Pultusk Academy of Humanities

ACTA ARCHAEOLOGICA PULTUSKIENSIA

Vol. IV

Studies
on Disasters, Catastrophes and the Ends of the World
in Sources

Edited by Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska,

& Jadwiga Iwaszczuk

Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

PUŁTUSK 2013


 Scientiic Editors: Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska, Jadwiga Iwaszczuk
Proof-reading in English by Jo B. Harper, Jan Darasz & Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska
DTP by Jadwiga Iwaszczuk
Graphics by Jadwiga Iwaszczuk
Cover design by Jakub Affelski

Published with inancial support

of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education

All rights reserved

© Copyright 2013
by the Pultusk Academy of Humanities, 2013

Publisher:
Pultusk Academy of Humanities
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Internet: www.ah.edu.pl

ISBN 978-83-7549-210-1

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 Contents

Preface..........................................................................................................................................7
Jelena anđelković Grašar, DraGana roGić, emiliJa nikolić, Viminacium,
Archaeological Park – Modern Code for Re-reading
the Past of the Roman City and Legionary Camp .................... 9
ewa auGustyn-lenDzion, Images of “Disasters” in the Space of the City – Urban Planning
and Architecture ....................................................................... 15
taDeusz Baranowski, Catastrophic Environmental Change – Floods as the Cause
of Disasters at the End of Early Middle Ages in Poland,
the Case of Kalisz ...................................................................... 21
Piotr Briks, Eschatology without “End”. Eschatological Concepts of Ancient Israel ................ 25
woJciech Józef Burszta, The Politics and Poetics of Fear: Living in Risk Society .................. 31
João manuel loPes carDoso caBral, The 1755 “Lisbon Earthquake” ..................................... 37
Piotr czerkwiński, Offences Worthy of Death ...........................................................................45
Dorota czerwik, The Fear of Being Forgotten ...........................................................................55
BarBara DąBrowska, The Geological Phenomena in the Pyramid Texts .................................. 65
DeJan Donev, The Changing of Bioethical Conscience – Precondition for Permanent
Global Peace and Sustainable Development ............................ 75
aleksanDra Drzał-sierocka, The Epidemic of AIDS as a Catastrophe in the Context
of the Individual. Terminal Disease as a Liminal Situation .... 81
właDysław Duczko, Disasters Seen through the Eyes of an Archaeologist .............................. 87
sherine elseBaie, A Study on the End of the World as Viewed by the Ancient Egyptians ....... 91
marta fituła, Noto Antica – “Sicilian Pompeii” ........................................................................103
massimiliano franci, Destruction of the Mankind. Relations between the Egyptian
and the Mesopotamian Myths: Inluence or Literary Drift?.... 111
anna Garczewska, When “the Old” meets “the New” – the Legal Perspective.......................... 117
krzysztof Garczewski, The End of the Second World War from the German Perspective
– Catastrophe and Liberation ................................................... 125
Jerzy Gąssowski, The End of the World in Anno Domini 1000................................................. 133
eva katarina Glazer, DaniJel štruklec, Sea Peoples – Revisiting a Late Bronze Age
Catastrophe ...............................................................................135
katarzyna Jarosz, Atlantis, Aliens and Pseudoarchaeology in Polish Popular
Science Periodicals.................................................................... 141
kolfinna JónatansDóttir, When Óðinn Meets the Wolf: The Eschatological Role
of Wolves in Old Norse Mythology ........................................... 149
Bożena Józefów-czerwińska, Is This the End of Knowledge Handed Down from Generation
to Generation within Traditional Culture? What Can Survive
in Our Times?............................................................................157
Pantelis komninos, Volcanic Activity on the Bronze Age Cyclades and Its Relection
in Aegean Frescoes . .................................................................. 16
aGnieszka kowalska, kamil kuraszkiewicz, The End of a World Caused by Water.
The Case of Old Kingdom Egypt ............................................... 173
rosa lanteri, Eruptions, Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Ancient Mediterranean Sea:
the Sources and Archaeological Records.................................. 177

