| Belarusian state symbol "Pahonia" - "Chase" |
The image of horseman as one of the favorite themes in emblematics and
art was used in coins, seals and gems from ancient times. And it was not
occasional. The moment when a man had domesticated a horse was indeed
one of the turning points in human history. A horseman had an obvious
advantage in power and speed over a man on foot. This fact was strongly
imprinted in mentality of men which was reflected in
many art monuments of the past.
Here we should comment on the common
misinterpretation of the name "Litva" and the ethnic composition of the
early Grand Duche of Lithuania (GDL). The Grand Duche of Lithuania has
been formed in an upper Nioman river basin - Paniamonnie - the land of
baltic tribe "litva". Litva was assimilated by north-eastern branch of krywichy - an eastern
slavic ethnos that has later become a nucleus of
belarusian nation. (see also
The origins of the Grand Duchy of Litva )
The slavs has came to Paniamonnie around 800-900 A.D.
They have partially assimilated local baltic tribes. Meanwhile the
ancestors of modern "lithuanians" were displaced by incoming slavs North
and preserved their ethnos and language in the land of Samojitia
(Zhmudz, Jamoitia). This land has become a part of the Grand Duche of Lithuania
at the later stages of its expansion, as well as the rest of belarusian
lands, Curland, Ukraine and some other territories.
The other figure was St. Dzmitry of Salun', who was considered a patron
of Slavs. St. Dzmitry was a warrior and a governor of Salun' - ancient
slavic settlement in Macedonia, now - a greek town of Salonikis. His
attributes were an armour, a sword and a spear.
Thus the symbol of "Pahonia" was clearly used at this time to designate
strictly slavic lands of GDL (from Vil'na and South - almost to the
Black Sea) and had nothing
in common with baltic territory - Zhmudz' (Samogitia). Only in 1422
Samogitia had finally joined GDL as an autonomous part, and before that
it was under control of The Order. The joining of Zhmudz' to GDL was a
good will decision and was caused by a constant military threat from The
Order. It is interesting to note that the neighbors of baltic tribes -
prussians - were completely superseeded and assimilated by
crusaders and in 200 years disappeared from the map of Europe. Due to
the voluntary decision to join GDL, samogitian feudals received the same
rights as the feudals in other parts of GDL. Later samojitians succeeded
in gaining first hand in the GDL and rewriting the history of GDL to
secure their ruling position and to ascribe themselves the honor of
founadtion of GDL One can only state that eventually they succeeded in
their intentions since today Lithuania and lithuanian are associated not
with the original
meaning of the word but rather with historical Samogitia (Jamoitia,
Zhmudz') and samogitians. This confusion was strengthened even further
by adoption by samogitians of slavic symbol - "Pahonia".
1. The Origins of Symbol
Our ancient symbol of Pahonia has been formed in the very early ages of
eastern slavic history. It had appeared in written documents beginning
from the late XIII c. The image of a charging horseman starts to shape
into a symbol around this time. And yet it is certain that the idea of
it has an even older history. According to some sources this symbol was
first used by Grand Lithuanian Duke Trajdzien' (ruled from
1270 to 1284). Some other documents ascribe it to Grand Duke Vicen'
(ruled from 1294 to 1316). The Grand Duche of Lithuania is a middle age
belarusian state.
An so in conclusion, our "Pahonia" symbol was formed as a result of
local cultural and religious traditions, as well as western European
(polish and crusader's) heraldry tradition of depiction of mounted
figure of duke or leader on the seals of feudal hierarchs. It depicts an
adult man armed with a sword , mounted on a horse, ready to defend his
fatherland - known ever since as "Pahonia".
2. "Pahonia" - a Slavic Emblem. Traditions of the Middle Ages.
Beginning from XIV-XV cc. a seal with an image of "Pahonia" is
frequently used as a state symbol. Pahonia takes the central place on a
seal of grand duke Vitaut (1407) (see picture right). Vitaut holds it in his left hand (see
illustration) together with other symbols. Among the others are the
"Cross" - symbol of Valyn' - a duchy south from GDL which was disputed
at the time between GDL and Poland; "Kapeis^en'" - symbol of Troki
(Trakai) vaiavodstva which he inherited from his father, Keistut, as a
family domain; and the "Bear" - a symbol of Zhmudz' (Samogitia - today
commonly referred to as
"Lithuania") which was at the time disputed between GDL and The Order.
The simbols of Zhmud - Samogitien (left) and Litva (rigth) from the
chronicles of the 16th century.
Traditional usage of "Pahonia" as to designate belarusian lands, that
has appeared in ancient times, was formally legitimized through
juridical documents in XVI c. in the outstanding monuments of belarusian
juridical thought -
Statuts of the Grand Duche of Lithuania. There were
three editions of Statut, published correspondingly in 1529, 1566 and
1588. All of them are written in Old Belarusian. Moreover, second and
third editions contain special laws establishing Old Belarusian as a
state language of GDL (see front page of Statut of 1588).
The
Statuts of GDL had a great influence on the development of jurisprudence
not only in GDL but in Muscovy, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and other
countries. The action of the last Statut on belarusian and samojitian
lands was stopped only 250 years later when both became a part of
Russian Empire.
3. 200 Years Without State.
XX century
|
Whensoever my anxious heart , trembling With fear for our land, starts to bleed, The Vostraja Gate I remember, And the warriors on their dread steeds.
Flecked with white foam, those steeds, onward straining,
Into measureless distances flying,
Maybe, Belarus, they are racing
|
Strike them deep in the heart with swords brandished! Let them not into foreigners turn! Let them feel in the night their hearts' anguish For their true native land ache and burn...
My dear Mother, my own Mother-Country,
The steeds fly and fly, onward straining, translated by Vera Rich |
During the german occupatuion the nazi regime allowed the usage of national belarusian symbols. In the document signed on June 27, 1942 by Hauptleiter Wilhelm Kube it was stated that the following is considered belarusian national symbols: a) belarusian national "Pahonia"; b) white-red-white flag. This usage of national belarusian symbols by a bunch of collaborationists has been the basis of numerous political speculations about symbol "Pahonia" in the next 50 years.
After the victory of one totalitarian system over another the national symbol "Pahonia" was seemingly forgotten again. Soviet system in its attempt to "grind off" the ethnic differences and to form a pan-national "soviet man" was very aggressively fighting any signs of national identity. Standartization, replacement of national symbols by class symbols was one of the main goals of propaganda machine.
The collapse of totalitarian system and proclamation of independence for Republic of Belarus has opened at last the possibility to unify all the functions of "Pahonia" symbol - territorial and national, and to restore its status of State Emblem on September 19, 1991.
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