- The Governor General of Canada
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Alexandra Alexandrova Fol
Montréal, Quebec
Grant of Arms, Flag and Badge
January 15, 2019
Vol. VII, p. 143
Click on each image to enlarge. The blazon and symbolism for each element will accompany the enlarged image.
Blazon
Arms
Or on a pile throughout Gules a Pegasus rampant holding a sun in splendour Or;
Crest
A rank of organ pipes proper encased Gules, charged at the corners with red oak leaves Or, overall a musical stave bearing the first notes of Alexandra Fol’s Piece for Piano in E minor, all issuant from a wreath of St. John’s Wort flowers proper;
Motto
NUMQUAM CEDIMUS;
Flag
A banner of the Arms;
Badge
The organ and musical stave from the Crest proper irradiated Or;
Symbolism
Arms
Yellow and red represent light and vitality, as does the sun. These are important concepts in Thracian Orphism, the ancestral religion observed by Dr. Fol’s family. This was the religion of the Thracian people that inhabited Dr. Fol’s native Bulgaria. The downward-pointed triangle is a symbol of the Mother Goddess in the Orphic religion. The Pegasus is an important cultural symbol for the Thracians, and occurs frequently in their art.
Crest
The organ pipes represent Dr. Fol’s career as an organist, a composer and a musicologist. The musical notation is the first bar of the first piece that Dr. Fol composed, at the age of five, and which marked the beginning of her lifelong career as a musician. The oak, here represented by its leaves, is a sacred tree for the Thracians, namely for the Odryssian people, who saw it as representing the vertical structure of the universe reaching from the world of the dead to the world of the gods. It grows both in Canada and in Bulgaria, Dr. Fol’s two homelands. St. John’s wort was considered an important healing plant by the Thracians.
Motto
This Latin phrase is derived from Dr. Fol’s Bulgarian family motto, and means “We never surrender.”
Flag
The symbolism of this emblem is found in other element(s) of this record.
Badge
The symbolism of this emblem is found in other element(s) of this record.
Background
Canada Gazette Information
The announcement of the Letters Patent was made on March 23, 2019, in Volume 139, page 1082 of the Canada Gazette.
Artist Information
Creator(s)
Original concept of Teva Vidal, Miramichi Herald, assisted by the heralds of the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
Painter
D. Robert Tunstall
Calligrapher
Kathy Feig
Recipient Information
Individual