Last modified: 2003-03-01 by joe mcmillan
Keywords: brazil | south america | rio de janeiro | carnaval |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
I draw attention to the Carnaval in Rio, where can be seen in all
their splendour the samba schools' flags, usually gyronny of many.
Other cities in Brazil (and even abroad) also follow this tradition.
António Martins, 11 July 1999
Unfortunately, all these flags include symbols in the center of
their gyronny fields and are constantly in movement, so it's pretty impossible
to get their composition straight only from TV.
Jorge Candeias, 3 March 2001
All the samba schools' names begin with GRES, which stands for
Grêmio Recreativo Escola da Samba (Recreational Society and Samba
School). The samba schools are the organizations that put on the big
parades. By tradition, each school has a
young woman called a porta-bandeira or flag-carrier carrying its
flag in the parade. As António points out, the flags are generally
gyronny in the colors of the school, an obvious Portuguese influence,
I assume. The source of information on the clubs is an excellent book by Alma
Guillermo-Prieto entitled Samba.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001
I don't know whather the gyronny design of these flags was influenced by
Portuguese civic vexillology. Current Portuguese municipal flags have
octo-gyronny backgrounds when the seat of the municipality has the status of a city,
but it should be noted that untill the 1930s only Lisbon had
a gyronny flag, providing one of the bases for the current Portuguese
civic vexillology laws. If these samba school flags are older than the 1930s, then the evidence is
shallow. I'd say that most of these flags influenced each other. The older
might have been influenced by Portugese city flags, but then again, maybe
not.
António Martins, 4 March 2001
I believe the oldest of the samba schools date to the late 1920s/early
1930s. Most of them seem to have been formed in the 1940s-50s. I
expect that António's hypothesis that they influenced each other is
correct, but it seems to me that somewhere in the genealogy of the
earliest ones is a saudade (nostalgia) tinged memory of Lisbon.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001
Apparently a new flag is made for each school for each carnival. The obverse, which the
images below show, seems to stay the same,
with the school emblem on the center, but the reverse bears a device reflecting the theme
of that year's parade. This would account for variations in the
details of these flags, so these should be taken as general patterns.
Joseph McMillan, 14 March 2001
A nouveau school (1950s, I believe) and seen by the more traditional favelas as a bit
of an upstart, but an enormously well-financed and successful one. A
beija-flor (literally flower-kisser) is a hummingbird, so the badge
on the center of the blue and white flag shows flowers and two little
beija-flores.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001
Named for Empress Leopoldina (wife of Emperor Dom Pedro I). This is the only one I've found that is
not gyronny of some number.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001
Source: School website.
Joseph McMillan, 5 March 2001
The name means "Mountain Empire." Another very old-line school.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001
An old line school dating back
to the 1930s and one of the most successful in winning the samba
competitions. Colors pink and green. Mangueira is one of the oldest
favelas (slums) in Rio; the name refers to it being the first stop on
a suburban rail line after leaving the city proper.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001
The name means "Independent Youth of Father Miguel."
Joseph McMillan,4 March 2001
The flag of the old-line Rio samba school, GRES Portela. The device on the center is the school's mascot, an eagle.
Joseph McMillan, 14 March 2001
An old school--actually an
amalgamation of several old schools--known for the innovation, in the
1960s, of first hiring a professional parade designer.
Joseph McMillan, 4 March 2001