A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 5. (Szeged, 2005)

Mód László: „... utazásainknak alkalmatlanságait tűréssel viselhessük...” Szentes város külkapcsolatai a passzuslevelek tükrében (1827–1830)

MÓD László 2003 Egy dél-alföldi mezőváros gazdasági kapcsolatai a 18. században. Néprajzi Tanulmányok. Studia Etnographica 4. A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve. 27-48. NYÍRI Antal 1948 A kihaló szentesi víziélet néprajzi és népnyelvi maradványai. Szeged PAPP Imre 1971 Amiről a szentesi református egyházközségek házasságkötési anyakönyvei beszélnek. Kézirat. Móra Ferenc Múzeum Néprajzi Adattára 340-72. PÓK Attila 1983 Útlevelek, útiokmányok. História V évf. 3 sz. 20- 21. SIMA László 1914 Szentes város története. Szentes SZIKSZAY György 1795 Keresztyéni tanítások és imádságok.. .(97. kiadás). Debrecen SZILÁGYI Miklós 1993 Egy alföldi mezőváros külső kapcsolatai a 18. század második felében. Népi kultúra-Népi társadalom XVII. 201-220. 1995 Mezővárosi társadalom - paraszti műveltség. Történeti-néprajzi adatok és elemzési kísérletek. (Folklór és Etnográfia 87.) Debrecen 2002 A gyomaiak regionális árucsere- és munkakapcsolatai a 18. század végén és a 19. század első felében. Néprajzi Látóhatár XI. 1-4. 299-314. TÓTH Ferenc 1993 Egyházak, oktatás, kultúra. In: Blazovich László (szerk.): Makó története a kezdetektől 1849-ig. 579-646. Makó „...So that We Could with Patience Bear the Bothers of Traveling.

.. " External Contacts in the Town of Szentes as Reflected in Passes by LÁSZLÓ MÓD Passes certifying and proving personal identity, the aim of traveling as well as the fact of leaving residence, together with reports and accounts recording the issue of passes, form a peculiar group of archival sources which provide essential information on the economic activities and external contacts of the inhabitants in a certain settlement. Analyzing the documents we may reveal that despite the unfavorable traffic conditions, a part of the citizens of Szentes regularly traveled bearing the difficulties of leaving residence. Among the motivations of traveling we may find visiting markets and fairs, as well as treading corn. This obviously refers to the fact that similarly to other agricultural towns on the Southern Hungarian Plain the inhabitants of Szentes also took part in the process of migration of labor directed to the manors situated on the territory of Southern Békés, Arad (today Arad, in Romania), Csanád County, as well as to manors in Bácska and Bánság. Studying the reports we may conclude that at the end of the 1820s the people of Szentes left their home mostly in order to visit markets. These trips provided in many cases good opportunity for keeping up external contacts, additionally while visiting markets people could obtain significant geographical knowledge as well. During the studied period local inhabitants visited the markets of more than 20 settlements closer to or further from Szentes. The two most frequently visited towns were Gyula and Mezőtúr. At the end of the 1820s the most mobile and active stratum of society in Szentes was the group of gypsies living by selling livestock, mainly horses, who were to travel frequently due to their activity. By analyzing different archival sources we may suggest that during the studied period, at the end of the 1820s several network of external contacts lived simultaneously in Szentes (such as that of the inhabitants and town council), which had similar features, since the given territorial and geographical conditions basically determined the location and direction of exchange of goods. Having individual examples analyzed, in the future comparative researches should be done in the field in order to draw further conclusions. 68