Volume 65, Issue 1, March 2011, Pages 66-75
Department of Ecotoxicology, University of Rzeszów, Werynia 502, 36-100 Kolbuszowa, Poland
Abstract
Changes in Assumption
Day Herbal Bouquets in Poland: A Nineteenth Century Study Revisited.
The aim of this study is to compare a list of plants blessed in herbal
bouquets on Assumption Day (August 15th) in Poland over a century ago
with the bouquets blessed in the same locations in 2009. Assumption Day
has been the main occasion when plants are blessed in Polish Roman
Catholic churches for centuries. Such bouquets, composed of medicinal
herbs and crop plants, are long believed to possess apotropaic
properties. In 1894-1899, Seweryn Udziela made an herbarium documenting
the composition of these bouquets (over 100 species) in 13 locations in
the Kraków area. In 2009, 482 bouquets were photographed on Assumption
Day and the plant species were identified. Results indicate that only
half the species from Udziela's list are still blessed. A total of 233
taxa were found in the bouquets in 2009, an average of nine species per
bouquet. The proportion of cultivated ornamentals has increased over
time, whereas the proportion of wild species and dry grassland plants
has decreased. The proportion of crop plants, as well as species from
grassland and forest habitats, remained the same. The most commonly
blessed species were Solidago spp., Tanacetum vulgare,
Dahlia sp., Sanguisorba officinalis, Anethum graveolens, Achillea
millefolium, Mentha spp., Zinnia elegans, Triticum sp., Avena sativa,
and Sorbus aucuparia. The tradition of blessing bouquets continues,
although the composition of the plant species has changed. These changes
are due to alterations in the surrounding vegetation and the species of
plants in cultivation, the transformation of species' value from
medicinal and apotropaic, the maintenance of floral traditions, and
artistic competition. © 2011 The New York Botanical Garden.
Author keywords
historical ethnobotany; kräuterweihe; plant blessing; Ritual plants; weihbuschn
Indexed keywords
Species Index: Achillea; Achillea millefolium; Anethum
graveolens; Avena sativa; Dahlia; Dahlia sp.; Mentha; Sanguisorba;
Sanguisorba officinalis; Solidago; Sorbus; Sorbus aucuparia; Tanacetum vulgare; Triticum aestivum; Triticum sp.; Zinnia elegans
