Brazil flag picture
| Name | A Auriverde (the gold-and-green); a Verde e Amarela |
|---|---|
| Adopted | November 19, 1889 (Decree No. 4 — 21 stars) May 11, 1992 (Law 8.421 — 27 stars) |
| Designers | Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos (concept); Manuel Pereira Reis (the sky); Décio Villares (the drawing) |
| Proportion | 10 : 7 (fly : hoist) — 20 by 14 modules |
| Law | Law No. 5.700 of 1971; Law No. 8.421 of 1992 |
The Brazilian flag is the empire's green field and yellow rhombus around a blue celestial globe — the sky over Rio de Janeiro at 8:30 on the morning the Republic was proclaimed, with 27 stars for the 27 federal units and a white band reading Ordem e Progresso.
An overview
The national flag of Brazil — the Auriverde, the gold-and-green — is a green field with a yellow rhombus, and on the rhombus a blue celestial globe crossed by a white band that reads ORDEM E PROGRESSO. Twenty-seven white stars stand on the globe as the sky stood over Rio de Janeiro at 8:30 on the morning of November 15, 1889, the morning the Republic was proclaimed. The proportion is 7:10.
It is an imperial flag made republican. Jean-Baptiste Debret designed the green field and yellow rhombus in 1822 for Dom Pedro I — the colors of his own House of Braganza and his empress’s House of Habsburg — with the imperial arms at the center. When the monarchy fell in 1889 the new government tried a flag of stripes and stars for four days, rejected it as an imitation, and on November 19 adopted the design of the positivists Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos: the empire’s colors kept, the arms replaced by the sky of the Republic’s first morning, and Auguste Comte’s watchwords on the band.
Law No. 5.700 of 1971 draws the flag in modules to the tenth, fixes its protocol from the Praça dos Três Poderes to the burning of worn flags, and keeps Flag Day on November 19. The stars follow the map: 21 in 1889, 27 since 1992.
The celestial globe
The blue disc is a map of the sky at one moment: 8:30 on the morning of November 15, 1889, over Rio de Janeiro, the morning the Republic was proclaimed — drawn, the law says, as it would appear to an observer standing outside the celestial sphere and looking in, which is why the constellations are mirrored from the way a Brazilian sees them at night. The Southern Cross stands on the meridian at the center; Scorpius, Canis Major with Sirius, the Triangulum Australe, Hydra and Canopus surround it. One star rides alone above the white band: Spica, in Virgo, for the state of Pará, which lay mostly north of the equator in 1889.
Each star is a federal unit. There were 21 in 1889; Guanabara added one in 1960, Acre one in 1968, and Amapá, Roraima, Rondônia and Tocantins four more in 1992 — 27 today, for 26 states and the Federal District, and the law requires the flag to change again if the map does. The band across the globe is the equator; its words, ORDEM E PROGRESSO, are the positivist philosopher Auguste Comte’s, cut down from “love as principle, order as basis, progress as goal” by the republic’s positivist founders — Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos, with the astronomer Manuel Pereira Reis to place the stars and the painter Décio Villares to draw them.
Official color specification
For a law that fixes the flag’s geometry to the hundredth of a module, Law 5.700 says nothing about shade: green, yellow, blue and white are named, and no Pantone, RGB or CMYK is official. The values below are the approximations the standard references carry — the green a deep grass green, the yellow warm, the blue the near-navy of a night sky.
| Color | Hex | Pantone | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | #009739 | not fixed in law | 0, 151, 57 |
| Yellow | #FEDD00 | not fixed in law | 254, 221, 0 |
| Blue | #012169 | not fixed in law | 1, 33, 105 |
| White | #FFFFFF | White | 255, 255, 255 |
Symbolism and meaning
The flag’s meanings have two layers — the royal reasons of 1822 and the national reading that replaced them — and Brazilians use the second.
Decree No. 4 kept the imperial colors, it said, “to preserve the tradition” — the rare republican flag that honors the monarchy it replaced.
Design and official specification
Law 5.700 builds the flag on a grid of modules — 14 high, 20 long — and places everything by it: the rhombus 1.7 modules in from each edge, the globe a circle of radius 3.5 at the center, the band half a module wide, the letters of the motto in green, and 27 stars in five magnitudes drawn in circles from three-tenths of a module down to one-tenth. It is among the most exactly specified — and hardest to draw — of national flags.
