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