Last modified: 2002-11-02 by joe mcmillan
Keywords: sao paulo | brazil | carapicuiba | cross (red) | lozenge (yellow) |
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7:10 by Joseph McMillan
The flag of Carapicuiba resembles that of Brazil itself: a yellow lozenge on a green field, with the municipal coat of arms replacing the blue celestial sphere and the field divided by a yellow-bordered red cross. (This arrangement is said incorrectly to conform to Portuguese heraldic tradition.) The cross symbolizes those who discovered the region and the Christian religion, while the lozenge is said to be a symbol of motherhood. Yellow and green are the national colors established by the first emperor, Dom Pedro I. In addition to the usual explanation of these colors (green for spring and for the Portuguese royal house of Bragança, and yellow for gold and for the Austrian imperial house of Habsburg, the family of the emperor's wife Leopoldina), the official description of the flag of Carapicuiba says green also recalls the triangle on one version of the flag ascribed to Tiradentes, the most famous participant in the failed rebellion known as the Inconfidência Mineira of 1789. The municipal website also says the besiegers of the Bastille used green foliage taken from the trees of the Palais Royal as their emblem. In addition to gold and the Habsburgs, yellow is ascribed to