Bride's headdress

Bride's headdress, made in Rusiny in the Włodawa district, is a reconstruction from 1958. It is a kind of a wedding wreath made of a rectangular piece of paper trimmed with white factory linen. Colourful ribbons (red, pink, green, blue) are sewn on top, folded twice in a kind of a bow and sewn cross-stitch. In the lower part, there are two long ribbons in red, blue and yellow, which fell on the back.

Until the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries this type of headdress was made for a hen party by the future bride and her friends, later it was replaced with a veil, while the festive outfit was replaced with a white dress. During that evening, other ritual props such as a decorative headdress for a starost who led the unveiling ceremony (she had to be a married woman) were also created. There was also a bouquet with a long ribbon for the groom and one with a shorter ribbon for the best man, or a wedding rod for starost, the most important member of the wedding team, who led the entire event. That evening was not only dedicated to preparations for the wedding ceremonies, but it was also a symbolic farewell of the bride to her maiden days, reminder of which were the maiden songs performed during it.

The described wreath was put on by the bride on the wedding morning and removed by the starost and other housewives during the wedding ceremony; it was replaced by a cap or a scarf, which was an attribute of a married woman.