Flabelli

Decorated fans in the form of a disk or other shape made from metal, leather, precious feathers, parchment, or silk, mounted on a pole or handle, and used to keep flies and other insects away from liturgical sacrifices. They were first used in pre-Christian sacrifices and were then taken up by the Early Christians. In the Christian church, they were specially designated to keep flies away from both the priests and the Eucharistic bread and wine during liturgical ceremonies, their use having been described in the 4th-century Apostolic Constitutions: 'Let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or of fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to the cups.' Use was continued in the Latin Church to about the 14th century, and in the Greek Church to the present day. Flabelli in the shape of a fan, later morphing into an umbrella or canopy, were also used historically to designate the ranks of bishops and princes in ceremonies. Two fans of this kind are used at the Vatican whenever the Pope is carried in state.