The image of Our Lady of Częstochowa is the most famous and the most venerated holy image in Poland. In contemporary Polish society the image is a kind of a cultural icon, instantly recognizable and connected with popular symbolic and mythological meanings. Characteristics of the image – the outline of the Virgin with Child on her lap, the dark face of Mary, and the scars visible on her right cheek – are all very well known in Poland. During the communist period (1945–1989) the image served as one of the most popular symbols of resistance – combining religious and national dimensions. Nowadays, countless copies of the original image can be seen not only in churches but also on streets, above building gates, in shops, cafeterias, in public places like offices and libraries, or in public transportation as well as in private cars where drivers often hang it above the steering wheel.

This book is an anthropological interpretation of the immense popularity of the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Poland. It deals with religious, as well as national, aspects of the cult. My main focus is on various popular beliefs, myths and rituals connected with the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa and how these beliefs, myths and rituals appear in popular Polish contemporary Catholicism.