National and historical symbols of Hungary

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Kaba

(The County of Hajdú-Bihar)

The city of Kaba is situated in the southwestern part of the Haiduk region. The origin of the name might be a person of Slavic origin, who was called Kaba (meaning hawk, bird of prey).

Kaba's coat-of-arms is a shield erect, the base curved to a point. In the field vert, in the middle of the chief, on the dexter and on the sinister side of the fess, as well as in the middle of the base (directly above the curved point) a six-pointed star or respectively, all alaisé. Between the stars of the fess, issuing from the dexter, a dexter arm vambraced argent, couped, also alaisé, holding in the hand a scimitar or. Under the dexter star three ears of wheat or with eight grains each. Under the sinister star a ploghshare argent pointed to the chief and bladed to the sinister.

The colour green of the shield symbolises life flourishing in the region since bygone days, the fertility of the soil, and the hard work and endurance of the people living and farming on it. As early as 1213, the settlement was mentioned as a municipality in the register of the ordeal by red-hot iron at Várad. In the next century the municipality already had a church and was the object of rivalry between the counties of Szabolcs and Bihar. At first it was the possession of the high priest of Eger, while from the middle of the 16th century it was owned by the Bishop of Nagyvárad.

The vambraced arm holding a scimitar is a reminder of the fact that during the Turkish period Kaba belonged to the Transylvanian princedom and was also called Vajdakaba. At the end of the 17th century it belonged to the Kereki castle of Prince István Bocskai. For their loyal services the inhabitants were granted freedom similar to that of the Haiduk (warriors in the service of the princes of Transylvania), but this privilege was later taken away from them, and the Court bestowed the settlement on Palatine Pál Esterházy. Following a prolonged struggle, the dwellers succeeded in receiving the status of the Haiduk again, and from 1876 onwards their settlement has belonged to the county of Hajdú. Kaba was granted the rank of municipality in 1971. Kaba was granted the rank of city in 1971.

The wheat ears are the symbols of rebirth, wealth, and life springing from it, while the plough used to be one of the four holy objects of the Scythians, which had fallen out of the sky, for it had been given to them by their God. In the eyes of farmers the plough is still a sacred object, the principal tool to produce "life", that is, wheat. At the same time it expresses acquisition and knowledge - thus it refers to the Codex of Kaba from 1702 -, but it is also the symbol of virtue, purity and honesty. In the Middle Ages, women accused of infidelity had to prove their innocence by walking along red-hot ploughshares. Such an ordeal was endured by Empress St Kunigunda, sister-in-law of King St Stephen.

The hexagram, the symmetrical combination of two equilateral triangles forming a six-pointed star, has since bygone days been the visual expression of the laws of the unity and struggle of opposites, as well as of substances manifesting themselves in bipolar opposition in human thinking (such as the notions of positive-negative, active-passive, life-death, masculine-feminine, etc.). In addition, the hexagram is the harmonious unity of these substances being in a counter-effective relationship with each other; consequently, the shape is capable of representing the settlement's past, present and future in its totality. This motif in Kabar's coat-of-arms is more emphatic in the sense that, if the four hexagrams are supposedly connected, they will take the shape of a Latin cross with limbs ending in stars, thus giving the symbolism of the coat-of-arms an eschatological perspective.

E-mail: kabaph@matav.hu