Commemorative wreath

A wedding is one of the most important events in a person’s life. The spouses can recollect that day with the help of souvenirs, which nowadays include also photographs. From the mid-19th century until the 1930s, before a time when wedding photos were widely available, it was common to make the decorative boxes, lined with paper or satin and filled with the attributes of the newlyweds – bride’s myrtle garland, symbolising purity, and a groom’s “wand” – a long bouquet tied with a ribbon. The boxes also contained inscriptions with the names of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding and sometimes the words of blessing. They were also framed in glass and decorative frames and hung in homes in a place of honour and passed down from generation to generation. Similar souvenirs were made for the silver, golden and diamond wedding anniversaries. The collection of the Department of Ethnography of Pomerania of the National Museum in Szczecin contains a souvenir from the fiftieth anniversary of Caroline and Gottlieb Sarnow’s wedding. It is a wreath made from gilded paper, composed of small leaves resembling myrtle, stylised as a crown. The souvenir is placed behind glass in a deep, decorated frame. Below the wreath, there is a handmade inscription in German, with the names of the spouses and the duration of the marriage (1849-1899).

Agnieszka Słowińska