November 19 - Flag Day in Brazil

Posted on November 19, 2019

Auriverde.

The word means gold-green in Portuguese. Can you see why that word is sometimes used as the name of the Brazilian flag?

You can probably guess that the green in Brazil's flag stands for the nation's forests - especially the lush Amazon. The gold-colored diamond represents the nation's wealth, and the blue "sky" is sprinkled with 27 white stars - one for each of the 26 states plus one for the Federal District, the nation's capital of Brasilia. Also, the stars form constellations, including the Southern Cross, which is a constellation that can be regularly seen in the Southern Hemisphere.

The words "order and progress" - in Portuguese, of course - appear in a banner that crosses the blue circle.

The flag was officially adopted four days after the proclamation of Brazil as a republic.

Check out this list of shapes found on the Brazilian flag. Notice that there is a lot of overlap - for example, the yellow shape can be called a quadrilateral, a diamond, a parallelogram, and a rhombus!

rectangle

diamond

circle

arc

quadrilateral

parallelogram

rhombus

Geometry has quite a few shape names to learn - and it's important to remember that, just as I am a woman, a mother, and a human, particular shapes can fit more than one label!