Bulawa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Bulawa (disambiguation).
Buława of Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth holding a buława. Painting by Bacciarelli.

The bulawa (Polish spelling: buława; Ukraine, булава [bulava]) is a ceremonial mace or baton. The word is of Turkish origin.

Historically the buława was an attribute of a Hetman, an officer of the highest military rank (after the monarch) in 15th- to 18th-century Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the Otaman of Ukraine or the military head of a Cossack state (Cossack Hetmanate).

In Ukrainian language, a buława or bulava is a mace or a club, in both the military and ceremonial senses. The bulava was part of the Ukrainian Cossack Kleinody that were awarded by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky to the Zaporizhian Host.[1]

Hetmans typically added an image of a buława to their coats of arms.

Poland

Today the buława appears in the rank insignia of a Marshal of Poland.

Ukraine

Under the Ukrainian People's Republic, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army was called the General Bulava.

The bulava is also an official symbol of the President of Ukraine, being housed in Ukraine's Vernadsky National Library.

Gallery

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bulawa.

References

  1. ↑ (Ukrainian) Definition of kleinody in the Handbook of the History of Ukraine
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