Abstract:
With the examples of green peas and cabbage, two vegetables commonly grown and consumed in the Polish village in former times, the article discusses folk means of augmenting the fecundity of plants. The analysis is based on the rich 19th- and 20th-c. material (diverse text of folklore, as well as accounts of beliefs and practices) from the database of Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, the volume devoted to plants being now in preparation. The actions designed to render cabbage heads big and hard, and pea pods full, were above all religious and/or magical in nature and were predominantly based on the creative power of language. The “vegetative force” derived from several spheres, among others the sphere of the sacred (God, Jesus, the Holy Mother, the saints cultivating the farmer’s land and thus ensuring good harvest), the “cosmos” (e.g. stars and phases of the Moon, marking the (un)favourable sewing time), wildlife (e.g. other plants grown to turn away spells), humans and the human body (e.g. fertility dances that triggered and transmitted vital forces).
