Szomjas-Schiffert György: Régi lakodalmak a Duna-Tisza közén - Thorma János Múzeum könyvei 23. (Budapest-Kiskunhalas, 2006)

Mutatók

Bygone Wedding Celebrations Between the Danube and the Tisza

This book takes the reader into the world of bygone Hungarian wedding celebrations and presents a selection from the life and songs of the people of the region. The area under scrutiny is the historical Lesser Cumania (Upper and Lower Lesser Cumania) and the other settlements of the central part of Bács-Kiskun county, where the author conducted his ethnographical research and collection of folk songs in the 1950s. A map of these areas can be found on page 8. The wedding celebrations from the title of this book took place in the 19th century and the first half of the 20lh century.

The book is divided into two sections: descriptions of the wedding celebrations, and the songs that were sung at these occasions. The data concerning the folk customs comes from fourteen settlements. Geographically arranged, these are: Upper Lesser Cumania: (Kunszentmiklós, Kiskunlacháza, Szabadszállás, Fülöpszállás, and Lajosmizse); Lower Lesser Cumania (Orgovány, Bugac, Kiskunmajsa, Kiskunhalas, and Kiskundorozsma); and the territory between Upper and Lower Lesser Cumania (Akasztó, Kecel, Soltvadkert, Bocsa). The author describes in detail the customs connected with courtship, proposal, wedding preparations, the roles played at the celebration, and the events of the wedding day itself. We are also introduced to such specifics as the festive dress, the menu at the celebration and the tasks of the musicians. The second section gives us a glimpse at folk songs from twelve different settlements (from Kunszentmiklós 24 songs, Kiskunlacháza 3, Szabadszállás 9, Fülöpszállás 2, Lajosmizse 2, Tiszaalpár 5, Öregcsertő 6, Kecel 11, Kunszállás 17, Kiskunfélegyháza 14, Kiskunmajsa 12, Kiskunhalas 26). The songs were used for different aspects of the celebration: the procession, the dinner, dancing, entertainments etc. The author chose 131 songs from his collection to be presented here. The index at the end of the book gives further details about these songs.

The author of this volume, György Szomjas-Schiffert (1910-2004) was a Doctor of Science and a respected researcher in the field of Hungarian Ethnography. He was raised in Kiskunhalas. He collected some 3,500 folk songs. He made contributions to research in the folk music of the Great Hungarian Plain, in the common influences between Czech-Moravian-Slovak and Hungarian cultures, and also in Finno-Ugrian folk music. His collections published here can be found in the Thorma Museum of Kiskunhalas under the inventory numbers 18176 and 20847.

This book's foremost value is in its exploration of the distinctive ethnographical and folk music traditions of Lesser Cumania as revealed by customs at wedding celebrations. With its atmosphere of bygone wedding celebrations presented in songs, words and photographs, it introduces us to the ethnography of a distinctive region of the Great Plain and creates possibilities for further research into the folk songs and customs of the area. We hope that both the people of Lesser Cumania and folk musicians alike will enjoy this publication, which aims to help preserve a slice of our common past.

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