5
aDam łukaszewicz, The Last Days of Pompeii in a Forgotten Novel
by Władysław Zambrzycki ........................................................ 185
krzysztof łukawski, The Extinction of the Piasts – Masovian Dukes. A Catastrophe
or an Opportunity for New Directions in Development? ......... 191
eDoarDo manarini, 10th Century Italy through the Voices of Atto of Vercelli
and Liutprand of Cremona: True Political Catastrophe
or Just a Perception? ................................................................ 195
feDerica manfreDi, No Names, No Memorial. The Migrants’ Invisible Deaths ....................... 201
emiliJa nikolić, DraGana roGić, Jelena anđelković Grašar, Catastrophes
as an Inevitable Result of Civilisations Flow: Relocation
and Dislocation of Historical Physical Structures
at the Archaeological Site of Viminacium, Serbia .................... 205
anDrzeJ niwiński, Catastrophes and the Ends of the World in Pharaonic Egypt ..................... 215
Paweł f. nowakowski, The Siege of Prague 1420 – the Hussite End of the World ................. 221
małGorzata okuPnik, The Material Catastrophe. The Fate of Families in the Memories
of the Polish Intelligentsia, Landed Gentry
and Aristocracy .........................................................................229
Piero Pasini, 8 September, 1943, Italy. Death, Catastrophe or Disaster? .................................. 239
łukasz Pawełoszek, Rise of the God and Fall of the Pagan World. Destruction
of Mystery Cults and Ancient Thought during Increasing
Power of the Christianity in the 4th-6th Centuries CE.
Devastation of Temples and Ideologies Based
on Ancient Texts and Archaeological Finds ............................. 245
Joanna PoPielska-GrzyBowska, tm tmm – the End and Nothingness as Completion
and Completeness. Ancient Egyptian Plays on Words ............ 255
anDrzeJ rozwałka, Fire in a Medieval and Early-Modern Town – a Local Disaster Only?
The Example of Lublin ............................................................. 261
stefanos skarmintzos, kleisiaris nikolaos, Bakas sPyriDon, The Man-made Economic
Disaster of Mid 12th Century BC and the Reconstruction
(through Means of Experimental Archaeology)
of the Military Technology that It Brought About ................... 267
rimantas sliužinskas, Multiculturalism in Klaipëda: Self-identity Attitudes
in the Polish Community .......................................................... 271
szymon słomczyński, In the Grip of the Flu. Spanish Inluenza Pandemic in Poland
(1918-1920): What Was It and How Was It Perceived? ........... 281
leszek P. słuPecki, Ragnarök. Wizja końca świata w mitologii i mitograii nordyckiej ........... 287
Joanna wawrzeniuk, Was Christianity an Ideological Disaster? – in the Context
of Funeral Rites of the Eastern Slavs ....................................... 299

6
Joanna Wawrzeniuk
Institute of Archaeology
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Was Christianity an Ideological Disaster?

– in the Context of Funeral Rites
of the Eastern Slavs
The emergence of a new religion gave rise to changes in faith which gradually overwhelmed
the whole pagan European world. The irst contact of the Slavs with Christianity fully
recorded in the sources was initiated not later than the beginning of the 7th century. In the
early Middle Ages the Slavs occupied vast areas of Central and Eastern Europe. At the same
time, throughout the early Middle Ages this region of Europe, inhabited by Slavs and non-
Slavs, was on the periphery of two empires: the Western Empire and the Byzantine Empire.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, they formed new state structures. These new states and nations
were subjected to missionary work of the Roman and Byzantine churches.
The oficial acts of the Christianisation in all countries of Central and Eastern Europe did
not mean that Christianity was immediately adopted by common people. It is also dificult
to say unequivocally that the Polish territory, even during the Piast dynasty rule came to
a sudden political or civilisation breakthrough. According to L.P. Słupecki baptism was not
a factor co-creating the state. Powerful Piast’s strongholds were dated to the second half of
the 9th century.1 In addition to the group of professed Christians, zealous followers of the
population at large there was a lot of diversity in their beliefs, practices, attitudes to life.
Baptism did not have to be a factor constituting the state. Apart from a group of avowed
Christians, zealous believers, there was a broad population very manifold as concerning their
beliefs, practices and life attitudes. Therefore, Christianisation was a long-term process,
and miscellaneous relics of paganism survived for several centuries, and, according to some
researchers, even till present. It is particularly observable in the cross-border regions of
the western and eastern Slavdom. The adaptation of the individual Christian rite elements
occurred in different forms and to various extent, and was determined by people, class and
region (according to J. Jaguś2 or H. Zoll-Adamikowa). A closer encounter of the Christian
tradition with the old pagan traditions was on the grounds of family and agricultural rites.
Interpretation of Christian intertwined here just with old habits, generally regarded by the
Church without hostility while educational campaign aimed at eliminating elements of
magic (witchcraft, divination) and folk (fun). General atmosphere of this transformation
was very meaningful. There was a peculiar syncretism leading to the development of the
new faith in the consciousness of the ex-pagans which was a combination of the old pagan
tradition including the myths about the sky, sun, moon, stars, lightning bolts, demons etc
and the Christian religion, which was particularly evident in the areas under the inluence

