Horváth Attila – Solymos Ede szerk.: Cumania 5. Ethnographia (Bács-Kiskun Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei, Kecskemét, 1978)

Novák L.: A Duna Tisza köze temetőinek néprajza

BY LÁSZLÓ NOVAK THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CEMETERIES OF THE REGION BETWEEN THE DANUBE AND TISZA RIVERS The aim of this paper is the complex study of the cemeteries of a large regional unit, the region between the Danube and Tisza rivers. It points to the fact that the cemetery is an integral part of the settlement system: it is separately located in a certain distance from the village or the country-town. In larger communities (e. g. in Kunszentmiklós or Szabadszállás) cemeteries can be found at both extreme ends of the settlements (the cemetery of the Als^eg and that of the Felszeg respectively). The cemeteries have changad their locations during centuries. After getting full new ones were established either in the neighborhood of the old ones or in another place on the confines of the village (e. g. when the cemetery called Büge got full in Tószeg in the second half of the 19th century, a new one was opened in the Kêtoldal near the settlement in the 1890s). In the first half and in the middle of the 19th century, in the course of the re-arrangement and commassation of the former serf villages, specific pots were reserved for cemeteries. Today, the memory of the former cemeteries is still alive in the terminology of öregtemetö (Old cemetery). There can be stated that the cemeteries are located without exception on higher elevation, possibly on ridges or slopes of hills (e. g. in Monor, Pilis, etc.). The explanation of this is that just like the settlement the cemetery was also protected from inland waters, and along the rivers from floods. E. g. in villages along the Danube river the cemeteries can be found on hills with the aim of not being destroyed by the flood of the Danube (the Meleghegy in Solt, the Büki malom in Apostag, the Temetőáomb in Aporka, etc.). At the study of cemeteries also historical sources are at our disposal helping us to find out the order of the cemeteries and that of the burials in the 18th and 19th centuries. According to medieval traditions the cemetery was originally located around the church. This order of the burials came to an end in the 18th century following the grave devastation caused by different epidemics (e. g. the big plague in 1739/40, the cholera, the smallpox, etc.). At the end of the 18th century, decrees issued by Queen Maria Theresia and King Joseph II prohibited the use of cemeteries around churches and prescribed that the cemeteries had to be opened farther from the churches. At the same time also the use of crypts became regulated: they were permitted only in that case if they were made by master masons on the outer side of the church walls or at the end of the church. Thus the use of cemeteries around churches ended at the end of the 18th century. Their memory, however, is alive even nowadays. People living on detached farms often bury their dead around the church ruins of destroyed medieval villages Ce. g. in Pótharaszt, a former estate of the town of Nagykőrös). In the 18th century the order of the newly opened cemeteries was also regulated. There was prescribed e. g. that the cemeteries had to be closed round by ditches or fenced by a hedge or trees. The reason of this was to prevent that the livestock of the peasants make damages in the cemetery, a holy place. The trees of the cemetery were also protected. Also the employment of caretakers was made possible who besides watching the cemetery also determined the succession of the burial places. The decrees issued at the end of the 18th century affected the folk customs too. They prescribed that the village doctor or in case of suspicion the aldermen had to determine the cause and circumstances of the death. They made also the obduction possible. 296