7x70

The 70 hairs, which are arranged vertically like a curtain or a grid (apotropaic effect), each have 7 knots tied into them. The knot is used here as a reminder, like the well-known knot in a handkerchief. The amount of hair and the amount of knots refer to a passage in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Peter asks: “Lord, if my brother or sister is guilty against me, how many times must I forgive them? Seven times?” Jesus replied: “No, not seven times, but seventy times seven!”. This answer means that there is no “enough” in such actions. The equally innumerable hair also refers to the body’s memory and the duration of corporeality (Hair, along with teeth and bones, is what resists organic decay the longest). A person’s hair, which therefore outlasts their lifetime, perhaps also symbolizes eternal memory, the spirit, whose immortality is believed in.