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The bulava or buława (Polish spelling: buława; Russian spelling: булава ) is a ceremonial mace or baton or sceptre.
Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Historically the buława was an attribute of a hetman, an officer of the highest military rank (after the monarch) in the 15th- to 18th-century Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Hetmans typically added an image of a buława to their coats of arms.
Today the buława appears in the rank insignia of a Marshal of Poland.
Ukraine
In the Ukrainian language, a булава (bulava) is a mace or club, in both the military and ceremonial senses. The bulava was one of the Ukrainian Cossack kleinody (клейноди - "jewels"): Bohdan Khmelnytsky bore a bulava as Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host (in office: 1648 to 1657).
Historically the bulava was an attribute of a hetman, an officer of the highest military rank, and of the Hetman or the military head of a Cossack state (Cossack Hetmanate).
The Ukrainian People's Republic of 1917-1920 referred to the General Staff of the Ukrainian People's Army as the "General Bulava".
A ceremonial bulava is now an official emblem of the president of Ukraine, and is housed in Ukraine's Vernadsky National Library.
Ukrainian military heraldry often features bulava-images, particularly as a part of rank insignia for generals and admirals, as well as an element of the insignia of the Ministry of Defence and of the NSDC.
Gallery
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Hetman Zamoyski, in crimson delia and blue żupan, holding hetman's buława
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Edward Rydz-Śmigły (right) receiving marshal's buława from Polish President Ignacy Mościcki, Warsaw, 10 November 1936
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Coat-of-arms (two crossed buławas) of a Polish hetman
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Buława of Crown Field Hetman Kalinowski
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Bulava of Hetman of Ukraine Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 17th century
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Bulava of Hetman of Ukraine in exile Pylyp Orlyk, 18th century
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Toy bulavas in a Kyiv market
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17th-century Russian bulat steel bulava
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy lifting presidential bulava during the 2019 presidential inauguration of Ukraine
See also
References
- (in Ukrainian) Definition of kleinody in the Handbook of the History of Ukraine Archived 2013-03-16 at the Wayback Machine - " Б. Хмельницький вже з 1648 носив срібну позолочену булаву, прикрашену перлами та ін. дорогоцінним камінням. Булава була й ознакою влади кошового отамана Запорізької Січі."
- ГЕНЕРАЛЬНА БУЛАВА - в період українських національно-визвольних змагань 1917-21 - одна з назв Генерального штабу Армії Української Народної Республіки.
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