Gunda Béla et al. (szerk.): Ideen, Objekte und Lebensformen. Gedenkschrift für Zsigmond Bátky - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 29. (Székesfehérvár, 1989)
Mária Kresz†: Kettle and Pot
KETTLE AND POT It was the merit of Zsigmond B á t k y to draw attention to the relationship between food, shapes of vessels and rural architecture with its various types of hearths. Let us quote what he wrote about the problem of kettle and cooking pot in the chapter on “Nourishment” in the handbook “A Magyarság Néprajza” (“Ethnography of the Hungarians”, 2nd edition, 1941.): “There are two ways of cooking, either in an open vessel, a kettle, or under a lid in a pot or kasserole (stewing). In an open vessel food is cooked in a sauce, while when stewing hardly any gravy is left at all. Three types of kettles may be distinguished in Hungary (B á t k y uses the word “bogrács” for kettle which he states derives from the Ottoman Turkish word “bakradz”; in Transylvania a kettle is often called “üst”; in Transdanubia “vasfazék” or “iron pot”). The iron kettle of the Great Hungarian Plain is shaped like a deep bowl and its edges bend outwards. Probably it is a local variation of a western form. The iron kettle of Transylvania is somewhat smaller and is semiglobular. It is likely of oriental origin, because this type is to be found among East Slave peoples, and appears as far as the Caucasus and goes into Central Asia. The Transdanubian “vasfazék”, “iron pot” is hammered from copper and is pear-shaped. (Note B á t k y’s expression “iron pot” made of copper. A contradiction we shall return to.) This type is most frequent in the south of Transdanubia, close to the Balkan, where copper is the most general material and pear-shaped kettles are typical, so it is probable that this type came to Hungary from there...” (P.71.) In the chapter on “Architecture” in the same handbook B á t k y returns to the problem of the kettle several times : “In the round reed huts of Ecseg puszta on the outskirts of Túrkeve—as in most herdsmens’ huts—the fire burns on the ground in the middle of the hut. A kettle is hung above the fire on a hook which is attached to a rod driven through the whole hut... In the Sárköz region the fire is also in the middle of the reed-hut, but the kettle is hung from the crook driven into the ground.” (P. 147.) In the Szeklerland, Transylvania . .formerly cooking was done in a kettle which hung from a hook attached to a cross-beam or from a crook driven into the ground. The simple hook and the double one with a beam seems to derive from the German forest land, while to hang the kettle on a chain seems to be of Roman origin and frequent in the Balkan territory where metal was more generally used.” (P. 148.) “The Bosnian hearth is a broad low square platform in the middle of the house and the pear-shaped kettle (Roman origin) hangs from a chain, its name, however, is Ottoman origin.” (Pp. 159-160.) “The interior of a house in Haraszti, County Verőce, is shown with a pear-shaped copper kettle hanging from a chain over the hearth attached to a beam. Both the chain and the copper kettle are the Balkan type.” (Pp. 160-161.) Among the Sokatz of County Bács “the kettle hangs on a chain from the beam”. (P. 161) There are several types of hearths in Bács County, one is “a low broad square hearth in the middle of the kitchen with a copper iron-pot (“rézvasfazék”) hanging on a chain from the beam.” Note again the expression: “copper iron-pot”. (P. 163.) B á t k y pointed out clearly that the pear-shaped copper kettle derives from the Balkan and its name is of Ottoman Turkish origin. According to the basic Hungarian Ethnological Vocabulary (“TESZ”), the Ottoman Turkish name was transmitted into Hungarian via the Serbo-Croatian language and originated from the word “copper”. So the meaning of “copper kettle” is incorporated in the word “bogrács”. The word does not match a kettle of any other material, it is not a word to use for an iron kettle of the Great Plain or Transylvania. B á t k y twice wrote “copper iron pot” not by mere accident. This contradictory expression appears in dialect too as can be proven by the documentation in the Nourishment Collection of the Ethnographical Museum, Budapest. A copper kettle (No. 142911) from Csököly, County Somogy, southern Transdanubia was called “rézvasfazék” (“copper iron-pot”) and another one (No. 133143) from Baglad, County Zala, also southern Transdanubia was also “riézvasfaziék” (“copper ironpot”). In Pálfa, County Tolna, Transdanubia, a copper kettle was named simply “vasfa-245
