Coat of arms and flag

The commune’s coat of arms is the same as the coat of arms of Grabów nad Prosną and has the following form: “A white pelican on a red background, standing in a green nest and feeding three nestlings with its own blood” (as per the resolution of Grabów nad Prosną Town Council no VII/61/2003 of 26 June 2003).

The origin of Grabów’s coat of arms is a point of interest for the town’s lovers; however, one may suppose it will not be possible to find the origin of this white pelican on a red background, feeding its young ones with its own blood. According to a legend, during one of the plagues, mothers driven to despair by poverty fed their children with their own blood. In another version, in similar circumstances, the local Starosta (district head) ordered to open his last granaries to the starving people. Now it is impossible to tell which version is true; it is a fact that epidemics were one of the worst disasters pestering the people of Poland. It is worth noting that the motive of a pelican feeding its young with its own blood is not unique in the heraldry of our towns, as it appears in coats of arms of Szubin and Żydowo. The crest of Grabów was first recorded on seals dating from the 15^th century, but formally it was approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland as late as 1936. In the first years after the second partition of Poland in 1793, the town’s coat of arms in this form appeared on seals with the wording “Der Magistrat zu Grabow” (German: Grabów Town Council). Later on, the pelican was replaced in formal documents by the Prussian eagle. Taking into consideration that the coat of arms of the Wieluń area is based on religious symbols, and that the motive of the pelican has a similar origin, one could speculate that the source of Grabów’s coat of arms lies there.

The colours of the commune are indicated by its flag, which is rectangular, with a proportion of  its length to width of 2:1, with colours arranged in horizontal stripes, parallel to  each other, from the top: white (1/3 of the width), green (1/6 of the width), black (1/6 of the width), red (1/3 of the width). In the vertical arrangement, the colours are placed in the following order, starting from the left: white, green, black, red (according to the resolution by Grabów Town Council No VII/61/2003 of 26 June 2003).