| Element | Specification | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Hoist (height) | 14 modules | 140 cm (55.1 in) — 1 module = 10 cm on the reference flag |
| Fly (length) | 20 modules | 200 cm (78.7 in) |
| Ratio | 7 : 10 | Law 5.700, Article 5 |
| The rhombus | Yellow, its vertices 1.7 modules from the edges of the flag | 17 cm (6.7 in) in from each edge |
| The globe | A blue disc of radius 3.5 modules, centered | 35 cm (13.8 in) radius |
| The band | A white band curving from lower left to upper right across the globe, 0.5 module wide, inscribed ORDEM E PROGRESSO in green | The band's upper edge passes 0.25 module below the center |
| The stars | 27 white five-pointed stars in five magnitudes — drawn in circles of 0.30, 0.25, 0.20, 0.14 and 0.10 module | Law 8.421, 1992 |
| The sky | Rio de Janeiro at 8:30 a.m. on November 15, 1889, with the Southern Cross on the meridian — as seen by an observer outside the celestial sphere | Article 3, sole paragraph — the sky is mirrored |
| Standard sizes | Seven types, from type 1 at 45 × 64 cm (17.7 × 25.2 in) to type 7 at 315 × 450 cm (124 × 177 in) | Article 5 |
How the flag evolved
An empire’s colors, four days of stripes, a sky fixed by decree, and stars that follow the map — the flag’s two centuries in four moves.
1822
The empire's colors
When Dom Pedro I declared independence from Portugal in September 1822, the French painter Jean-Baptiste Debret designed the new empire's flag: a green field for the House of Braganza, a yellow rhombus for the Habsburg house of the empress Maria Leopoldina, and the imperial arms at the center — a shield ringed by stars for the provinces, 19 at first, 20 from 1853. The colors of the flag flown today were chosen for two royal families.
1889
Four days of stripes
The Republic was proclaimed on November 15, 1889, and for four days it flew a flag modeled on the American one — thirteen green and yellow stripes with a blue canton of 21 stars — drawn up by Ruy Barbosa and the republican clubs. Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, the head of the provisional government, disliked the imitation, and a new design was ready within the week.
1889
Decree No. 4
On November 19, 1889, Decree No. 4 adopted the flag of the positivists Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos: the empire's green and yellow kept, "to preserve the tradition," and the imperial arms replaced by a blue celestial globe — the sky over Rio at 8:30 that morning, drawn by the astronomer Manuel Pereira Reis and painted by Décio Villares — crossed by a band bearing Comte's Ordem e Progresso. Twenty-one stars, for the 20 states and the neutral municipality of Rio.
1992
Twenty-seven stars
The stars have followed the map. Guanabara added a 22nd in 1960, Acre a 23rd in 1968; Law No. 5.700 of 1971 fixed the construction in modules, the protocol and Flag Day; and on May 11, 1992, Law No. 8.421 added four stars for Amapá, Roraima, Rondônia and Tocantins, the states created by the Constitution of 1988 — the 27 of today.
Who designed the Brazilian flag?
Four men in the week after the Republic. Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos, the leaders of the Positivist Church of Brazil, conceived the flag — the empire’s colors kept, the sky of the proclamation morning in place of the arms, Comte’s motto on the band. Manuel Pereira Reis, professor of astronomy at the Polytechnic School of Rio, fixed the stars where they stood at 8:30 on November 15, 1889. Décio Villares, the painter, drew the whole. Decree No. 4 adopted it on November 19.
The green field and yellow rhombus were older: Jean-Baptiste Debret, the French painter of the Brazilian court, designed them for the Empire in 1822, and the Republic kept them.
Flag Day: November 19
Brazil keeps a flag day — the Dia da Bandeira, November 19, the anniversary of Decree No. 4 of 1889, written into Law 5.700. Schools and barracks hold ceremonies; the Hymn to the Flag, written by Olavo Bilac in 1906 to music by Francisco Braga, is sung; and the armed forces gather the flags that have worn out through the year and burn them in a solemn ceremony, as the law requires. The great flag on the Praça dos Três Poderes, meanwhile, is replaced in ceremony on the first Sunday of every month.
