Like the other historical provinces of Sweden, Scania still features in colloquial speech and in cultural references, and can therefore not be regarded as an archaic concept. In July , a peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark again confirmed the status of Scania as part of Sweden.
The Latinized form Scania is an exonym in English. The names Scania and Scandinavia are considered to have the same etymology. The actual etymology of the word remains dubious and has long been a matter of debate among scholars. When the first local government acts took effect in , each county also got an elected county council landsting. The counties were further divided into municipalities. The local government reform of reduced the number of municipalities, and a second subdivision reform, carried out between and , established today's 33 municipalities [ 24 ] Swedish : kommuner in Scania.
The parishes are primarily entities of the Church of Sweden , but they also serve as a divisioning measure for the Swedish population registration and other statistical uses. During the Danish era, the province had no coat of arms. In Sweden, however, every province had been represented by heraldic arms since To distinguish it from the city's coat of arms the tinctures were changed and the official blazon for the provincial arms is, in English: Or , a griffin's head erased gules , crowned azure and armed azure, when it should be armed.
The province was divided in two administrative counties β Coats of arms were created for these entities, also using the griffin motif. When the county arms is shown with a Swedish royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of central government authority. It is the only one of its kind using a heraldic coat of arms. It is also the same as the province's and the county's, but with a golden griffin's head on a blue shield.
The Scania Griffin has become a well-known symbol for the province and is also used by commercial enterprises. Scania was first mentioned in written texts in the 9th century. It came under Danish king Harald Bluetooth in the middle of the 10th century. Situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula, it formed the eastern part of the kingdom of Denmark. This geographical position made it the focal point of the frequent Dano-Swedish wars for hundreds of years.
