Probably, there is not a single girl in the world who has never weaved wreaths in her life. Fingers in sticky dandelion juice and yellow suns on my head. Remember? I remember.

Meanwhile, in ancient times, wreaths were not woven for fun, and the best, most worthy people were honored with this simple dress.

They write that our very word "wreath" comes from the Old Church Slavonic vѣno (veno) "gift". Maybe. Venom was really called the ransom that the groom gave for the bride.

The wreath itself, as you know, is a ring woven from herbs, branches, flowers, which is worn on the head and is a traditional decoration not only for the Slavic, but also for many other peoples. And this decoration has a very ancient history.

Wreaths existed in ancient Greece, where they were awarded to winners of various competitions, heroes, warriors, rulers, in Rome, in China, in India.

They decorated themselves and their loved ones with wreaths. They were hung over the doors and at the entrance to ward off evil spirits or the unkind thoughts of an evil person, put them under the first sheaf of a new crop from rodents, put them under a pillow for a woman in labor to prevent the evil eye and help in future childbirth, fumigated with a burning wreath created from special herbs, sick ... They looked through them, threaded objects, climbed through. They were put on pets.

The herbs and flowers in the wreath were used to judge a girl's disposition, mood, condition and position. For example, a mint wreath in Poland meant maiden purity, and a wreath of pea shoots with full pods meant a girl's reluctance to marry an unloved man. Wreath of laurel leaves in Rome was considered as a sign of military glory and imperial authority, and the oak ones were given to soldiers who showed special courage in battle or saved their comrades. Myrtle wreaths in Romans were believed to get rid of intoxication, therefore such wreaths were often worn at feasts. On the other hand, a wreath of thorns was intended for those sentenced to execution. A wreath of orange blossoms was given as a symbol of fertility to an Arabian bride. The Chinese gave an olive wreath to poets and writers.

Wreaths had a great symbolic meaning, with each flower individually and the number of flowers in total having a meaning. Even the wreath-making itself was a ritual with many traditions. Usually girls were engaged in it. Everything was important - a certain time of weaving, number of wreaths, sizes, forms, various types of weaving and composition. Wreaths were made for holidays, farewells, funerals, upon reaching a certain age, even in case of illness.

Well, the wreath acquired a special, and, perhaps, its main significance as a girl's and wedding headdress. Wedding wreaths were sometimes kept for a long time or even a lifetime. They were kept in chests, placed behind icons, where they, safely drying out, stood for many years, sewn into a pillow for the young, and laid them under the cradle of a newborn. Perhaps it was the very ancient tradition of decorating with wreaths at weddings, the exchange of wreaths between the bride and the groom, that served as the prototype for wedding rings. It is even believed that the wreaths could serve as a prototype for royal crowns and crowns, which, again, were crowned for the kingdom of rulers.

Later, wreaths of living leaves, twigs and flowers were replaced with artificial flowers that could last longer.

And it is in this form that they, even having partially lost their purely ritual significance, still firmly entered the national costumes of many peoples.

Wreaths of flowers, both natural and artificial, adorn the heads of many nations to this day as official traditional attire. Familiar to everyone Ukrainian wreaths with ribbons (where each ribbon has its own meaning and place among other ribbons in the wreath, which any self-respecting girl should know), Polish, Slovak, Hungarian traditional wreaths and whole flower crowns, roses on monist headdresses of Bulgarians, yes even the famous Hawaiian wreaths on local girls, at least from the movies.

In general, wreaths of herbs, flowers and other plants are so firmly entrenched in, or rather on human heads, that they are not going to get off them at all, despite the current abundance of all kinds of hats, hats and other hats.

And that's great. It is happiness that in our hectic age, the soul is still drawn to nature, to gentle meadow grasses, and hands remember from childhood or genetic memory how it is to weave a wreath.

Best regards, Yulia Gapunik

@yugdolls