Herbal Bouquets Blessed on Assumption Day in South-Eastern Poland: Freelisting versus photographic inventory

Abstract

Herbal bouquets are blessed all over Poland on Assumption Day (August 15th). They used to contain many species of crops and medicinal herbs, mainly collected from the wild. Due to transformations in landscape and lifestyle in rural areas, the composition of the bouquets has been changing. The aim of the study was to document the present composition of bouquets using photographs (etic perspective) and questionnaires (emic perspective). The questionnaires asked informants about perceived changes in the bouquets over their lifetime, and the results are supplemented with some 19th and 20th century local publications. The study was carried out in SE Poland, around the towns of Krosno and Jaslo. Photographs of 174 bouquets were taken, and 133 questionnaires, mainly from older informants, were obtained. On average a photographed bouquet contained nearly eight species of plants and an average informant knew of the use of over ten species in a bouquet. The frequency of species in photos and questionnaires was surprisingly similar. However in questionnaires people did not usually list ornamental flowers, now increasingly present in the bouquets, and listed several plants which used to be blessed (e.g. Papaver somniferum L., Calendula officinalis L., Chamomilla recutita (L.) Rauschert) yet were hardly ever seen in photos.