1
L.P. Słupecki, Chrzest Polski w 966 roku. Mit początków kraju? [in:] J. Axer, J. OlkO (eds), Dawne kultury
w ideologiach XIX i XX wieku, Warszawa 2007, p. 20; Z. kurnAtOwSkA, Początki państwa i chrześcijaństwa
w Polsce w świetle źródeł archeologicznych, [in:] H. kóčkA-krenz (ed.), Archeologia wielkopolska.
Osiągnięcia i problemy ochrony zabytków, Biblioteka Wielkopolskich Sprawozdań Archeologicznych II,
Poznań 1998, p. 93.
2
J. JAguś, Synkretyzm pogańsko-chrześcijański w świetle źródeł pisanych i archeologicznych na ziemiach
polskich w wiekach średnich, Z Otchłani Wieków 55/3-4 (2000), pp. 109-110.

H. zOll-AdAmikOwA, Formy konwersji Słowiańszczyzny wczesnośredniowiecznej a problem chrystianizacji
Małopolski, [in:] J.M. mAłecki (ed.), Chrystianizacja Polski południowej. Materiały sesji naukowej odbytej
29 czerwca 1993 roku, Kraków 1994, pp. 131-132.

J. kłOczOwSki, Dzieje chrześcijaństwa polskiego, Warszawa 2000, p. 96.

299
 Joanna Wawrzeniuk

of the Eastern Church. This also reveals that the process of Christianisation did not rely
only on compulsion, but also on persuasion and education, which can be particularly seen
in the evangelisation carried out by the Eastern Church among the population of the East
Slavic lands. Christianity since its rootedness requested profound changes in all aspects of
life of the inhabitants of the countries under its inluence. Slavic and non-Slavic nations,
depending on the options, adopted Christianity at the same time took a huge heritage of
Byzantine and Latin civilisation.
For an inhabitant of Slavic lands it was very important to have a self-suficient peasant
household, since that determined the family’s future. Some of the most vital activities were
those related to the skill of weaving and sewing, which used plant materials: lax, hemp,
nettle5 or animal material: sheep, wool. All these materials met the technical requirements of
crafts based on braiding and twisting.6 However, only lax and hemp had ritual signiicance.
Personiication of lax is conirmed by the folk literature that describes the crop. It was
associated with poverty, a woman and the elements. The unique status of lax may be due
to its relatively long and arduous treatment, which used the forces of nature. Preparation
of lax yarn required, among others, soaking in water with ash, drying in the sun and
wind or in a bread oven. A description of the steps corresponds to action in a real puzzle.7
The responsibility to provide clothing for the whole family rested on the shoulders of the
housewife, although the grain was sown by the husband. The production of linen took up
much time and required effort and skill. As late as in the interwar period, linen was still
the only material used in sewing of underwear and bed and table linen in the north-eastern
Polish villages. After that, how it woved, assessed her diligence, and its quality pointed to
her ability and artistry skills. Homes made linen which inter alia in the Podlasie region
quite a long time remained in common use. One of the elements used in the rites of all
kinds was a towel, table-cloth or some other piece of white canvas. The oldest preserved
19th-century towels made from smooth-weave fabric were adorned with only red and black
cross weave. The patterns – a kind of code – are the themes derived from nature and related
to plants and animals – mostly birds and lowers, as well as atmospheric phenomena and
the elements: water, ire, air and earth. They were created from crosses, stripes, waves or
diamond patterns.8
Depending on the application the following kinds were distinguished:
- Towel called “utiralnyk” used for wiping hands and face, sometimes the dishes;
- Towel as a part of clothing, especially headdress;
- Towel called “abrochnyia” used to protect the village from an epidemic, drought and other
calamities which was also sacriiced to the church and hung on crosses along the road;

