Scania, also known as Skåne in Sweden, is located in the southern part of Sweden. The province of Scania has a coat of arms that comprising a red griffin head in a golden surrounding theme. History shows that the Scanian coat of arms has evolved significantly just like the Scanian flag.
The coat of arms saw changes take place to adopt a new one in 1939 from the initial one made in 1660. However, the design was revised in 1997 and Skåne County had its new court of arms. Scania did not have the coat of arms before 1660 and only used heraldic arms since 1560.
The death of Charles X Gustav of Sweden in 1660 necessitated the creation of the coat of arms to represent Scania, which happened in 1660.
The new coat of arms of 1997 applied to all 33 municipalities and was used together with the flag to conduct official duties for the residents.
Why The Features On The Coat Of Arms?
While the Scanian flag has a clear history linked to the Archbishop of Lund or simply the Swedish or Danish flags, the coat of arms has scanty history on the factors that led to the inclusion griffin and the crown.
The most conspicuous thing about the coat of arms is that it has evolved for a long time but has retained its importance to the Scanian people.
The features used changed slightly to improve the appearance but maintained the intended message.
The current appearance of the coat of arms has similarities to that of other counties given that they are all close counties and experience immense influence form the Swedish regime. The other counties include Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County, which combine with the Skåne County to form the Skåneland region.
Scania got its official coat of arms in the year 1997 as a province and was characterised by the golden griffin and a golden crown too on a red theme.
Opinion Of The Regionalists
Regionalists attempt to protect or portray great interest in maintaining the status of a place for the purposes of sovereignty and protection of the freedoms of the people.
The champions who control administrative duties of place must consult with the regionalist for proper understanding between the people and the leaders. The reactions of the regionalists towards the Scanian flag and the coat of arms indicate largely the value these people place on their nationality and sense of identity.
The divisions in the regional provincial blocks emerged because of administrative needs from the royal authority, which saw the early regimes such as the mediaeval Danish subjecting the region to certain military obligations as part of the regional agenda to maintain influence.
However, after the end of the dark history of Scania with Sweden, regionalists believe that the availability of the flag and the coat of arms used to conduct all the official duties of the county as well as provide the identity of the people is useful for the Scanians.
Why Regionalists Believe The Views Of The Coat Of Arms?
Regionalists had special interests in the medieval to protect the historical substance that protected the minority Scanians in Sweden.
The fact that the Scanians account for 13% of the total population in Sweden points at the need for these people to ensure that aspects such as the coat of arms provide self-identities and allows the authorities to oversee the funding of the projects in the region as a free region.
Scanian is of unique dialects in Sweden, which makes it even more precious to protect and conserve from a cultural and ethnic viewpoint.
Therefore, the lobby by the residents to have special loyalty interest in Scania is to ensure that the flag and the coat of arms provide a strong heritage regional nationalism where the separatists have no chance to influence policies the region.
The Politics Of The Coat Of Arms
The politics of the coat of arms indicate that the adoption of the current identity of the Scanian people has followed a political process like any other as the people attempt to disentangle for the negative influence of the Swedes.
The need to have unique features that identify sovereignty of an area has influenced Scania where regionalism has become the desire to feel part of the cultural regions or simply the opposition against the existence of centralised state nationalism as purpoted by the Swedes.
The politics indicate at the need for expanding nationalism while still holding dear to the things that make one identify with a particular region.
In this regard, the expansionist nationalism has seen the representation of Scania in the four provinces of the Skåneland to show a strong political block that shares the Danish medieval history as the laws used apply to all the provinces under the jurisdiction of the Scanian law.
Relationship Of The Coat Of Arms And The Scanians
Apparently, what keeps the Scanian people closely together is the rich history that has seen them evolve from a troubled region to an economic blossoming area.
Scandinavist Martin Weibull was an example of the scholars who dedicated much of their time developing the history of the Danish in Scania, Blekinge, and Halland.
The Scanian people use the coat of arms and the Scanian flag as the reason for their identity and can raise wealth to develop their economy as free people.
Nomatter the term used to explain the existence of the Scanians, they believe that they are politically free and the use of their coat of arms is a consequence of their relentless struggle to remain from the negative influences of Sweden and Denmark
Status Today
The use of the word Scania or Skåneland region has found active use by many organisations as a means of promoting the area.
An example of these campaigns is clear in some organisations that make large trucks using the name Scania as well as including the features on the coat of arms on their products.