Last modified: 2026-02-28 by antónio martins
Keywords: variant | error |
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Notable variants and usual errors.
António Martins, 22 Dec 2016
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!ud.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 21 Jun 2016
This is a usual trend, that of upside-down hoisting of the national flag of
Cabo Verde, especially often in situations where the choice of which side goes
up is made by people unfamiliar with the flag. Is the geometry of this design
somehow more “natural” when the red stripe is turned to the top
edge, instead of in the official and correct, bottom-heavy position? (Similar
cases are reported for Germany and
Russia.)
António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
On
line photo showing regular flag hoisted upside down — an often enough
sighting, even in official settings, such as this one taken at the 5th
C.P.L.P. confference held in São Tomé e
Príncipe, in 2004.08.02.
António Martins, 15 Jul 2007
A 2012
photo showing of the contemporary mayor of mun.
Tarrafal de Santiago standing next to an indoor pole with both flags —
national and municipal —
hoisted on it, the latter upside down. A similar situation, also in 2012,
recorded
in Praia mun.: Here we have two poles, one for each flag, but both
flags are upside down, both the national flag and the
municipal flag. I suspect that these flags are meant to be
hoisted outdoors and the upper hoist side of the fastening device doesn’t fit
well with the finial of the indoor mount staff. These two cases being photo ops
for the same outfit (Nos Genti magazine/website), I presume the photographer
hoped nobody would notice the flipped flags next to the flattering poses and
cheerful dignitas as captured.
António Martins, 24 Dec 2025 and 26 Dec 2025
This 2017.12.29
photo, posted by the municipal government of São
Salvador do Mundo, shows one more case of the national
flag of Cabo Verde fastened upside down to an indoor staff in an official,
municipal setting.
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
Another case of upside down hoisting of the national
flag can be seen on this photo
showing Caboverdean students in a sort of cerimony somewhere in the
Canary Islands: Both flags are shown, the
1975-1992 one and the current one
— the latter fastened upside down to a parade staff (a curtain rod?),
however not the former: Why so? Both have stars that can be seen as pointing up…
This photo used to illustrate this very interesting newspaper article
[c9v15] about the history of both flags, at
least in the web version.
I presume that a generic photo showing both flags was sought and this initially
included but later removed as it probably brought more questions than answers;
compare the original
as of 2015.
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!uds.gif)
image by Željko Heimer and
António Martins, 21 Jun 2016
While upside-down hoisting of a correct flag
will have its stars poiting down, there is also the case of otherwise
correct flags (or, more usually, mere depictions of flags) showing the
stars pointing down, a situation that afflicts several other flags with
stars, such as the European Union’s.
An example of this (also with wrong E.U.!) in an official situation in with
two
plaques showing the national flag at a government facility in São
Filipe island: on the left the correct flag, on the right the flag
depicted with its stars pointing downwards.
António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!bigs.gif)
image by Mark Sensen and António Martins, 06 May 2017
While the relative size of the 10 stars on the Cabo Verde national flag is not clearly specified in the Constitution, flags with stars bigger than, say, 1/8th of the flag’s height look cluttered and are a seldom sight. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, though, such designs were more often — incl. in this very website, which might even have set the trend. More examples, incl. actual cloth items:
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!stiny.gif)
image by António Martins, 04 Mar 2018
It is an argueably wrong design with stars smaller than usual, about which
can be said the same as about its opposite. One particular
depiction including this kind of error used to be widely available online; yet
I found it only at Luso.EU as a last remnant, though —
and as a misnamed file
(guine.jpg), to boot…
António Martins, 04 Mar 2018
Flag-like pattern!
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!2rows.gif)
image by António Martins, 21 Jun 2016 |
The above is an illustration of this pattern, but not really a flag
— still to be attested are any actual flags showing this
arrangement
António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
On
line image showing national flag pattern but with the stars in line on
the blue area in sportsmen uniforms (arguably an “official”
item).
António Martins, 15 Jul 2007
This is a recurrent flag-inspired pattern that has a red stripe with
white fimbriation on blue background with two parallel rows or lines of
yellow stars. This is very popular to express support or allegiance for
Cabo Verde in clothing items and accessories, maybe as much as depictions
of the flag itself. (See one more example among other hanging garments on
this
photo.)
António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!sym.gif)
image by António Martins, 04 May 2017
This design is also sometimes found in inaccurate or wittingly
“sketchy” depictions of the flag, such as a painting on the
wall of a meeting room in the town hall of São
Lourenço dos Órgãos
(two
photos).
António Martins, 06 May 2017
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!0star.gif)
image by António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
The case of incorrect / simplified CV national flag lacking the ring of
10 stars, being merely a stripped pattern of blue, white, red, white, and
blue, if accurate in proportions of 6+1+1+1+3. Very frequent as a bunting
ornamental pattern (even more than the same with stars
in two rows) but also occasionally as incorrect depictions of actual
flags.
António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
Portugal, the former colonial master, uses a
simplified national flag as its (very “official”) civil and
military aircraft fin flash and rudder
mark, which may (be thought to) exhert some influence.
António Martins, 17 Oct 2007
On line
photo showing a national flag without the ring of stars is shown in use
in a currency exchange rate table in Portugal.
António Martins, 17 Oct 2007
On these online photos of the 2006 presidential electoral campaing
(#g213,
#g214
and
#g218),
what seems to be a starless variation of the national flag; on these, at the
same location and time
(#g217
and
#g216),
we see that the stars are there…
António Martins, 21 Nov 2006
A starless flag pattern is some times used in several Capeverdean quasi
official items, such as national team uniforms.
