Last modified: 2003-04-12 by joe mcmillan
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![[Flag of Santa Catarina (Brazil)]](../images/b/br-sc.gif)
8:11
by Joseph McMillan
Adopted 29 October 1953
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.htm is 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):
The arms are the same as those adopted in 1899.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
by Jaume Ollé
The State of Santa Catarina had a diferent 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).
The image above appears to match one in Clovis Ribeiro's Brazões e bandeiras do Brasil,
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
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
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
by Joseph McMillan
Some states had old maritime ensigns in the 19th century, including Santa Catarina.
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