BRAPEX V
Issued 17 April 1982

The Fifth Brazilian Philatelic Exhibition was held in Blumenau, Santa Catarina State, 17-25 April 1982. To mark the event the ECT issued a miniature sheet featuring three orchids, a plant mainly found in that State:

Laelia purpurata Lindl. (left) The most important orchid, not only due to its extraordinary beauty, but to its 300 varieties found deep into the forests, where it grows as an epiphyte (a plant that grows on or is attached to another plant), and over the rocks along the coast where it grows as rupestrian. Due to large exploitation and exportation, this specimen is almost extinct.

Oncidium flexuosum Sims. (middle) Largely diffused as an epiphyte in the south, especially in Santa Catarina, its deep yellow flowers often gathered in large and beautiful inflorescences, it is called “golden shower” (chuveiro de ouro). Easily cultivated, it is usually found in garden trees and squares.

Cleistes revoluta (Rodr) Schltr. (right) Found on brushwoods along the roads of the coast in the south region of Brazil. Its flowers are light purple; the labellum, deep wine colored in the extremities is wrinkled and lobate.

In 1930, with the Liberal League, the people waited for a change of the political structure, not the prolongation of the dictatorship that was contrary to their traditions.

On 9 July 1932, the State of São Paulo and the region that today corresponds to the State of Mato Grosso do Sul rose up in arms, with repercussion throughout the country. Uprisings happened in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Minas Gerais. Popular manifestations took place in Para, Bahia, Rio and elsewhere.

The revolutionaries’ sacrifice (deaths, mutilations, arrests and exiles) became the definitive victory with the convocation of the Constituent of 1934.

To perpetuate the constitutionalists' patriotism, a monument was built in Ibirapuera’s Park, in downtown São Paulo. This obelisk is 77 meters high and bears the words of Guilherme de Almeida:

“Dedicated to the heroes of July, 1932, who fulfilled the sacred promise made to their forebears. Those who conquered the land by their courage and faith—in law they put their strength and in São Paulo they put their faith.”

The souvenir sheet includes an artist’s rendering of the monument wrapped in a stylized flag of the State of São Paulo.

The first camping for boys was held in England in 1907, with the purpose of teaching how to know the forest’s poetry and the discipline of the explorer’s life, and involved twenty-one youths.

In 1908 Powell published a book Scouting for Boys. The motto “Be Prepared” (which includes his initials) was modified in Brazil into “Always Prepared to Serve” (Sempre Alerta para Servir).

The souvenir sheet includes a young Scout and a portrait of Robert Baden Powell (1857-1941).

This Portuguese-Brazilian exhibition was held 15-25 October in Curitiba, Parana.

The Fandango from Parana is composed of a series of marcas (dances), whose choreography changes according to their names, e.g., anu, dondum, sabia, etc.

This souvenir sheet pictures the rustic musical instruments that make up a Fandango Band: the rabeca (a kind of violin), the adufo (tambourine), the viola (guitar) and the most characteristic of them all, the peasant’s sabot, with which they beat the time for the dancers.

The middle stamp shows dancers in front of the “Fandango Hall,” where the dances are held. The third stamp pictures a Fandango Band with their rough, native instruments. The bright colored ribbons enclosing each scene represent the jollity, and are often seen in the dancers' garments.

With Sugar Loaf stylized in the background, and the buildings of the Regional Administration of the ECT in Rio de Janeiro—where the exhibition was held—and a reproduction of the 300 reis “Inclinado” stamp, this souvenir sheet was designed as a publicity offering for the international philatelic exhibition to be held the following year. The date of issue is the anniversary of the Brazilian Federation of Philately (founded in 1976) and the Clube Filatélico do Brasil (admitted to FIP in 1947).

Born in Urbino, Italy, and growing up in Florence, a contemporary of Michelangelo, Raffaello became one of the Renaissance’s most famous painters. He is known by his first name, and had a short life, dying at 33.

The souvenir sheet shows his “Resurrection,” which belongs to the Assis Chateaubriand Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo and is the only example of his work in Latin America (at as of 1983). It is believed to have been painted in his youth (1502-03). The Museum bought the painting in 1954. At the time, there was some controversy as to whether it was a real Raphael. This was apparently resolved when studies at Oxford, England, discovered preparatory sketches leading to the painting, thus confirming Raphael’s authorship.

Less than a year after the first postage stamp was issued in England, Dom Pedro II signed a law adopting the use of postage stamps in Brazil. The law was implemented the following year, when the face values of 30, 60 and 90 “reis” (plural of real, the former unit of the Portuguese and Brazilian monetary system) were attributed to the stamps, and became effective on 1 August 1843, the date of issue.

Commemoration of the stamps coincided with the International Exposition held in Rio de Janeiro, 29 July-7 August 1983.