Last modified: 2022-03-05 by ian macdonald
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image by Ivan Sache,
2 February 2022
The municipality of Guaíra (33,310 inhabitants in 2020; 56,374 ha) is located
on the border with Paraguay and Mato Grosso do Sul, here river Paraná, 680 km
west of Curitiba.
Guaíra was first visited in 1525 by Aleixo Garcia,
considered as Paraguay's official discoverer, who described the Paraná
Cataracts. Ciudad Real del Guayrá was established in 1554 on the confluence with
river Piquiri; established in 1570 on the left bank of the Paraná, Vila Rica do
Espirito Santo soon outgrew the older royal town as the main center of the old
province of Guaíra. Controlled by the Jesuits, the two towns were destroyed in
1631 by Portuguese pioneers and the area was overtaken by Portugal.
Companhia Matte Larangeira, established by Thomas Larangeira after he had been
granted in 1882 the rights of exploitation of yerba mate, settled in 1902 in
Guaíra. The new town, then known as Porto Guaíra, was equipped with street
lighting, freshwater supply, sewage, a chapel, a library, a school, an hospital,
a phone service etc. Businessman Cézar Prieto Martinez published in 1924 in São
Paulo a pamphlet pimping Guaíra as "an organization honoring Brazil's industrial
companies, as a main town owned by a company; a main and the most comprehensive
since it lacks nothing, a constitution and a police service included".
The
influence of Matte Larangeira declines in the 1940S, after Getúlio Vargas'
government had nationalized the company's assets; the shipping company was
renamed to Serviço de Navegação Bacia do Prata. The March to the West pushed by
Vargas attracted new inhabitants to the town, which had hitherto been mostly
inhabited by Paraguayans. In 1947, Governor of Mato Gross Arnaldo Estevão
Figueiredo terminated Matte Lanjeira's concession, which ended the yerba mate's
cycle in Guaíra.
Guaíra Falls were the world's biggest series of
cataracts and a main source of income for the town. As a consequence of the
Treaty of Itaipu signed by Paraguay and Brazil, the two countries initiated the
building of the Itaipu Dam; on 13 October 1982, its inauguration caused the
flooding of Guaíra Falls. This caused the decline of the town, in spite of
royalties shared with another 13 municipalities as a compensation for the loss
of tourism income.
https://www.guaira.pr.gov.br/
Municipal website
The flag and arms
of Guaíra are prescribed by Municipal Law No. 478 promulgated on 22 May 1973.
Article 6.
The municipal flag of Guaíra, designed by heraldist Arcinoe
Antônio Peixoto, shall be horizontally divided into three stripes, the lateral,
blue, of 5 units in width, and the central, yellow, of 4 units, superimposed
with a red stripe of 1 unit starting from the angle of a yellow isosceles
triangle placed along the hoist and charged with the municipal coat of arms.
§1. In compliance with the tradition of Portuguese heraldry, of which we
inherited the canons and rules, municipal flags have to be divided into eight,
six, four or three parts, using the same colors as those of the field of the
coat of arms and being charged in the center or at hoist with a geometric figure
inscribing the municipal coat of arms.
§2. The municipal flag of Guaíra obeys
this general rule, being divided into three horizontal stripes. The coat of arms
featured on the flag represents the municipal government, while the yellow
isosceles triangle containing it represents the town proper as the seat of the
municipality. The triangle is the heraldic symbol of liberty, equality and
fraternity; yellow is a symbol of glory, splendor, greatness, wealth and
sovereignty. The central yellow stripe superimposed with a red stripe represents
the spread of municipal power to all parts of the territory. Red is a symbol of
dedication, patriotic love, audacity, intrepidity, courage and valiance. The
blue lateral stripes represent the rural properties existing on the municipal
territory. Blue is a symbol of justice, nobleness, perseverance, zeal, loyalty,
beauty and recreation.
Article 7.
In compliance with heraldic rules,
the municipal flag shall have the official dimensions prescribed for the
national flag, 14 units in width on 20 units in length.
Article 19.
The coat of arms of Guaíra, designed by heraldist Arcinoe Antônio Peixoto, shall
be described in proper heraldic words as follows.
A Samnite shield surmounted
by an eight-towered mural crown argent. On a field azure an anchor or fouled
gules surrounded by two fishes or in pale in base four rocks sable linked by
three hanging bridges argent over three waterfalls argent wavy azure. The shield
supported dexter and sinister by branches of coffee fructed proper crossed in
base and superimposed with a scroll gules inscribed in letters argent with the
toponym "GUAÍRA".
The coat of arms has the following symbolic
interpretation.
a) The Samnite shield used to represent the arms of Guaíra
was the first style of shield introduced to Portugal by French influence,
inherited by Brazilian heraldry as the evocation of the colonizing race and main
builder of the nation.
b) The mural crown surmounting it is the universal
symbol of domains' coats of arms; argent (silver) with eight towers, only four
of them visible in perspective view, it classifies a 2nd rank town, that is, the
seat of a county.
c) Azure (blue) is a symbol of justice, nobleness,
perseverance, zeal and loyalty.
d) The anchor or (yellow) fouled gules (red)
represents the port of Guaíra, one of the most important in the Bay of Paraná,
which drains product of West Paraná to Mato Grosso and São Paulo.
e) The
fishes or (yellow) highlight the significance of fishing for the municipal life
and also as a tourism activity.
f) Or (yellow) is the heraldic symbol of
glory, splendor, greatness, wealth and sovereignty.
g) The shield's base
features the monumental Seven Cascades Waterfall, an international tourism spot.
h) Sable (black) symbolizes prudence, moderation, austerity, modesty, firmness.
i) Argent (silver) is a symbol of peace, friendship, work, purity and religious
feeling.
j) The coffee branches represent the main crop offered by the
generous and fertile soil, a source of income for the municipality and the state
of Paraná.
k) Gules (red) is a symbol of dedication, patriotic love,
audacity, intrepidity, courage and valiance.
https://leismunicipais.com.br/a/pr/g/guaira/lei-ordinaria/1973/48/478/lei-ordinaria-n-478-1973-dispoe-sobre-a-forma-e-a-apresentacao-dos-simbolos-do-municipio-de-guaira-e-da-outras-providencias
Leis Municipais database
Photos
https://www.facebook.com/camara.municipaldeguairapr/photos/3022221874763542
https://www.facebook.com/camara.municipaldeguairapr/photos/2968842016768195
Ivan Sache, 2 February 2022