Cherry Doll

The Cherry Doll is a Kuban wedding amulet doll used to protect the home and attract good luck, fertility, and prosperity to the family. It symbolizes mutual love, prosperity, and female happiness, serving as a symbol of procreation.

Among the Eastern Slavs, the cherry tree symbolized the beauty of a girl or woman, a woman's destiny, chastity, and youthful love. When a girl was bathed for the first time, water was poured under the cherry tree so that the baby would become slender and beautiful and would surely marry.

The headdress of this doll is shaped like a cherry. The seven cherries on its head symbolize the seven ages of a woman, from girlhood to grandmotherhood. Amulets were placed inside the "cherries."

This doll has a mixture of mint and wormwood, salt, and rowan berries wrapped inside the cherries. Strong-smelling wormwood and mint were also considered reliable amulets by all Russians: Great Russians, Little Russians, and Belarusians.

Salt is a unique product that never spoils, rots, or goes bad. Thus, salt symbolizes eternity. Salt has the ability to absorb negative energy.

Rowan is a feminine tree; it bestows beauty, attractiveness, and health upon women. It is a powerful amulet against evil spirits in many cultures.

The doll is approximately 25 cm tall.