Objects

An embroidered napkin made of white linen (most likely cotton) is trimmed with factory-made white lace. The lower part of the embroidery is a floral decoration arranged in the shape of a horseshoe. It includes embroidered jug and a cup. There is a closed crown above, on both sides of which there are two antithetically positioned lions with their heads turned outwards. The napkin is very damaged in the upper corners - the lace has been torn out along with fragments of the linen.

The item was purchased for the collection of the Lublin Open Air Village Museum from an inhabitant of the village of Wrzelowiec (Opole county, Lublin province) in 1993. At the time, it was identified as a shelf napkin to be placed under a painting - as indicated by the description on its reverse. It was probably used for that purpose by the last owners, but the decorative motifs indicate that it originally belonged to the followers of Judaism. Such napkins were used to cover a hallah during the Sabbath. For that weekly Jewish holiday, a table had to be covered with a white tablecloth, there had to be a cup filled with wine, salt and two hallah covered with a folded napkin, placed on another folded napkin. Two hallahs symbolise a double portion of manna, which God miraculously sent every Friday to the Jews in the desert, after they had been led out of Egyptian captivity. The napkin symbolises the dew that was supposed to cover the food in the desert, bringing relief to the wanderers.