Last modified: 2002-11-09 by joe mcmillan
Keywords: brazil | rio grande do sul | pelotas | triband | coat of arms | boat | bullock | rose (green) | cross (order of christ) |
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by Joseph McMillan
The flag is a vertical triband, light blue-white-light blue, with the coat of arms on the center. The coat of arms was designed by Artur Henrique Foerstnow and adopted in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Pelotas on 24 October 1961. The field is divided quarterly, (1) blue with an Indian rowing a hide-covered boat called a pelota, from which the city takes its name, in white; (2) white with a black bullock, recalling the beef drying industry with which Pelotas originated; (3) white with a green rose, the symbol of the charity of the patron of the municipality, St. Francis de Paul, inscribed with the letters S, F, D, P, C; (4) blue with a white obelisk, the monument erected during the monarchy by republican idealists, which was the initial landmark for the settlement of the city. Overall on the center is a red and white cross of the Order of Christ (inaccurately described in the source as a "cross of Malta") in homage to the Portuguese explorers. The shield is flanked by branches of golden rice (the major source of agricultural i