Status of Woman in the Polish Folk Culture

Abstract

The status and position of a woman in folk culture were primarily based on stereotypical thinking. According to that, she personified negative values, filled with darkness, passivity and indifference. She also embodied chaos, destruction, the "that word" and the moon. Her ambivalent status was most strongly influenced by her biological nature: menstruation, pregnancy and ability to give life. Apart from negative connotations, her nature was seen as a manifestation of the sacrum. So, she was dangerous, alien and impure, but also inviolable. The specific features of her character located her within the home space.