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Santa Branca, São Paulo State (Brazil)

Last modified: 2013-02-02 by ian macdonald
Keywords: sao paulo | santa branca |
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Santa Branca, SP (Brazil) image by Dirk Schönberger, 24 January 2013
Based on: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Branca


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Description of the Flag

A white flag framed red, with a blue wavy band across the middle and the municipal arms in the upper hoist.

Official website at http://www.santabranca.sp.gov.br/site
Dirk Schönberger, 24 January 2013

The municipality of Santa Branca (13,770 inhabitants in 2010; 27,500 ha) is located 100 km east of São Paulo.

Santa Branca was founded by José Joaquim Nogueira, who built a chapel dedicated to St. Bianca on a piece of land offered by Domingos de Brito Godoy. St. Bianca is listed on old martyrs' records as a Roman dame converted to the Christian religion and martyred in 290, together with her husband Artemius and her daughter Pauline The municipality of Santa Branca was established on 5 March 1856.

[The primary source is the website of the Municipal Council - see below]

The symbols of Santa Branca are prescribed in Article 3 of the Municipal Constitution, adopted on 5 April 1990, as "the flag, the coat of arms and the anthem".
http://camarasantabranca.sp.gov.br/sb/wp-content/uploads/img/lei_organica.pdf - Municipal Constitution

The flag is white with a red border, a blue wavy stripe in the middle and the municipal coat of arms in canton. The flag, designed in 1978 by Wilson Chaves de Souza and Roberto Gonçalves, has not been prescribed yet by a specific Law.

The white field represents peace. The red border symbolizes the martyr of the town's patron saint, St. Bianca. The blue stripe represents river Paraíba do Sul.
http://www.camarasantabranca.sp.gov.br/new/?page_id=10 - Website of the Municipal Council

The coat of arms is "Per fess, 1a. Gules a fleur-de-lis argent surrounded by a chain of the same, 1b. Azure an escutcheon or a bend vert and or, 2. Vert in base a fess wavy argent. The shield surmounted by a mural crown or. The shield supported dexter by a branch of coffee fructed proper and sinister by a sugarcane proper. Beneath the shield a scroll azure inscribed with the Latin motto 'HONOR ET LABOR' surrounded by the dates '8-2-1841' and '5-3-1858' all sable."

The first quarter of the shield represents St. Bianca, symbolized by the fleur-de-lis and the tool used for her martyr. The second quarter represents the founder of the town, José Joaquim Nogueira, symbolized by the shield of arms of the Nogueira family. The third quarter represents river Paraíba do Sul that crosses the municipal territory east to west. The mural crown is the symbol of a municipality. The helmet [not shown on the drawing] represents the contribution of the people of Santa Branca to the patriotic struggles. The coffee branch recalls the crop at the origin of the wealth of São Paulo and of whole Brazil; the sugarcane represents one of the main sources of income for the municipality. The motto means "Honour and Labour". The dates represent the appointment of a resident priest in the chapel of Santa Branca ("capela curada") and the establishment of the municipality, respectively.
http://www.camarasantabranca.sp.gov.br/new/?page_id=23 - Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 26 January 2013