Following my almost religious reading of Brazil: Life, Blood, Soul, I have learnt a thing or two about the country, in terms of history, culture, politics and so on. Salvador was once the capital of Brazil when it was still part of the Portuguese empire, and so was rich and prosperous and an important port. The churches in Salvador are lavishly dripping with tonnes of gold and silver, but sadly outside, people roam around with no shoes on. Being a busy port city, it had its fair share of slaves coming and going (well, mainly coming), even long after slavery was abolished by England. Like any colony of past great empires, the history of the place is tainted with cruelty and inequality. I don't expect that this will have changed much; with favelas and the central business district lying in close proximity, I fully acknowledge that the atmosphere will be a muddled one.
Anyway, what I really wanted to tell you about is the nation's flag, and if I hadn't been reading this book, I would never have picked up on how interesting it is. There are certain flags which one would recognise immediately: UK, USA, Spain, Japan, Germany, and maybe even Brazil, thanks to the publicity it receives during World Cup season! But it's one I've certainly never paid much attention to, and there is a hell of a lot of detail I've missed. It is possibly the "most laborious flag to get right throughout the five continents." It has a green background, a yellow rhombus and a blue coffee bean. An elliptical band runs through the coffee bean with the words Ordem E Progresso, the result being that an illiterate or a young child wouldn't have the slightest chance of drawing the flag correctly. Anyone could put together the St George's Cross!
Within the bean, there are stars, which appear in their correct constellations, and represent various cities of the country. "You have to draw no less than five constellations inside half a coffee bean to get the flag right: only miniaturists with an astronomical bent need apply." And the best thing: the flag is celebrated every 19th November.
Anyway, what I really wanted to tell you about is the nation's flag, and if I hadn't been reading this book, I would never have picked up on how interesting it is. There are certain flags which one would recognise immediately: UK, USA, Spain, Japan, Germany, and maybe even Brazil, thanks to the publicity it receives during World Cup season! But it's one I've certainly never paid much attention to, and there is a hell of a lot of detail I've missed. It is possibly the "most laborious flag to get right throughout the five continents." It has a green background, a yellow rhombus and a blue coffee bean. An elliptical band runs through the coffee bean with the words Ordem E Progresso, the result being that an illiterate or a young child wouldn't have the slightest chance of drawing the flag correctly. Anyone could put together the St George's Cross!
Within the bean, there are stars, which appear in their correct constellations, and represent various cities of the country. "You have to draw no less than five constellations inside half a coffee bean to get the flag right: only miniaturists with an astronomical bent need apply." And the best thing: the flag is celebrated every 19th November.