Legal status and display rules
Article 13 of the Constitution of 1988 names the flag, the anthem, the arms and the seal as the symbols of the Republic; Law No. 5.700 of September 1, 1971, on the national symbols, is the flag’s code — its construction, its display, its retirement — as amended in 1992. Its provisions are tabled here.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| The instruments | Decree No. 4 of November 19, 1889; Law No. 5.700 of September 1, 1971, on the national symbols, with its annexes; Law No. 8.421 of May 11, 1992, on the 27 stars; Article 13 of the Constitution of 1988, which names the flag, anthem, arms and seal as the symbols of the Republic |
| Permanently hoisted | On the Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília — the great flag replaced in ceremony on the first Sunday of each month — and on the Palácio da Alvorada |
| Daily | On the Presidency, the National Congress, the Supreme Court and the ministries; on the embassies abroad; on schools, and on the units and ships of the armed forces |
| Hours | Ordinarily hoisted at 8 a.m. and lowered at 6 p.m.; at night only where illuminated |
| Ceremony | Hoisted and lowered to the national anthem or the Hymn to the Flag at formal ceremonies; all present stand, face the flag and remove their hats |
| Precedence | In the place of honor — to the right of other flags, or in the center of an odd number — and never smaller or lower than another flag beside it |
| Reproduction | Made only in the form and proportions of the law; the flag may drape the coffins of those entitled, and may not be used as clothing, drapery or advertising |
| Retirement | Flags no longer fit for use are delivered to a military unit and burned in a solemn ceremony on Flag Day, November 19 |
| The stars | Added or removed by law as states are created or abolished — 21 in 1889, 22 in 1960, 23 in 1968, 27 since 1992 |
Half-mast and mourning
Mourning is decreed by the President, and the law fixes the movement.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| When | In official mourning decreed by the President of the Republic — on the death of a head of state, a former president or in national tragedy — and, for the states, by their governors within their territory |
| How | The flag is hoisted to the peak, then lowered to half-mast; before lowering at the end of the day it is raised to the peak again. A black crape ribbon is tied to the staff of flags carried in procession |
Things you may not know
The sky is backwards. The law draws the stars as an observer outside the celestial sphere would see them, looking in — so the Southern Cross and its neighbors are mirrored from the way they appear to anyone standing in Rio.
The flag must change when the map does. Every state has a star and the law requires the flag to follow — which is why it has been redrawn in 1960, 1968 and 1992, and would be again if Brazil created a 28th state.
Old flags are cremated. Law 5.700 sends every worn-out flag to a military unit to be burned in a solemn ceremony on Flag Day, November 19 — the only lawful way to retire one.
Frequently asked questions
What does the flag of Brazil look like?
A green field with a large yellow rhombus, and on it a blue disc — a celestial globe — with 27 white stars and a white band curving across it inscribed ORDEM E PROGRESSO in green. The proportion is 7:10, and Law 5.700 of 1971 draws it in modules: 14 high by 20 long, the rhombus 1.7 modules in from the edges, the globe of radius 3.5.
What do the colors of the Brazilian flag mean?
The green and yellow were royal: green for the House of Braganza of Dom Pedro I and yellow for the House of Habsburg-Lorraine of his empress, Leopoldina, on the imperial flag of 1822. The Republic kept them in 1889 and gave them the reading Brazilians use today — the green of the forests and the yellow of the gold. The blue is the sky; the white band is the equator.
What do the stars on the Brazilian flag represent?
The federal units — 26 states and the Federal District, 27 stars — set out as the sky stood over Rio de Janeiro at 8:30 on the morning of November 15, 1889, when the Republic was proclaimed, and drawn as seen from outside the celestial sphere, so the constellations are mirrored. The Southern Cross is at the center; the single star above the band, Spica, is Pará, the state that lay north of the equator.
What does "Ordem e Progresso" mean?
"Order and Progress" — the motto of the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte, whose full formula was "love as a principle and order as the basis; progress as the goal." The republic's founders included committed positivists, among them the flag's designers Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos, and they set the philosophy's watchwords on the band across the globe.
When was the Brazilian flag adopted?
On November 19, 1889, by Decree No. 4 of the provisional government, four days after the proclamation of the Republic and after a four-day provisional flag of stripes and stars had been rejected. It had 21 stars; stars were added in 1960 and 1968, Law 5.700 of 1971 fixed its construction and protocol, and Law 8.421 of May 11, 1992, brought the count to 27.
Who designed the Brazilian flag?
Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos, leaders of the Positivist Church of Brazil, conceived it; the astronomer Manuel Pereira Reis calculated the sky; the painter Décio Villares drew it. The colors and rhombus they kept came from Jean-Baptiste Debret's imperial flag of 1822.
What are the official colors of the Brazilian flag?
Law 5.700 names green, yellow, blue and white and fixes no shade — no Pantone is official. The values in common use are green #009739, yellow #FEDD00 and blue #012169, with white for the stars and the band.
What are the rules for flying the Brazilian flag?
Law 5.700 sets them out: permanently on the Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília, where the great flag is replaced in ceremony on the first Sunday of each month; daily on the Presidency, Congress, the Supreme Court, the ministries and the embassies; hoisted at 8 a.m. and lowered at 6 p.m., or lit at night; to the anthem at ceremonies; in the place of honor among other flags; and flags no longer fit for use are burned in ceremony on Flag Day.
When is Brazil's Flag Day?
November 19 — the Dia da Bandeira, the anniversary of Decree No. 4 of 1889. The day is marked with ceremonies, the Hymn to the Flag by Olavo Bilac and Francisco Braga, and the solemn burning of worn flags by the armed forces.
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