Last modified: 2020-07-26 by ian macdonald
Keywords: ceara | lozenge | coat of arms |
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image by
Ivan Sarajcic
Originally adopted 25 August 1922; modified 31 August 1967
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The flag simply replaces the celestial globe of the Brazilian flag with the state's coat
of arms.
Željko Heimer, 13 March 1996
Article 2 of law no. 8889 of 31 August 1967 says, "the following proportions will be
used for the flag: the height will be 14 units; the length 20 units; the vertices of
the lozenge will be 1.7 units from the sides of the rectangle;
the radius of the circle will be 3.5 units; the distance from the
upper and lower edges of the arms to the edge of the circle will be 1 unit and
that from the sides of the arms to the edge of the circle 2 units."
Joseph McMillan, 10 July 2002
image by Joseph McMillan
The flag was adopted on 25 August 1922 by the president of the State of Ceará,
Justiniano do Serpa, being based on the flag of Brazil but substituting the state
shield for the emblem on the center. The shield had been adopted on 22 September 1897
by Ceará state president Antônio Nogueira Pinto Acioli.
In 1967 the legislative assembly approved the modification
of the state shield in the center of the flag.
Jaume Ollé 28 June 1996
According to the state secretariat of culture, the flag was created by
the prominent businessman João Tibúrcio Albano. It was his custom to fly the flag
of his wife's home state of Maranhão at his estate, but,
when he decided to hoist that of his own state of Ceará as well, he learned
that one did not exist. He adapted the state coat of arms to the Brazilian
flag, minus the starry blue globe and the motto Ordem e Progresso. This
design served as a model for others used in the state, particularly flying from
schools on public holidays, but only in 1922 did it become official.
Joseph McMillan, 10 July 2002
According to Arthur Luponi, "The Flags of the States of Brazil: Ceará,"
Flag Bulletin 14:53-56 (Mar-Apr 1975), the 1922 flag of Ceará differed from
the current one in having the points of the lozenge extend to the edges of
the flag, as on the Brazilian imperial flag, and in the rendering of the
coat of arms, which had been adopted in 1897 but was slightly modified in
1967. In particular, the flanking branches of coffee and cotton were
eliminated. Both Luponi and Clóvis Ribeiro (1933), p.
160, state that the number of stars on the shield varied, although they were
supposed to represent the municipalities of the state. The 1922 law
adopting the coat of arms simply said the lower half of the shield was "sown
[semeada] with stars symbolizing the different municipalities." In
addition, Luponi notes that the colors of the coat of arms were previously
unspecified and that some flags showed the dexter half as yellow with white
stars, or green with gold stars and gold edging. The image above follows Ribeiro in
having 25 stars and a narrow green fimbriation separating the white circle from the yellow lozenge.
Like other state flags, that of Ceará along with the coat of arms was abolished under the
Vargas constitution of November 10, 1937. Both were reinstated in their previous form by the
new state constitution of 23 June 1947. (It provided no further definition, simply that they were reinstated
in their previous form.)
Joseph McMillan, 22 August 2002
image by Joseph McMillan
A card issued with bars of Eucalol soap in the 1930s shows a quarterly flag,
red-white-white-blue, which is obviously a flag version of Ceará's 19th
century merchant ship registration pennant. Given that the official green and yellow
flag was adopted in 1922, it's surprising that a post-1930 card would not
show it. The quarterly flag may have been used earlier or as an alternative flag.
Falko Schmidt and Joseph McMillan, 5 February 2003