Arrabona - Múzeumi közlemények 41/1-2. (Győr, 2003)

Tanulmányok: - Kelemen István: Adatok a fertőhomoki horvátság történetéhez

ARRABONA41.2003. TANULMÁNYOK István Kelemen: Data in Addition to the History of the Croatian Population in Fertőhomok Fertőhomok (Umok in Croatian) is first mentioned in a written document in 1274. It was first possessed by Ban (i .e

., Viceroy) Csák, then by the Oslis, the Kőszegis, later by the Abbey of Borsmonostor, and from this latter possessor it was acquired by the Kanizsai family. In 1536 it was listed among the possessions of Tamás Nádasdy who in his letter of 1538 mentioned that his intention was to settle the inhabitants of a small market-town in his possession near Velike, Slavonia, in Hungary because of the Turkish devastation. The most probable is that these Croatian settlers speaking the kaj dialect arrived in Homok and the nearby Hidegség occupying those plots of land which remained empty after the marauding attacks of the Turks in 1529 and 1532. In the 1557 talliage list a significant number of Croatian family names can be found. The isolated language - whose development got blocked, whose vocabulary is very limited and which became archaic - remained on the same level as it was in the 16th century. This language incorporated many Hungarian and German lexical items and it is still spoken by the old people in these two villages near Lake Fertő. New concepts are substituted by Hungarian expressions with Croatian suffixes. The names of ridges existing even nowadays also refer to the settling of the Croatians. In the registers, in different documents of socage and listings one can trace since the 16th century that the majority of family names in Homok has been of Croatian origin. The documents of the instances of Canonica Visitatio prove since the middle of the 17th century that Homok has been a settlement of people speaking the Croatian language, the parish priest has spoken Croatian, and the religious services are conducted in Croatian. In 1832 the Bishop of Győr ordered that on Sundays and solemnities religious services should be conducted in Croatian and Hungarian by turns including the language of hymns and prayers. Since the mid 1770's the village had its own schoolmaster, Mihály Tomasits who was succeeded by György Sterkovits, also with a Croatian surname. The language of education must have been changed for Hungarian during the school-teaching of István Szalay (until 1866) and his son, József Szalay (until 1908). The customs and costumes of the village are of southern Slavonic. The fact that culture of the national minorities lost ground between 1949 and 1989 had its unfavourable effects in the field of the Croatian customs, too, and the process of assimilation became quicker. The political transformation provided an opportunity for the renewal of the Croatian minority. In 1998 the Self-Government of the Croatian Minority was established, it initiated the launch of teaching the Croatian language, and a connection was also established with a sister village, Savki Marof near Zagreb. Nowadays the Croatian customs are cultivated by the Tulip Group of Culture with its orchestra of tambura, dance group and choir. 81