Jewelry and Religion

Today, jewelry is often seen simply as decorative objects related to beauty or as expressions of identity. In the past, however, jewelry was a companion throughout a person’s life and worn close to the skin. Even today in Estonia, silver shavings from the back of a piece of jewelry are scraped into drinking water as a remedy for the sick. Or a silver offering is taken to a spring, so that benevolent spirits may help the ill. Every piece of jewelry once had its own story and meaning.

The practical purpose of fastening clothing was connected to various parts of the body. Jewelry also served as a means of communication—its shape and materials expressed social status, age, origin, belonging to a community, and faith. Jewelry was crafted according to the customs and rules associated with rites of passage such as birth, marriage, and death. Jewelry reflected the wearer's life cycle and family traditions.

The religious practices of Estonia’s ancient jewelry culture, as well as the symbols and signs known in folk medicine, have been little studied. In the 20th century, a large number of different types of jewelry were collected from across Estonia and placed in museums. These were not studied systematically or in depth. Who wore these pieces and why? What principles guided their creation? Why were they used in ancient medicine and protective magic, and how did the use and quantity of jewelry change with age? According to folklore collections, metals like silver, gold, copper, iron, and bronze had a hierarchical role in both custom and jewelry culture. Archaeological grave finds show that jewelry was worn on the temples, head, chest, shoulders, and belt. The forms and patterns of jewelry were geometric, based on structural numbers like 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12. A garment hem decorated with metal ornaments created a boundary between the human body and the outside world. Following the same principle, the skirts of Kihnu women are still adorned with madder-red woven ribbons, intended to ward off illness and misfortune.

The most studied jewelry traditions in Estonia are those of Setomaa. Jewelry is given to a child from birth. At christenings, a sick child is gifted a silver ornament in hopes of recovery. On New Year’s morning, before going to church, a mother places a necklace with a silver coin in the water used to wash the family's eyes—so that good health is ensured for the whole year. As a girl grows older, more silver jewelry is either gifted or commissioned for her. By the time she reaches marriage age and gets married, a Seto woman’s jewelry collection is at its largest, weighing between 3.5 and 5 kilograms. The silver jewelry would cover the bride’s chest, belt, and lower abdomen. It was believed that silver repels evil, while also bringing luck and health to the wearer. The young woman brings her silver jewelry to her new home—her husband's home—and it becomes her most important possession. As a woman ages, she gradually owns fewer pieces of jewelry. She passes them on to younger women in the family, to godchildren and daughters. Mothers and grandmothers give away their jewelry, and in this way, they are remembered through these pieces.

When Seto women talk about their jewelry, they recall those who wore the pieces before them. It was traditionally the duty of fathers and brothers to commission jewelry for their daughters and sisters, but sometimes this custom was not fulfilled, and a girl had to marry wearing borrowed jewelry.

During the Soviet era in Setomaa, local production of silver jewelry was no longer allowed. The techniques for making jewelry disappeared along with the masters and their workshops. Many old silver pieces were sold to antique dealers because they were no longer valued and were often melted down. Seto people hid their jewelry during the wars—and this continued during Soviet times. Officials would come to villages and forcibly collect people’s silver jewelry to meet official precious metal collection quotas.

Kärt Summatavet has taught at the Estonian Academy of Arts for 15 years. Young jewelry art students learn how to understand, interpret, and apply archaeological and traditional Estonian jewelry to contemporary jewelry design.

During her doctoral fieldwork, Kärt Summatavet met master craftswoman Rosaali Karjam in Kihnu and artisan and songwriter Anne Kõivo in Setomaa. She interviewed them and documented their lives and heritage. Roosi taught her the living meaning of patterns and symbols, and how new trends and interpretations are created in Kihnu women’s handicrafts. Anne, in turn, taught Summatavet what kind of jewelry Seto women need today. Under Anne’s guidance, together with Ellen Tamm and Rolf Pachel, they trained a talented Seto jewelry master, Evar Riitsaar. In doing so, they revived the local jewelry-making tradition of Setomaa, which had disappeared during the Soviet period. Summatavet was also involved in creating the curriculum for national metalwork at the University of Tartu’s Viljandi Culture Academy, which trains artisans and experts to continue the production of traditional jewelry.

According to Summatavet’s research, jewelry is directly connected to a person’s intimate spiritual state, body, and inner life. Jewelry use was a shared cultural agreement within a community—a blend of values, dreams, and customs. Jewelry connects us to invisible cultural ties that are hard to detect and understand on the surface—because jewelry and clothing are our visual mother tongue. The language of jewelry is full of signs and symbols, forming concrete patterns derived from mythological worldviews and religious practices. Jewelry belongs to a mysterious, hidden world. The language of jewelry and ornament reveals its secrets like the mystical bird language described in folk poetry—it is only for those who wish to hear and understand.