Paládi-Kovács Attila: A Barkóság és népe (Miskolc, 2006)

Angol nyelvű összefoglaló

The villages based on the old clan system, on a common ancestor, and the threegeneration family which had lived in close community began to loosen their ties beginning with the 1900s. The communities of families including joint ownership disappeared completely in the 1940s. Up until 1920 their custom as regards inheritance was inheritance by the male line, which was then changed to the principle of equal division of property. Since then the girls receive a share of the land and the house equal to that of the boys. They have a rich terminology for kinship which has a classification nature as do those of the other Hungarian ethnic groups. Birth, wedding and funeral customs reinforce kinship bonds among the whole peasant community, which include not only blood relatives but relatives by marriage or in other ways (godparents, in-laws), and neighbours. This chapter gives a detailed description of the customs in social life which have changed very little in the past one hundred years. It points out that while giving up certain rites the meaning of which has become unclear, somewhere between the 1950s and 1970s, hosting guests and celebrations has reached unprecidented heights and the stress at them has shifted from spiritual and cultic manifestations to material ones. Gifts have become more expensive, wedding feasts cost more, more guests are invited to the wedding feasts than there used to be (the godmothers taking dinner to young women who have just given birth are accompanied by 5-6 other women). 9. The Barkó ethnic group belongs to the Roman Catholic church and follows its calendar. Winter season includes a rich stock of customs to end and begin the year. St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30) begins the year for the herdsmen and St. Nicholas' day (Dec. 6) is when it is customary to give gifts to children. Luca (Dec. 13) is the day of the „wicked spirits" when spinning is forbidden. This is the day when they begin to carve a stool known as the Luca Chair. In the days preceeding Christmas they begin to walk from house to house in the village with the Bethlehem (a tiny model of a crèche), in groups of six to ten people. They do not use puppets to present the Nativity. By the 1960s these plays with their text so rich in folk meaning were only kept alive by school-aged children. There was no such thing as a Christmas tree before 1914, and it has only become popular since then. At the end of the Carneval season the young people organize a three day celebration. The boys distribute the roles and they all march along the main street of the village. They very often wear masks depicting animals and ramheads. At the very end of the celebration they declare one of the boys to be a prisoner, whom they package in straw and lead around in chains. After reading out all his crimes they imitate the decapitation with a wooden sword (Fig. 71). This is followed by Lent, until Easter. At Easter the young men and boys sprinkle the women. One characteristic spring custom is that on the first of May the boys take green trees to the girls. At Pentecost the girls select a Whitsun Queen among themselves. On the eve of St. John's Day (June 24th) the lighting of a ritual fire was a custom until the 1930s. The boys lit fires at the outskirts of the village or on the streets and then jumped over them together with the girls. The biggest local holiday for every village was the day of the patron saint of the local church when a big street celebration was held. Pilgrimages to distant holy places are also significant events (Fig. 72). There are a number of noteworthy pilgrimage sites in Northern Hungary, e.g. Szentkút (Mátraverebély, Nógrád County) where the religious ones assemble on August 15th and September 8th. In addition to the nation-wide Mary cult, there is a characteristically strong Saint Ann cult in this region.