Published: 2025-08-22

The Earth, Plants, and the Vegetation Cycle in Justyna Bednarek’s Maryjki. Opowieści o Matce Boskiej in the Context of Education on Folklore and Folk Culture

Ewa Serafin
Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura
Section: Studies
DOI https://doi.org/10.32798/dlk.1785

Abstract

The article proposes a reading model for Maryjki. Opowieści o Matce Boskiej [Little Marys: Tales about the Mother of God] by Justyna Bednarek (2021) in the context of education on folk culture and folklore. The reading draws on selected concepts and findings from folklore studies, ethnology, and cultural anthropology. The analysis explores themes and motifs in seven stories related to the earth, plants, and the folk-Christian Marian calendar. The author focuses on the literary methods employed to construct a folk worldview, including the portrayal of the Mother of God and her relationship with nature, along with the mechanisms underlying the reinterpretation of aetiological folk tales. Bednarek’s stories show a high degree of alignment with folk originals, which allows them to be treated as a source of knowledge about tales, rituals, beliefs, and practices associated with the vegetation cycle. Additionally, the stories carry an ecological message that may help foster readers’ environmental awareness.

Keywords:

ecology, folklore, Justyna Bednarek, folk culture, aetiological folk tale, Mother of God, rituals, plants

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Serafin, E. (2025). The Earth, Plants, and the Vegetation Cycle in Justyna Bednarek’s Maryjki. Opowieści o Matce Boskiej in the Context of Education on Folklore and Folk Culture. Dzieciństwo. Literatura I Kultura, 7(1), 54–75. https://doi.org/10.32798/dlk.1785

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