5
Comparable to the weaving craft was widespread among Slavs plaiting, the basic raw material are the roots
of trees (pine, spruce, juniper), rods of hazel, birch twigs, willow switches and osier, reeds, rushes, straw,
bark or tree bark. Of these materials were produced grab, harnesses, ropes, sieves, various types of baskets
and containers used on the farm (A. gOłębiOwSkA-SuchOrSkA, “Dziewczę przędzie, Pan Bóg nitki daje”.
O spójności ludowej wizji świata, Bydgoszcz 2011 (hereinafter referred to as: gOłębiOwSkA-SuchOrSkA,
“Dziewczę przędzie, Pan Bóg nitki daje”), p. 40).
6
Ibidem, p. 40.
7
Били мeня, били, Колотили, колотили, Клочьями рвали, По полю валяли, Под ключ запирали, На
стол сажали, – solution: linen and tablecloth. Collected and dried lax thresh, hitting and then even more
topping, again striking the wooden lax located in the head on a rock. Spanking also repeated after soaking
and drying linen, to give it proper softness, then started rubbing the stems in a special device – hackle. This
processing step was to press wood arm of the instrument beam linen. Thus crushed stalks were beaten again
in the shape of the object-sided sharpened sword to shake iber shives. Only now proceeded to comb lax,
before spinning threads (gOłębiOwSkA-SuchOrSkA, “Dziewczę przędzie, Pan Bóg nitki daje”, pp. 40-41).
8
G. kAzberuk, Funkcje ręcznika obrzędowego w rytuałach pogrzebowych Białorusinów, [in:] J. kOlbuSzewSki
(ed.), Problemy współczesnej tanatologii. Medycyna-antropologia kultury-humaistyka XV, Wrocław
2011, p. 35.

300
 Was Christianity an Ideological Disaster? – in the Context of Funeral Rites of the Eastern Slavs

- Towel “budzionnik” used for the ritual of dispelling diseases;

- Towel “nabozhnik” that was hung on the icons, had a ritual use at birth, wedding and
funeral rituals and was also used to wipe icons and other sacred objects in the Orthodox
Church.
As time was passing towels lost their sacred character. They started to be hung as
a decoration on the walls in the houses, windows and mirrors. Also the ornamentation
and colour were changed. They began to resign from red and black geometric patterns or
embroidered crosses. Towels in the second half of the 20th century were usually embroidered
with colourful loral motifs.9 The available ethnographic materials indicate that a towel or
some other type of linen was used in a speciic manner during the family rites. A towel is still
used as an important ritual element, especially in the areas of eastern Poland and Belarus
inhabited by Orthodox people. The ends of the towel, attached to the bed or to the beam,
held a woman in labour, which was to relieve pain, accelerate delivery and ensure a happy
parturition.
A piece of canvas reciprocate mother of the newborn baby to rural grandmother – midwife.
Baby received a piece of cloth as a gift from his or her godmother. Such “chrzczonka” was
then used by the priest during the sacrament of baptism, and then carefully stored in great
esteem by the mother of the child. Often it was treated as canvas for a special purpose. For
exemple wedding shirts were made of it as a sign of purity then “passed” to the deceased
(Koźliki, Kleszczele, Podlasie region). Scarf – a piece of cloth in the shape of a square or
triangle without ornaments, often apearing during wedding ceremonies. Particularly
important was the moment of engagement referring to the archaic form of the same habit
of combining lineages.10 Linen napkin used when sharing “korowaj” on Sunday evening
at the bride’s, where groom came with his parents and young guests. At home bride and
bridegroom knelt on a piece of canvas waiting for the blessing of their parents and in the
church by priest during the wedding ceremony. A piece of canvas as a sign of consent in
jointly run household, covers the bride and her mother-in-law when they danced their irst
dance after “oczepiny” ritual. Towel as an inherent attribute of the wedding rites, appeared
several times and in different roles, though mostly as a form of a gift, changed only endowed
people. In pre-Christian times, the towel was a symbolic banner of the family. Echoes of this
ritual we can also observe in the wedding customs in Podlasie region.
The most archaic manners involving the use of a towel have been preserved in the
traditional funeral rite. Death has always arisen fear and has been a taboo and a traumatic
experience not only for an immediate family, but the whole closely-related rural community.
It was a common belief that the soul can be relieved or harmed. That is why the customs
associated with death, burial rites and pomynky cycle11 (days to commemorate the dead in
the church) were strictly observed (Fig. 72). It was commonly believed that the dead could
interfere in the world of the living. At the time of death, all the mirrors in the house of
the deceased were immediately veiled with a piece of white canvas. This was to protect
the soul from seeing its own relection, which could have detrimental consequences for both

