Ujváry Zoltán: Kultusz, színjáték, hiedelem (Miskolc, 2007)

Játék és maszk. Dramatikus népszokások IV.

symbolized by them. Both in rituals and in dramatic customs the same role may be played by a living person and the puppet imitating him. The most frequent puppet is the dummy [jackstraw] but in some variants puppets made of rags, tow and other materials also appear. In the Hungarian tradition the Bacchus of the Tokaj-Hegyalja region is especially characteristic and has preserved the one-time colonizational processes. In the same region we also find the representation of a human couple turning on a wheel. One of the most thoroughly researched yet also most enigmatic European masque-traditions is the play at whose center of attention we find mimes dressed in white costumes. These creatures evoke a special reverence both in the players and in the audience — like most experience shows — and this fact directs ethnographical investigations towards one-time cults. In the Hungarian-speaking territories these mimes mainly appear on Luca's day (13th December), or thereabouts, but in central regions of the country they appear at other dates, too. The great similarity of the white costume in the circle of Mid-European nations almost automatically raises the question of inter-ethnic relations. The reason for similarity may, on the one hand, be that this mask-type was related to one and the same Christian saint. On the other hand, from the recentiy found data it has become clear that earlier suppositions concerning this occasion (Luca) and the white-costumed mimes must be completely changed. The new view is that the white-costumed mimes may be traced much farther back than it was previously thought and, therefore, their interethnic relations cannot realistically be established. Thus, to talk of this kind of interchange in the Hungarian speaking territories or in the Carpathian Basin would be unscholarly! It is far more possible to think in terms of parallels (maybe considering a long-term development of theirs, lasting for centuries and based on the same tradition). The actual origins of these plays must evidently be traced back to a cult of ancestors, to the primary forms of the cults of the dead. In the Hungarian dramatic customs in general, but especially in death-plays, in particular, the figure of the Physician „quack doctor" is frequent, but we also know of individual „doctor-scenes". This character was important in the plays presenting dying and resurrection. He widely appears in the folk-customs of European peoples as well, bearing the signs of the Curing Persons of various ages. The features, characteristic of the magicians of the cultic tradition and of the scene-types he appears in, provide the most archaic layer of this tradition upon which newer and newer layers have been built. The last step is provided by the parodistically represented figure of the medieval physician/"quack-doctor" because he shows — in comparison with previous resemblances - a significant, functional change. The Doctor's role - in spite of this having changed into a character-role does still show features that connect him to his predecessor: the Magician of the Cultic Rites. The mime representing the Barber is in many ways tied to the character of the Doctor - seen from a cultural/ historical point of view. Not only because the barber does appear in the role of the Curer but also because his figure preserves the memory of one-time cults and magic acts. Apart from general European barber-practice, the ritual removing of facial hairs precents the man who does it as a successor to one-time rituals signifying the client's becoming a mature man. Of course, this context must have undergone many changes in the course of centuries or even millennia. As researchers say, shaving itself became a replacement for earlier shortenings (for example, for beating out someone's tooth) in the Maturity-Customs. The curing function of the barber mostiy ceased by the beginning of the 19th century. From this time on, each profession came to be distinguished in the roles of folk dramatic customs' repertoire, too. In the formation of the Hungarian and Mid-European dramatic folk-play customs, in its historical layers taken one by one, the representations of characters, certain ethnical — and working groups, just like social types, must be regarded as innovations. All this is in contrast with the masques originating from ancient cults and rituals. The aboventioned physician and barber's representations may partly be classified this way. These plays lend themselves to easy classification because of their main characters. Among their chief characteristics we may mention that they seem to also possess a great international dispersion and motive-identity. Nevertheless, the actual form they appear in — generally speaking — shows less an influence of international than of particularly ethnical and geographical/regional formats. The wandering SLOVAK [tinkers, and glaziers] characters of the Hungarian folk-tradition provide a good example for this-rooted in a millennia of Hungarian past, but still showing interethnical features, not to obviously mention other ethnico-historical conlisses. The historical background for this was provided by the wide-scale trade which in the Carpathian Basin and several hundreds of kilometers beyond the actual Slovak borders was undertaken by the wandering traders of Upper-Hungarian residence, who practically kept this habit up until the end of World War No. I... These traders and trading-merchants naturally attracted the common people's attention, by way of definition, which is to say: by way of their unusual behavior, speech and tools. Their appearance and popularity in Hungarian