Any experts on iconography or symbolism out there?

Ed. here. Walt is making me crazy! We need some help identifying this symbol.

The design consists of two crossed scythes (?) surrounded by a laurel wreath. The small circle at top might represent the sun.

It appears to be a political symbol, a simplified coat of arms, or a government logo of some kind, and was seen in a repeated pattern on a cement wall, painted in blue on a lighter blue background. But where? Walt's guess is somewhere, possibly a Communist or formerly Communist country, in eastern Europe or central Asia.

A thorough search on Google and even Bing turns up a couple of remotely similar images, but nothing exact. If anyone can shed more light on it, please do so using the comment window which appears when you click on the headline.

By the way, before I forget: The answer to the trivia question in our previous post is: Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. 

VIDEO: Do Catholics really worship images?

 "Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. / Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them." (Exodus 20:4-5 DRV)

An evangelical Protestant reader has written to take us traditional Catholics to task for worshipping images -- he uses the term "idols" -- such as that to be seen on the iconostas and elsewhere in our churches.

Yesterday, at Saint Elias Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church, in Brampton ON, Protodeacon David Kennedy, took up this question. In under eight minutes (!) he explains the difference between worship and veneration, and why the icons help us to visualize the God we worship. 

Click here for more information on the architecture and iconography of the Church of Saint Elias the Prophet, and here for a further explanation of the church interior. To see what actually happens during an Eastern Catholic worship service, go to the Friends of Saint Elias YouTube channel. New videos  of Vespers, Matins and the Divine Liturgy are added at least once a week.