9
http://www.old.hajnowka.com.pl/old/article/153/; Commonly encountered two kinds of towels, narrower
and shorter, without decorations, of everyday use, and a wider, longer, embroidered, decorative, used
during various ceremonies, and especially family gatherings. In particular periods they differed in colour,
form, decoration and completion of a simple lace, tassels less. The oldest preserved 19th-century towels are
plain weave fabric. The everyday use and festive differ basically just in the quality of the yarn. Occasionally
used tassels, lace, or very modest. Contact with Russian folk culture brought a new decorative elements.
10
This rite now completely forgotten, in 1853 described by the priest Celestine Bren (D. FiOnik, Życie religijne
włościan z okolic Puszczy Białowieskiej w drugiej połowie XIX wieku, [in:] W. pAwluczuk (ed.), W co
wierzymy, Łomża 2007, pp. 107-116.
11
O. nAhOrnyuk, Archaiczne nagrobki drewniane na Polesiu, [in:] F. czyżewSki, A. dudek-SzumigAJ, L. FrOlAk
(eds), Nekropolie jako znak kultury polsko-wschodniosłowiańskiego, Lublin 2011 (hereinafter referred to
as: nAhOrnyuk, Archaiczne nagrobki), p. 134, photo 2.

301
 Joanna Wawrzeniuk

the deceased and the living. White canvas was used to line a cofin, and at times to cover
the body of the deceased (Figs 73, 74). It performed the magic function protective and
defensive. It was believed to help the soul cleanse from sins and to protect against impure
forces after death. At the time of death of a household member, an embroidered towel was
promptly hung on an icon. This manner was practised because of the belief that for forty
days behind that towel lived the soul of the deceased in the form of an insect or a spider,
for instance. But in this situation, remained trapped in the house, having no chance to get
out of there. The soul was to wander the world and could not ind the place of its eternal
destiny. The same situation was threatening the soul – it was believed – when the towel was
removed before forty days time (Orla, Podlasie region).
In the past, probably every housewife had a towel prepared for the so-called rainy day.
It accompanied all the dead household members in their last journey, being a kind of
a guide to the afterlife (Fig. 75).12 After forty days the towel was removed, washed and
kept in readiness for the so-called “rainy day”. In Podlasie, a widely practised custom was
carrying small cofins with young children on the towels (Fig. 76). Towel is usually taken
to a house, or – as in the area of Kleszczele – thrown on the cofin. While near Orla after
people have returned from the churches was suspended as the second one on the icon.13 In
Belarus, however, it was a common custom to hang a towel on the window upon the death
of a household member. In addition, a glass of water was often placed at the window. This
custom was founded on the belief that in this case a towel belonged to two spheres: of the
living and the dead. It served the living as a notice of bereavement and was a symbol of
invitation to the feast of reminiscences and prayer for the soul. The soul of the deceased,
however, who had a towel and water close at hand, could remain pure until the burial of the
deceased.14 In this case, windows fulilled a similar function as doors, because they were
used to facilitate contact between the two worlds.15 There were symbolic eyes used to look at
the visible and hidden world of the cosmos. In this context, the piece of canvas was a road,
a bridge between the two worlds.
A towel was also used to decorate crosses at cemeteries. This was important not only from
aesthetic but also from ritual perspective. In Belarus, the diversity of this type of manner
cross shape and the material it was made of could be observed depending on the region. The
method of tying up the crosses, which has been observed at Belarusian cemeteries refers,
according to M. Ramaniuk, to tying matchmakers’ belts-towels at wedding ceremonies
(in four ways) (Fig. 77). The researchers speculate that both funeral and wedding dresses
in pre-Christian times had a lot in common.16 People such as the bride and groom, the
midwife or the matchmaker, or the deceased are those whose social afiliation has been
temporarily suspended. Since also a towel served as a mediator, the above-mentioned
persons became ideal to perform certain rites. A towel in pomynky customs (the custom
of commemorating the dead) is important, and it was accompanied by crosses decorated
with small and/or large aprons (Figs 78-79). The graves of married women were usually
marked in this way. A clean towel on the tombstone cross, a tablecloth with red eggs on the
grave had symbolic importance especially during the spring remembrance of the dead. The
traditional behaviour of this type was recorded in the 14th and 15th-century “Holy Word of
John Chrysostom on how the early pagans believed in idols and offered sacriice to them...”

