of us can agree that Brazil’s flag is a good one and (to me at least) it really seems to fit Brazil as a country – the deep green of the forest, the yellow sun and the blue of the sea and sky. A bit clichéd perhaps, but still – can you imagine Brazil’s flag being used for a country like Iceland? ;)
Yes, I agree with you. It has more to do with the country.
Marcos, you may not find order and progress in Brazil the way you wish, but that’s a motto, a very noble one, and it’s also a goal, and a destiny. That’s the way I see it and I’m sure that that was the spirit when its creator decided to use it on the national flag. That old gringo’s cynicism about the motto is so unfortunate as cliche that it doesn’t even bother me anymore.
I’m not patriotic either, but differently from you I’m too damn proud to be Brazilian and I just happen to like the Brazilian flag although I find a couple of others to be a little more interesting, like the Britain’s Union Jack (very recognizable, striking and commercial), Albania, Greece and Barbados flags, for example.
Hi Gil – I think you’re absolutely right about the motto: it is a noble goal to which all nations aspire. I have to say though that it isn’t just gringos who are cynical about it. A quick Google Image search for “Ordem e Progresso” will return a huge amount of home-grown mockery and I can’t really blame them! Not because Brazil is so chaotic, but because you’re setting yourself up for a little ridicule if you put something like that on your flag aren’t you?
Every country has aspects that aren’t great and room for improvement. But if I started a new country tomorrow and decided to put “Modern and Efficient” on the flag, well, first time a train was late or there was a traffic jam, people would roll their eyes and say to each other sarcastically “Oh yeah, Tomland is so modern and efficient”! ;)
Anyway, I’m not knocking the flag or the motto. Mrs Eat Rio says she thinks the motto sounds a bit fascistic, but when you learn the origins I think it’s rather nice. According to Wikipedia, it comes from a French Positivist philosopher who said “L’amour pour principe et l’ordre pour base; le progrès pour but” (“Love as a principle and order as the basis; Progress as the goal”).
Weird, I was in Paranapanema. It’s a great little middle of nowhere kind of place with a great name! Just like Itaquaquecetuba, Pindamonhangaba, and Caraguatatuba! I actually could go on for around 12 hours with ridiculous Brazilian town names (<3).
And you sound super intellectual when you say 'I like the colours, I like the shapes and I like the star map.'' Nice one, Tom. :p
I love the Brazilian flag. It's got personality, it's vivacious, it's kind of crazy and a little nutty. Therefore, it represents Brazil pretty f•cking well.
Ugh sorry for being so out of the loop with blogs lately, I've basically just been emo as of late..lamenting the fact that I was forcefully uprooted from my idyllic Brazilian life. I'm back now though, as I've gotten over the stage that made me burst into tears as soon as I saw anything having to do with Brazil….for now at least.
Ha ha! I love those crazy place names! I remember passing Pindamonhangaba on the bus home from São Paulo once and I kept myself happy repeating if over and over for the next 20 minutes. Mrs Eat Rio (and the rest of the passengers on the bus) eventually persuaded me to stop saying it by threatening to throw me off the bus! ;)
I totally understand about being out of the loop. I’ve practically stopped commenting on other blogs now – work is so busy that I hardly have time to keep my own blog going, never mind having time to comment on anyone else’s :(
Aye-aye! [said like a Brazilian, not a sailor] Being away from Brazil must be giving new insights into the sweet sorrow that is saudade. Come back soon!
I see as though the rhombus embrace the stars/states. Psycho?
Ha ha! Not psycho Dan! I would call it “imaginative interpretation” :) Maybe you are an artist or a poet?
I kind of prefer the origins ‘love as a principle and order as the basis’ to the actual motto ‘order and progress’.
In Brazil’s favour though they were brave to be different and stand out from the crowd with their flag. How many countries have flags that are almost identical save for the order of the colours?
On a side note what’s the national anthem like? Maybe it gives the Motto context.
Here in Spain its a real shame there isn’t a new national anthem, so while the music blares out everybody on the team just stares forward.
There are no words to the Spanish national anthem?! Oh man, that seems like a wasted opportunity.
I hope the Brazilians will forgive me for saying that it took me a little while to warm to the national anthem. Now I really like it, particularly the lyrics – the second verse has some really nice lines such as:
Than the most elegant land abroad,
thy smiling, pretty prairies have more flowers
“Our meadows have more life”,
“our life” in thy bosom “more love”
Kind of nice to hear them boasting about having more flowers, life and love, rather than banging on about being glorious and smiting enemies and that kind of thing. The Wikipedia page has the audio and the lyrics in PT and EN:
Brazilian National Anthem
Tomland’s motto: marmite and herb garden.
Grittyland’s motto: diplomacy and gorgeousness.
Alexland’s motto: It wasn’t me, I swear!
Btw Grittyland’s generals are considering an invasion of Tomland and Rachelland (a Gritty minority resides in both nations and suffer persecution from the flip-flopping intolerant
majority).
Oh no! I need to do a troop movement to Kamchatka and Yakutsk. If all else fails we’ll fall back to Australasia and put 20 troops each on Papua New Guinea and Indonesia…
I’ve loved Brazil’s flag ever since I was a kid. In school, we used to have to draw flags of other countries, and Brazil’s was a welcome change from the usual tricolor rectangles. I had a hard time drawing the stars and the motto, though. :)
I’m also a fan of the “Hino Nacional,” which seems to me to be a good combination of a stirring march with poetic lyrics. Unlike the “Star Spangled Banner,” it does not require a voice of operatic proportions to sing it. Best of all, there’s nothing about the “impure blood (of the enemy) watering our furrows,” which somewhat diminishes the otherwise impressive “Marseillaise.”
Ah, I have to admit I have a weakness for the tunes of the national anthems of the US and especially France. Both seem the very definition of ‘rousing tunes’. I also like the fact that the Brazilian anthem doesn’t go on about God like so many others (in fact God isn’t mentioned).
A lot of people say that the British national anthem (God save the Queen – not the Sex Pistols version!) is rather dull and I think they’ve got a point. And as Eddie Izzard once pointed out, the Queen seems to be very effectively saved without any need for God – he should be looking out for the rest of us! ;)
http://youtu.be/s5iu_JNvPII?t=1m5s