António Martins, 17 Oct 2007
Another case: here’s
the cover and promo material of a very serious 2011 book on constitutional law.
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
Here’s one more or less official example, the
swuimsuit
of Ayline Fortes as Cabo Verde’s participant in
Miss
Tourism World 2015.
António Martins, 22 Jun 2016
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!0sym.gif)
image by António Martins, 06 May 2017
The National Electoral Committee (whose logo includes the five equal
stripes in nationa colors) makes use of yet another simplified version of the
national flag in its signage: An intermediary version between 5 equal
stripes and merely the actual flag without stars can
be seen as the underlying pattern of the letter "E" (77+26+58+26+77; white also as
transparent; often rendered as monochrome) in several
2016 electoral promo logos
(presidential,
parlamentary,
and local
elections): Comparing the latter of these official website graphics with the
equivalent
of the following elections, of 2020, one may presume that a less stylized
presence of the national flag was imposed, as it now graces the
page
backgrounds in its unmodified form, albeit slanted and used as a sort of
watermark: Both the slanting and the watermarking go against the prescriptions of the
2009 decree.
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
ersatz flag design from logo
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!1star.gif)
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
Here’s a literally brand new case, taken from the recent/current government logo — maybe better said cabinet logo, as it’s not a national symbol and is not expected to outlast the current mandate (which will end in 2026).
It’s a lettermark reading in three lines of descreasing size dark blue serifless capitals "Governo ¶ de Cabo Verde ¶ a trabalhar para todos" (="Government ¶ of Cabo Verde ¶ working for everybody"), with the bottom line slogan in medium weight, "de" in light, and the rest in bold. The whole is completed with the letter "A" of the country name having its beam replaced with a negative space wave or tilde, in white/background color with a longitudinal red stripe, and its bowl covered with a yellow regular five-point upright star. See at the official website the whole thing and the detail of the "A".
This can be seen as the stylization of an ersatz flag design consisting of the horizontal stripes pattern of the actual national flag but with a single large star on the larger blue area — and the use, as a logomark, of the isolated "A" thus modified strengthens this incorrect impression. (The wave/tilde itself, if seen isolated as a flag, can be classified as one more case of the variant with 5 equal stripes.)
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!5eq.gif)
image by António Martins, 22 Dec 2016
This ultra simplified version shows the national flag
of Cabo Verde, modified to be a simple ribbon of the national colors,
with five equal horizontal stripes of blue, white, and red,
no stars — it is used frequently as a
simple ribbon or bunting, most often in depicted representations, some
times realized in clothing items.
António Martins, 22 Dec 2016
It is not usual to see it taking the role of an actual flag, but
it was
used in nothing lesser than the logo of one of the candidates of the
recent presidential elections — exactly
Jorge Carlos
Fonseca, incubent candidate who was reelected (and it doesn’t
get more unofficially official than this).
António Martins, 22 Dec 2016
An example of this design in the logo
of the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estatística).
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
Another official governmental institution using this simplified reading
of the national flag in its logo is the National Electoral Committee
(Comissão Nacional de Eleições). The official
website this logo, with the 5 stripes composing the sides of a striped pencil
(itself curved to make a "C"), shown in monochrome blue on white but in full color
in this commemorative
brochure, among many other uses.
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
The wave/tilde of the 2020s cabinet logo, if seen isolated
as a flag, can be classified as one more case of the variant with 5 equal stripes.
António Martins, 30 Dec 2025
This is virtually identical to the ICS
signal flag “Charlie”, as both have variable ratios
and variable shades of blue.
António Martins, 04 May 2017
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!r.gif)
image by Željko Heimer and
António Martins, 30 Mar 2016
In
this
photo (taken on 2012.02.24 in São Filipe
mun.) we can see a mural painting (in support of
M.p.D. party) that shows the national flag as the
backround pattern for slogans, in a kind of grass-root naive political
campagning, painted for the 2011 presidential elections. It shows two
contiguous panels (on the walls of two neighbouring houses), one using the
national flag as described and the other using a red version, i.e.
with the main background of the flag colored in the same hue as the thin
red stripe. I have no idea about its significance, which might have been
merely a matter of «We’ve run out of blue paint!».
António Martins, 30 Mar 2016
On the other hand, red have been growingly
associated with this party, once even an
official logo designed to look loosely like
national flag, with a red panel.
António Martins, 22 Dec 2016 and 21 Nov 2006
![[flag]](../images/c/cv!n.gif)
image by Željko Heimer and
António Martins, 04 May 2017
Adding to the possibly meaningful red version and
to the varying, unfixed blue shade range, a
depiction of the national flag of Cabo Verde with black instead of blue
can be seen online at at least one location (examples:
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]).
This is from the catalog of an online store offering disparate patriotic
merchandising and memorabilia, apparently catering especially to the Dutch
Caboverdean diaspora. I am not sure about how this error could creep in (or
the significance of the intentional change, if that’s the case).
António Martins, 04 May 2017
Strangely enough, I never saw any modified Cabo Verde flag with green
instead of blue. Given the name of the country
and the most often causes of disgruntlement against the current flag (blue
is deemed “un-African” and there’s a lack of
continuity with the
Pan-African colors), such modification would
seem logical…
António Martins, 06 May 2017
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