This Week In Vexillology #7

Get ready to swing your hips and samba, baby because this week... it's BRAZIL!

Adopted November 15th, 1889 for national and civil usage, the green in the flag recalls the Brazilian rainforest, while yellow represents the country's mineral resources. The design of the flag has remained the same since independence was achieved (yellow diamond shape on a green field) but in 1889 with the formation of the Republic, the Imperial Arms were replaced by a view of the night sky over Rio de Janeiro as it appeared when the Republic was formed.

Each star in the field of blue represents a state of the Federation- including the Federal District of Brasilia. As more states have been added to the Federation (most recently in 1992) stars are added. The stars are represented realistically with varying sizes- though the different sizes aren't a reflection of the importance of the state- and finally, the country's motto: 'Ordem E Progresso' or 'Order and Progress' appears in band across the middle.

According to my handy-dandy reference guide, in Brasilia stands one of the world's tallest flagpoles on which flies an enormous national flag. It's not the world's tallest flagpole- that honor goes to Tajikistan, where a flagpole in Dushanbe raises 165 meteres in the air.

Though Brazil is in mourning for the loss of the genius architect of their capitol, Brasilia, Oscar Niemeyer who died at the age of 104 earlier this month, I've got to salute a man who knows the value of a huge flagpole (no, stop laughing. Seriously- huge flagpoles rock. Why do you think Perkins has them? Because people see them and then they're like 'hey, that's kind of awesome... let's eat there.') I'll be honest- I used to take a dim view of planned cities. They seemed to lack spontaneity- but look at this- a bird in flight:

Niemeyer didn't just plan a city. He made it a work of art- and that's pretty damn cool. Visiting both Brazil and Brasilia is up on my lifetime bucket list...

Until next time kids, keep your flags flying- freak or otherwise!