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Sortes Commune (Portugal)

Freguesia de Sortes, Concelho de Bragança, Distrito de Bragança

2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 1 July 2016

About the flag
Presentation of Sortes

See also:

About the Flag

It is a typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a plain green field.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 July 2016

Coat of arms

image by Sérgio Horta, 1 July 2016

Shield Argent, a pitchfork Gules, cornered in chief by two quatrefoils slipped Vert, in base two chestnut branches Vert per saltire, each bearing one burr slit Argent. Mural crown Argent with three visible towers (village rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "SORTES". As usual source uses the regular shape for the scroll, but CHAAP's original used the short-toponym scroll (Bénard Guedes style), as per Sérgio Horta's image.
Meaning:
The word "sortes" is the plural of "sorte", meaning "luck", as semantically meaningless as in English (although meaning in now obsolete military slang "conscription" - in which being found apt for recruitment was a matter of (bad) luck); this toponym might refer to something else though. Eitherway the clovers (quatrefoils ) on the arms, standing for good luck, are a case of punning heraldry.
Source: this webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 July 2016

Flag and arms published in the official journal Diário da República: III Série on 7 October 2002
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 July 2016

Presentation of Sortes

Sortes Commune is one of the 39 communes of Bragança Municipality; it had 269 inhabitants in 2011 and covers 21.3 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 1 July 2016

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