THE PORTUGUESE FLAG: NINE CENTURIES OF TRADITION

By Constantino Hermanns Xavier

THE EURO 2004 football championship has brought an aura of excitement and patriotism to Portugal. The Brazilian coach of the Portuguese team, Luis Filipe Scolari, suggested that as a way of support to the national team, everyone should put up a national flag at the window or on the car. The appeal was successful. Today, while moving around the country, the green, yellow and red colors of the flag cover the windows and balconies of thousands of houses and bonnets of cars that move around with little flags waving in the wind.

The Portuguese national flag.

This brings me to the importance of flags to the national spirit. The use of flags as National Flags is a relatively new concept, not developed until the 18th Century. In most countries the acceptance of a national flag was a very slow process, government recognition coming long after the flag was accepted by the people. Today we readily identify a country with and by its flag. It expresses the unity and identity of one nation as against others, communicating clearly to all people through its distinctive symbolism.

The Portuguese flag

The Portuguese flag has developed along with the history of the nation, alongside the royal coat of arms. The National Flag that today represents the Portuguese State, went into effect after the establishment of the Republic (October 5, 1910). There are many interpretations of the flag but it seems coherent that it was chosen out of the model of the Portuguese Carbonarians and the Masonry lobby that was very influential at that time, especially in the Republican Party, which had fought the Monarchy. Red - According to the Commission that chose this flag, red represents “one of the fundamental colours for being the colour combative, hot, virile. It is the colour of the conquest and of laughter. Green - The choice of green was the most controversial, given that it didn’t have historical tradition in the representation of Portuguese symbols. Often taken to express hope or the sea, it can eventually be traced back to the time of Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), who inspired and sponsored a whole generation of Portuguese maritime explorers.

The armillary sphere in the centre, characteristic symbol of D. Manuel’s reign, is a main element in Portuguese heraldry, being incorporated in the modern flag and in a number of historical flags of both Portugal and Brazil. It was an astronomical and navigation instrument made of wood or metal rings (“armilas”) allowing to calculate one’s position on the earth surface by examining the stars. Within the coat of arms, the shield supported by the armillary sphere, the five blue shields represents the five moor kings defeated by the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, at the Battle of Ourique. Though a secular Republic was established in 1910, the religious symbolism remained. The dots inside the blue shields represent the five wounds of Christ when crucified. Counting the dots and doubling those five in the centre, there are thirty dots that represent the coins Judas received for having betrayed Christ. The seven castles represents the fortified cities D. Afonso Henriques conquered from the moors.

The coat-of-arms of the Portuguese State of India, until 1961.

Goa’s tradition of symbols and flags
LET US MOVE to Goa and find out if there has ever has been a flag tradition. If we take a look at Goa’s Kadamba dynasty we will find the first Goan symbol, namely the lion. This symbol has been recovered by the post-Liberation Goan Government and adapted, as in the case of the Kadamba Transport Corporation. For many centuries Goa was under Portugal’s colonial rule. Only in 1935 Goa got its own symbol, though chosen by Lisbon. The colonial coats of arms, decreed on 8 May 1935 for all colonies, all had a shield of the same pattern, tierced in mantel, the dexter silver, five escutcheons, saltire, each charged with five bezants, gold, in cross; and the point silver, five waves green. The remaining sinister mantel had some local emblem, which in case of the State of Portuguese India was Gold, a watermill wheel red and a tower of the same, per pale. Others understand this wheel as being a spinning one, as per Indian tradition.

Recently, on the Internet, the debate on a new Goan flag came up. Though some noted that this could be interpreted as anti-Indian, and that the Indian Constitution does not explicitly allow state flags, many others felt Goa should have its own flag, symbolizing its uniqueness. While there was a very hilarious proposal by Livia de Abreu Noronha, from Lisbon, proposing a “Kashti Flag” (see http://www.colaco.net/1/kashti.htm), others took the idea more seriously and proposed a new flag, “sky blue, with a white dove holding an Olive branch from Jerusalem symbolizing a peaceful and tolerant state”. This debate, though unnecessary, shows how important symbols and flags still are in today’s societies, in Portugal or in Goa.

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