The national emblem of Belarus features a ribbon in the colors of the national flag, a silhouette of Belarus, wheat ears and a red star. It is sometimes referred to as the coat of arms of Belarus, although in heraldic terms this is inaccurate as the emblem does not respect the rules of conventional heraldry. The emblem is an allusion to one that was used by the Byelorussian SSR, designed by Ivan Dubasov in 1950, with the biggest change being a replacement of the Communist hammer and sickle with a silhouette of Belarus. The Belarusian name is Dziaržaŭny hierb Respubliki Biełaruś (Дзяржаўны герб Рэспублікі Беларусь), and the name in Russian is Gosudarstvennyĭ gerb Respubliki Belarusʹ (Государственный герб Республики Беларусь). Between 1991 and 1995, Belarus used a coat of arms, known as the Pahonia, as its national emblem. The Pahonia was originally a symbol of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of which Belarus had historically been a part.
Description
Design In the center of the emblem sits an orange outline of Belarus, superimposed over the rays of golden sun. The sun is partially covered by a globe, with the landmass (part of Eurasia) in red and waters in blue. Lining the left and right sides of the emblem are stalks of wheat, superimposed with flowers. Clovers adorn the left wheat stalks; flax flowers adorn the right. Wrapped around the wheat stalks is a red and green ribbon bearing the colours of the flag of Belarus; the ribbon meets at the base of the emblem, where the name Republic of Belarus (Рэспубліка Беларусь) is inscribed in gold in Belarusian. At the top of the emblem, there is a five-pointed red star.
Symbolism The elements that comprise the state emblem are not tied to any "official" symbolism. The design of the emblem of the Byelorussian SSR was used as the basis for the current Belarusian emblem; the primary difference between the two is that the Byelorussian SSR emblem contains more references to Communism, such as the Communist symbol of hammer and sickle and pure red ribbon with Communist mottoes, which the modern emblem does not, replaced with the outline and the flag of Belarus, respectively; however, it still retains the communist red star, the red ribbon (albeit without the mottoes), the globe and the wheat bundles, which are also typical of Soviet emblems and still is very Soviet in nature.
Legislation
The current law regulating the design and use of the Belarusian emblem was passed on July 5, 2004. Article 9 of Chapter 3 of Law No. 301-3 begins by describing the official drawing of the Belarusian arms and regulates its proper design. Officially, the arms can be drawn in full colour, monochrome or using two colors. Article 10 states that the national emblem must be displayed at specified locations continually, such as the residences of the Belarusian leader, the chamber of the National Assembly and at governmental offices of national and regional levels. The emblem can also be used on documents issued by the government, including money, passports and official letterheads. In addition, the emblem is displayed on all ballot boxes, campaign mailings and promotional standards when the election is starting. It also appears on their border posts between Belarus and Russia. The law also restricts the use of the emblem in other contexts—e.g. cities, towns or oblasts may not adopt a coat of arms or emblem using the national emblem either completely or in part. Furthermore, organizations not listed in the Law on State Symbols may only use the emblem by permission. The emblem can be used by both foreigners and citizens of Belarus, as long as the symbol is displayed with respect, although citizens may not use the state emblem on letterheads or business cards if they are not agents of the government.
History
Pahonia
Despite the fact that the Belarusians share a distinct ethnic identity and language, they never previously had a political sovereignty prior to 1918. According to vexillologist Whitney Smith, the unique Belarusian national symbols were not created until the 20th century, as a consequence of the foreign rule of the Belarusian territories by Prussia, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. According to the formerly popular historian Arnold J. Toynbee, the pagan Lithuanians performed sweeping conquests of the Orthodox Ruthenians and this medieval greatness of Lithuania was conveyed in its heraldic emblem – a galloping horseman. The 18th-century Russian historian Vasily Tatishchev, who was at the time able to consult the subsequently lost Polotsk Chronicle, maintained that "from time immemorial the coat of arms of Belarus [White Rus′] depicted a knight on horseback with his sword raised." At the same time, Belarusian nationalists viewed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a historical form of Belarusian statehood along with medieval principalities of Polotsk, Turov and others. In the Lithuanian state's early years, Ruthenian culture dominated the region. The Lithuanians allowed their East Slavic vassals to remain Orthodox, maintain their privileges and authority in local areas. Extensively influenced by their outnumbering Ruthenian subjects, Lithuanians reorganized their army, government administration, and legal and financial systems on Ruthenian models. A predecessor of Belarusian language, Ruthenian (also called Old Belarusian by various sources), was used as an administrative language in the 14th to 16th centuries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to James H. Bater, the ruling Lithuanian warrior caste intermarried extensively with the nobility ruling the East Slav vassal principalities and accepted Orthodoxy. According to Richard Antony French, under Lithuanian rule, Belarusians had considerable autonomy. This led to the Pahonia, one of the symbols of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, being accepted by Belarusian nationalists as a symbol of Belarus since the early 20th century. It was the official coat of arms of the Belarusian Democratic Republic since 1918. It was banned in the USSR, but widely and consistently used by the Belarusian post-World War II diaspora. Pahonia was the first coat of arms of the Republic of Belarus in 1991–1995. Since 1995, it has become one of the symbols of the democratic opposition to the authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko, particularly during the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests.
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