Photograph: Young woman, 20 y.o.

European Jews

Kiev Guberniya, city Berdichev

1866

Museum of the Peoples of the USSR

Salt paper print

11 x 9,1; 23,6 x 31,4

РЭМ 8764-21554

The photograph was received from the Kiev Provincial Statistical Committee. Earrings are a common decoration of Jewish girls and women. In the Middle Ages, they were a mandatory mark of distinction for Jewesses in many European countries. Theologians likened the wearing of earrings and circumcision, since ear piercing also was related to some mutilation of the flesh. In the 15th century, famous Franciscan preacher Giacomo della Marca said, “Earrings are decorations worn by Jewesses instead of circumcision, so that they can be distinguished from other women.” The photograph was displayed at the Russian Ethnographic Exhibition of 1867 in Moscow.