12
L. dučyc, I. klimkOvič, Sakral’naja geagraija Belarusi, Minsk 2011 (hereinafter referred to as: dučyc,
klimkOvič, Sakral’naja geagraija), p. 250.
13
I. mAtuS, Płótno i chusta na Podlasiu, Przegląd Prawosławny 11/257 (2006), p. 24; idem, Ręcznik –
przedmiot, symbol, sacrum, Przegląd Prawosławny 8/254 (2006), pp. 32-35.
14
V. FAdzeevA, Belaruski ručnik, Minsk 1994, p. 79.
15
Ibidem, p. 80.
16
M. rAmAniuk, Belaruskija narodnyja kryžy, Vil’nia 2000 (hereinafter referred to as: rAmAniuk, Kryžy),
pp. 105-107.

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 Was Christianity an Ideological Disaster? – in the Context of Funeral Rites of the Eastern Slavs

where we read that: “thinking they are Christians they do pagan deeds; make baths to nawi
(deceased) and scatter ash in the middle [of bania (Russian sauna), bath], and predicting
[for divination] meat and milk, and butter and eggs, and everything needed to demons (they
place), and pouring water from the lagon tell them to wash, hanging on a coat and towel in
the bania (czechol and ubrus).”17 That was the practice on Holy Thursday.18
The ritual use of towels that is so widely reported in the ethnographic material probably
dates back to the pre-Christian times. Unfortunately, due to the speciic material rarely
remains preserved. In 1876, during the archaeological excavation in Kiev there was found
a treasure from the medieval period, which contained 120 silver coins wrapped in the linen
towel hastily buried envisaging the Tatar danger. Only by preserving properties of silver
coins, part of the towel remained in such a good condition. Accurate information about
Belarusian towel could be met in court documents from Minsk, Mogilev, Brest, Grodno,
Vilnius, Slonim, Vitebsk from the 16th and 17th centuries. Commonly there were used
everyday simple home-made towels and patterned decorative ones. “Towels were included
in the dowry of the peasant girl, burgher woman and a noblewoman. Its common presence
is conirmed by the 16th and 17th century court documents from various towns of Belarus.”
For example, concerning the dowry, which brought the wife of boyar Martin Paszkiewiczow
from Grodno, among other items there were seven towels. Similarly decorated towels are
found in north-eastern Belarus in the 19th century, especially in the icons of the Nativity of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, where among other attributes, we ind a towel. The symbolism and
the canons of icons, especially those with strong folk overtones, were going further, painters
introduced the folk element – the linen towel.
It may be noted that not only a towel itself fulilled a ritual function. The weaving process
was sacred and like canvas had a connection with the deceased. Death perceived as yet
another crossing (after birth and wedding) of the border between the worlds required the
person and the subject of a mediator. Depiction of death, for example in Russian folklore, as
a move provoking the transformation, was related to the concept of change as a rotation.19
This activity corresponded to the spindle and weaving identiied with a rotary motion, and
thus had magical and ritual properties. In the folk literature, thread was associated with
the metaphor of life, and its appropriate use in the clothes of the deceased – lack of knots
was to demonstrate the speciic crossing of the border between the worlds. The elements of
weaver’s craft in folk treatment of death were one of the ‘organisers’ in the entire system
of traditional culture.20 In folk literature, especially Russian, weaving was associated with
the creation of the universe, cosmogony, and the creator – Demiurge – a weaver in the
Slavic mythology could have been identiied not only with Mokosz, but also with Perun and
Veles, whereas the canvas itself was a symbol of the fundamental substance of the universe,
and as indicated above, the creation of man.
The characteristic features of the ritual towel, as described by ethnographic material,
clearly demonstrate its role in everyday and festive life of every Slav. Its magical power and
strength has survived the kind of social catastrophe connected with the change of religion.
This was possible because, in traditional societies ideology had primarily a religious
dimension, as both anthropogenesis, ethnogeny and justiication of the social order are
connected to the Theogony in the form of a kind of mythological text.21 As for most of early
pre-Christian communities in Central Europe, it would be dificult to call their beliefs
a religion understood as a uniform, stable and institutional system. But perhaps developing

