Rośliny w zwyczajach i obrzędach mieszkańców województwa śląskiego
Plants used in the Customs and Rituals of the Inhabitants of the Province of Silesia

Tradition and Modernity

Summary/Abstract: To this day plants are present in many annual and family rituals and customs. Except for the belief in their medical powers, plants were also often attributed with magical properties. Hence they were used to ward off disease or protect animals, people and homes from evil spirits. Herbs sprinkled with holy water by a priest acquired a special power. Thus they were granted with even greater causative power and played an important role in the later magical treatments. To this date, there are still several religious occasions during which people may consecrate plants, that are: Easter Sunday, the Feast of Corpus Christi or the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although the faithful continue to bring to bouquets or garlands to temples, their religious and magical role gradually sinks into oblivion. Today, hardly anyone sets an Easter palm in a window during a storm, moxibusts cows with smoke from herbs consecrated on August 15 as noone prepares infusions from these herbs. However, in some places people still practice swallowing consecrated willow catkins, eating consecrated apples in order to protect themselves from diseases of the throat or they set crosses made of twigs consecrated on the Palm Sunday in fields to protect them from hail. But those old customs are slowly fading away. This article is an attempt to gather information about the past and currently cultivated customs and rites concerning the use of plants not only due to their therapeutic properties, but especially due to their religious and magical powers.

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