Bulawa

The bulava or buława (Polish spelling: buława; Russian spelling: булава [bula'va]) is a ceremonial mace or baton or sceptre.

Hetman Chodkiewicz of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, holding a *buława*

*Buława* of Polish Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły

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).^[1]

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".^[2]

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

Hetman Zamoyski, in crimson delia and blue żupan, holding hetman's buława
Edward Rydz-Śmigły (right) receiving marshal's buława from Polish President Ignacy Mościcki, Warsaw, 10 November 1936
Coat-of-arms (two crossed buławas) of a Polish hetman
Buława of Crown Field Hetman Kalinowski
Bulava of Hetman of Ukraine Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 17th century
Bulava of Hetman of Ukraine in exile Pylyp Orlyk, 18th century
Toy bulavas in a Kyiv market
17th-century Russian bulat steel bulava
Volodymyr Zelenskyy lifting presidential bulava during the 2019 presidential inauguration of Ukraine