… because identity matters !!
I’m gonna try not to be a big liar in here. In fact, I did my best to collect data to tell you a story about our flag. And let me be happy, tell me that my best it’s really good…
The national flag and anthem are two undeniable powerful symbols of any country no matter if you are in the far far China or in the not less far USA. And it seems we all really feel fluttering when the flag flutters…
Here below you may find a video through what you can listen and read the lyrics (in English and Portuguese) of the “A Portuguesa”, the Portuguese National Anthem, seen from a peculiar point of view… Click on «play» and enjoy it. Below it, feel free to download an mp3 of the national anthem (one of the many instrumental versions). Right after that you may find the original anthem’s lyrics which are, quite obviously, written in… Portuguese! As you can imagine, I am speaking about the modern Portuguese language and not the ancient one as the anthem was created by Alfredo Keil (music) and Henrique Lopes de Mendonça (lyrics) in 1890.
Heróis do mar, nobre povo,
Nação valente, imortal,
Levantai hoje de novo
O esplendor de Portugal!
Entre as brumas da memória,
Ó Pátria sente-se a voz
Dos teus egrégios avós,
Que há-de guiar-te à vitória!Às armas, às armas!
Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,
Às armas, às armas!
Pela Pátria lutar
Contra os canhões marchar, marchar!Desfralda a invicta Bandeira,
À luz viva do teu céu!
Brade a Europa à terra inteira:
Portugal não pereceu
Beija o solo teu jucundo
O Oceano, a rugir d’amor,
E teu braço vencedor
Deu mundos novos ao Mundo!Às armas, às armas!
Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,
Às armas, às armas!
Pela Pátria lutar
Contra os canhões marchar, marchar!Saudai o Sol que desponta
Sobre um ridente porvir;
Seja o eco de uma afronta
O sinal do ressurgir.
Raios dessa aurora forte
São como beijos de mãe,
Que nos guardam, nos sustêm,
Contra as injúrias da sorte.Às armas, às armas!
Sobre a terra, sobre o mar,
Às armas, às armas!
Pela Pátria lutar
Contra os canhões marchar, marchar!
In what national symbols are concerned, and getting back to the flag now, we do not differ one from the others when we feel that uncontrolled sensation rising our bowels from the stomach up to our brain after we see those familiar colors printed somewhere…
Portugal always have had its own identity through its own culture along History. However, I should say we can’t be much proud of some actions of our ancestors in former times. Since 1910 we have had many reasons for not feeling very proud of our symbols. The famous slogan «proudly alone» (in Portuguese is said «Orgulhosamente sós»), presented by our former dictator António Salazar as propaganda to avoid any kind of thoughts (and even less actions) about our divorce to the rest of the world, has not been helpful to build a reasonable respect on our identity.
Fortunately, times are changing (since 1974) and many of us are not really shame on ourselves or on our symbols… Some of us even launch on Internet a web page with references to our national flag… Our national flag, as it is nowadays, was adopted by the Republic established by revolution in 1910. The Portuguese parliament approved it in June 11th, 1911, and colored areas have been fixed as
- green (2/5 of total area) and
- red (3/5 of total area) with the
- national coat of arms on the separation line.
If you click on the flag above, a separate window containing a wider Portuguese flag will be opened. As may happen with any other country’s flag, obviously the original design of ours followed a criteria defined by its creators João Chagas, Abel Botelho and Columbano. Being so, between real facts and legends we have:
- the background green area is supposed to be a symbol of hope;
- the background red area refers to the blood shed by the nation’s soldiers
- the yellow armillary sphere (in Portuguese is said «Esfera Armilar») it’s a reference to the art of navigation of Portuguese navigators who traveled by sea towards the discovery of the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
- the seven yellow castles represent the fortified cities conquered to the moors by Dom Afonso Henriques whose war shield is represented on white with five little blue shields inside.
- the five blue shields represent the five moorish kings defeated by our very first king at the Ourique battle.
- the white dots inside the blue shields represent the five wounds made to Jesus Christ when he was crucified. Counting the dots and doubling those five in the center, it makes thirty dots which represent the 30 moneys paid to Judas to deny Jesus Christ.
The following pics show you the many designs for the national flag we’ve had along our History. Consider that these are the most representative because there were many variants to the sketches shown below.
1081-1143
1143-1185
1185-1248
1248-1385
1385-1481
1481-1495
1495-1557
1557-1816
1816-1830
1830-1911
And that’s all folks… Being Portuguese is as bad or as good as being anything else. Why should we then deny our roots?
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