i think its a beautiful flag. it reads 'order and progress'. very aspirational for the brazilian reality, a bit militaristic in essence, which i think is quite foreign to a culture so steeped in romanticism, colour, chaotic beauty and almost enchanting disorder. the design has very specific meaning: green, yellow and blue symbols of the vast natural resources of the country. the stars in the top and bottom half of the blue moon simbolise the states - the ones in the southern half the states, the lone star on top the federal capital, at first Rio de Janeiro, now Brazilia. As I understand it, there is an actual order to the stars, the totality reflecting the sky as it appeared in Rio at the time, and each one assigned to a particular state. im not sure what happens now that there are more states (for example tocantins) - i assume they add a star.