The longest or most beautiful wreath had to be woven from wildflowers. Two teams won. Renata, Ania and Joasia, who invited their friends to serve as spectators and provide moral support, and fourth-grader Laura, who came to Opałkowa Chata with her cousin and her cousin’s husband to celebrate Laura receiving a certificate with honors.
As a prize, the group of women received a large glass of beer each, along with bread spread with lard and a pickle, while Laura received an ice-cream dessert. The ladies, who came to Opałkowa just after making a wedding gate, as befitted Sobótka Night, joked about both kinds of wreaths: the floral ones and the virginity wreaths.
In folk tradition, the wreath symbolizes virginity, which as a cultural phenomenon is now passing into history—or, more precisely, completing a historical circle. Some ancient physicians believed that persistently maintaining chastity caused women many illnesses, including uterine atrophy, as it was described, due to a lack of occupation. According to them, giving one’s wreath to one’s husband was the best remedy for this condition.
Saint Paul, a Father of the Church, initiated the cult of virginity because he regarded the body as an obstacle to a person’s reaching God. According to chronicles, the ideal holy virgin in the Middle Ages was supposed to be pale, emaciated and dirty. Virginity, especially becoming wedded to God and entering a convent, was for women the only opportunity to choose a path in life outside marriage and to advance intellectually. Saint Catherine of Siena, wedded to Christ at the age of 14, deliberately disfigured her body by pouring boiling water over herself so that no one would think of marrying her off to a mortal man. She became a Doctor of the Catholic Church.
Today we have fun weaving wreaths, and girls decide for themselves about their erotic lives. But what still matters most to a woman is who catches the wreath.
(GH report)