A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 4. (Szeged, 2003)

Benkéné Sándor Barbara Zita: Hódmezővásárhely egészségügyi kultúrája a 18. századi boszorkányperek alapján

SZEREMLEI Sámuel 1896 Szönyi Benjámin és a hódmezővásárhelyiek 1717-1794. Korrajz az alföldi reformátusok köréből. Hódmezővásárhely. 1900-1913 Hódmezővásárhely története I-V. Hódmezővásárhely. 1927-1938 A hódmezővásárhelyi református egyház története tekintettel az ország és a vidék egyházi állapotára és főbb eseményeire (sajtó alá rendezte Tereh Gyula) Hódmezővásárhely III.. TÓTH G. Péter (szerk.) 2000 A magyarországi boszorkányság forrásainak katasztere 1408-1848. Budapest-Veszprém. VÁRKONYI Ágnes 1990 Kőzgyógyítás és boszorkányhit (Mária Terézia boszorkánypereket beszüntető törvényének újragondolásához) Ethnographia Cl. 3-4. 384-437. ZSILINSZKY Mihály 1897-1900 Csongrád vármegye története. I-III. Budapest. Insights into public health in Hódmezővásárhely in the light of lÉ

h-century witch trials by BARBARA ZITA SÁNDOR The fact that alleged witches once were thought to be capable of putting the evil eye on people and harming health makes the connection between folk medicine and witchcraft particularly evident. This point is further corroborated by records of witch trials in Hódmezővásárhely in the 18

th century. I found that a great number of those accused of witchcraft had practised a little medicine (even the quack variety) in the town and its surroundings. My studies primarily focused on the analyses of archive collections and sources. I also compared my findings with those of similar studies investigating other places (e.g. in Konyár and Debrecen). The topic of my thesis was about the everyday life of Hódmezővásárhely society against the backdrop of local charges of witchcraft. I sought to identify volatile social situations as well as potential sources of conflict so as to provide a better understanding of everyday life then and its underlying mechanisms. This time my primary concern was not social issues. Rather, I attempted to shed light on folk medicine as practised in a market town in the Great Hungarian Plain, and offer an insight into the town's contemporary public health conditions. My study deals not only with public health in the town but in 18

m-century Hungary as a whole and the hygiene practices adopted by the populace. Poor air quality, frequent epidemics and other diseases provided a sustained source of living for a large number of healers deemed "illegitimate". In the trials there was direct reference to poor sanitation and health care neglect by the state. It is equally remarkable that the testimonies of certain witnesses, like those providing "legitimate" medical care, also suggested that there had been some change in the making. Such a change was also to alter the village's way of life and way of thinking. The witch trials in Hódmezővásárhely surely reflected the dichotomy between "no longer" and "not yet", while also shedding some light on a series of on-going 18

т-сепшгу public health reforms and their effects. 94