flabellum

The flabellum, a metal disk mounted on a long handle, was used in medieval church ceremony; it was held by the deacon and used pro muscis fugandis, “to drive away flies.”

…may be compared to the flabella (“fans”) in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. They are waved before the iconostasis during the Eucharist in the divine liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and they also are placed on either side of the papal chair in solemn processions. The parasol, or…