17
A. brückner, Mitologia słowiańska i polska, Warszawa 1985, p. 187.
18
F. mAniSkkA, Die Religion der Ostslawen, Helsinki 1922, pp. 174, 185; H. łOwmiAńSki, Religia Słowian i jej
upadek, Warszawa 1986, p. 148.
19
gOłębiOwSkA-SuchOrSkA, “Dziewczę przędzie, Pan Bóg nitki daje”, p. 202.
20
Ibidem, p. 214.
21
P. urbAńczyk, Władza i polityka we wczesnym średniowieczu, Wrocław 2000, p. 146.

303
 Joanna Wawrzeniuk

pagan “religions” characterised the general common features. And what is important “for
a transitional period, which is usually written in historical sources, it is dificult to distinguish
between products often autonomously developed as the effects of syncretism etc. Moreover,
the authors were people observing pagan beliefs from outside and superiority position.”22
Pagan beliefs were part of a worldview that was not taught, but assimilated in the context
of everyday life. It was a naturally conceived religion based on the commonly understood and
acceptable symbolism generally not intended to be spread around the world. Mythological
and symbolic world of pagans was not in clear isolation from nature and people. To varying
degrees, Christianity incorporated numerous pre-Christian holy places into the framework
of the religion as a way of gaining the favour of broad masses.23 The process during which
Christianity has solidiied its position indicates that the clergy did not fully succeed in
removing the traditional ways of thinking, which resulted in a revival of some forms of
ancient beliefs in the widely-understood folk religion. In such a context, the new faith
had less disastrous consequences as the traditional thinking was still present in everyday
and festive life, and its content is encoded in the towel tradition and miscellaneous folk
literature.

22
Ibidem, p. 148.
23
J. Strzelczyk, Kontynuacja miejsc kultu w teorii i praktyce wczesnośredniowiecznego Kościoła, [in:]
K. brAchA, Cz. hAdAmik (eds), Sacrum pogańskie – Sacrum chrześcijańskie. Kontynuacja miejsc kultu we
wczesnośredniowiecznej Europie Środkowej, Warszawa 2010, p. 15.

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Fig. 72. Radunica-Spring Pomynky, Village Budzišča, Belarus

(dučyc, klimkOvič, Sakral’naja geagraija, p. 250)

Fig. 73. Cofin placed in the grave on towels, towels on the cofin and on the body.
Village Hatyničy, Belarus (rAmAniuk Kryžy, p. 43, ig. 48)

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Fig. 74. Towel on the cofin, village Hatyničy, Belarus (rAmAniuk, Kryžy, p. 47, ig. 54)

Fig. 75. Nastilnyk – canvas applied on the grave on the second day after funeral to eye land the
deceased did not fall, village Zelen, Ukraina (nAhOrnyuk, Archaiczne nagrobki, p. 135, ig. 2)

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Fig. 76. The funeral of furrier’s child, Orla, Podlasie, Poland

(photo from the private archive of Aleksandra Dęboróg)

Fig. 77. Method of tying up the crosses and matchmakers with towels by M. Ramaniuk
(rAmAniuk, Kryžy, p. 109, ig. 168)

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 Joanna Wawrzeniuk

Fig. 78. Towel called ‘nabozhnik’ village Tuliacichy, Belarus (rAmAniuk, Kryžy, p. 107, ig. 107)

Fig. 79. Apron, village, Razdzialavičy (rAmAniuk, Kryžy, p. 106, ig. 159)

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