Kražiai

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KRAŽIAI

County : Šiauliai
Municipality : Kelmė

Official blazon
Lithuanian	blazon wanted
English	blazon wanted

The arms were officially granted on March 4, 1993.

The arms have more than one meaning:

The local church used to be devoted to St. Michael
The arms symbolise the Kraziai massacre of 1893; the Emperor of Russia Alexander III commanded to destroy the Catholic church despite of petitions, but the local people resisted, they clashed unarmed with Russian gendarmes and won that day. Next day the Russian forces were reinforced with 300 Cossacks and broke the resistance. 9 people were killed, 54 injured, several hundreds arrested and 35 of them imprisoned. The church, however, was spared and still exists. So the charge also symbolizes victory of good against evil. The devil was intentionally made to look slightly similar to a Cossack.