Pahonia
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The Pahonia (Belarusian: Паго́ня, translated as Chaser; Polish: Pogoń) is a historical symbol of Belarus. The official coat of arms of Belarus depicted the Pahonia from 1991 to 1995.
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[edit] Structure
The heraldic shield features a red field with an armored knight on a white (silver) horse holding a silver sword in his right hand above his head. A silver shield hangs on the left shoulder of the charging knight, and a Cross of Lorraine-like double gold (yellow) cross appears on the shield.
[edit] History
The charging knight first emerged as a state emblem in the region in 1366. It features on the seal of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Algirdas (ruled 1345 - 1377), which marks a document dating from 1366. The old prototype of the present Pahonia depicts a knight on horseback holding a sword in his raised hand.
The symbol of the charging knight on horseback passed down through the generations: from Algirdas to his son, Grand Duke Jogaila (ruled 1377 - 1392), then to Grand Duke Vytautas (ruled 1392 - 1430) and to others. By the 14th century, the charging knight on horseback with a sword had begun to feature in an heraldic shield, first in Jogaila's seal in 1386 or 1387, and also in the seal of Vytautas in 1401. As early as the 15th century, the heraldic charging knight on horseback became the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and of its central part - the Duchy of Vilnius. 16th century documents refer to it using the Polish term Pogoń. At first, the charging knight might appear riding either left or right; and sometimes he held a lance. But as of the first half of the 15th century, all depictions show him riding towards the left (as seen by the viewer), with a sword in his raised hand and a shield in the left hand.
In the 15th century, the colors of the seal became uniform. The livery colors became fixed: a white (silver) charging knight on a red field of the heraldic shield. The charging knight at this time bore a blue shield, and set against the blue field appeared a double (gold) cross. The coat of arms featured the Grand Duke's headgear on the crest.
At first the charging knight showed the figure of the ruler of the country, but with time it came to be understood and interpreted as that of a riding knight chasing an intruder out of his native country. Such an understanding became especially popular in the 19th century and in the first half of 20th century. The explanation has a sound historical foundation. We know that at the Battle of Grunwald (1410), where the united Polish-Lithuanian army crushed the army of the Teutonic Knights (thus putting an end to the Knights' eastward expansion) thirty Belarusian and Lithuanian regiments out of a total of forty fought under banners flying the sign of the Pahonia.
With minor stylistic changes, the Pahonia coat of arms remained the state symbol of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1795, when the Russian Empire annexed Belarus. The Pahonia then became incorporated into the imperial state emblem.
More recently, the Pahonia appeared on the state seal of the Belarus National Republic from 1918.
During Soviet times the emblem remained forbidden and used only by Belarusian emigrant communities in the USA, Canada etc. During the Second World War the Belarusian Central Rada - a puppet Nazi régime in Belarus - used the Pahonia symbol, but this gained little popular support amongst Belarusians. In the late 1980s, during a new wave of Belarusian national rebirth, the Belarusian Popular Front adopted the Pahonia as its coat of arms, despite the fact that its public display constituted a criminal offense. In 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pahonia became the coat of arms of the independent Republic of Belarus.
In 1995, following a controversial referendum, Alexander Lukashenko scrapped the Pahonia's status as the official coat of arms and replaced it with a modified Soviet emblem. Since then the Pahonia has served as one of the symbols of the anti-Lukashenko opposition in Belarus.
[edit] Appearances on other coats of arms
Some towns in Belarus, notably Mahiloŭ, Viciebsk, Haradok, Połacak, Rečyca and others, used the Pahonia as part of their coats of arms. Lepiel continues this usage.
