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Taubaté, São Paulo State (Brazil)

by Joseph McMillan
Adopted 7 July 1972

About the Flag
About the Coat of Arms
About Taubaté

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About the Flag of Taubaté

The flag of Taubaté was created by municipal law number 1358 on July 7, 1972. It was designed by Emílio Amadei Beringhs, who entered it in a public contest sponsored by the city hall when Guido Miné was the mayor of the city. It won the contest and then it was adopted as the city's flag in the same year. Its design - a cobalt blue rectangle and a white lozenge - recalls the design of the Brazilian national flag, but in different colors. Blue and white have been the colors traditionally related to the history of Taubaté, since its remotest times. Blue and white were the colors of Portugal's flag at the time the Portuguese colonized Brazil. Such colors can also be found in a cross on the coat of arms of the Countess of Vimieiro, landowner of the province of Itanhaém, in whose lands Taubaté was founded around 1640 by Jacques Félix. They were also the colors of a traditional religious order of Taubaté in colonial times - The Order of Our Lady of the Good Death. Nowadays, blue and white are the colors of ACIT (the Portuguese abbreviation for Taubaté's Commercial and Industrial Association), founded in 1891, Taubaté's football (soccer) team, founded in 1914, Taubaté's Country Club (1934), as well as all the buildings belonging to the City Hall and to the University. In the center of the white lozenge there is the Taubaté coat of arms in its original colors. In the left top corner, on the blue field, there is a star that represents Quiririm, a little village founded and colonized by Italian immigrants, which still belongs to the city of Taubaté.
Source: Website sponsored by Taubaté's City Hall
Daniel Vitor, 17 April 2003

The municipal symbols of Taubaté are described in more detail in a booklet in the Library of Congress, Paulo Camilher Florençano's O Brazão e a Bandeira de Taubaté (Taubaté, SP: Prefeitura Municipal, 1972). The image above is based on the construction specifications contained in this book, using a retouched version of the coat of arms from the municipal website that was provided by Daniel Vitor. Following the official specifications results in a slightly smaller lozenge and star than shown in the image of the flag on the municipal site.
Joseph McMillan, 17 April 2003

About the Coat of Arms

A Portuguese shield bearing, on its top half, three mural crowns and three mountain peaks in gold on a cobalt blue background. On the bottom half, on a green background, is a river (the Paraíba) and a taba, as the local Amerindians called their settlements in the Tupi language back in the foundation times. Above the shield, there is a golden mural crown, having in its center a silver escutcheon with five small circular red signs. On each side of the Portuguese shield is a supporter: on the left, a bandeirante - a member of exploring expeditions into the hinterland of Brazil in conquest of new land, gold and precious stones, who used to depart from Taubaté; and on the right, a member of the Emperor's Guard. Brazil became an Empire after its independence from Portugal (1822) and remained so up to the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889. Also flanking the shield shield, there are a branch of coffee and one of rice, on the left and on the right, respectively. They represent the crops that made Taubaté famous in old times. Under the shield, there is a golden banner with the Latin motto: Per aspera pro Brasilia (all the sacrifice for Brazil), originally in blue, but on many of the flags flown in the city it also appears in black. This Coat of Arms is the official seal of the city, stamped on all documents issued by Taubaté's City Hall.
Source: Website sponsored by Taubaté city hall
Daniel Vitor, 17 April 2003

According to Florençano, the current coat of arms was designed in 1931 as a change to an earlier 1926 version, but was not legally adopted until 21 March 1950 (municipal law 2/50). In addition to the symbolism mentioned in Daniel Vitor's message, the Florençano booklet also says the blue field stands for happiness, wisdom, loyalty, and clarity while white is for purity, joy, beauty, and victory. By the way, I believe the more conventional translation of per aspera is "through difficulties." Thus the Taubaté motto would be "Through difficulties for Brazil."
Joseph McMillan, 17 April 2003

About Taubaté

Taubaté is a city with about 250,000 inhabitants, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. It is a university and industrial city (Ford, Volkswagen and many other plants can be found here) and it lies in the Paraíba River valley, between the cities of São Paulo, capital of the State of São Paulo (120km) and Rio de Janeiro, capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro (280km), in southeastern Brazil.
Daniel Vitor, 17 April 2003