H. Szilasi Ágota - Várkonyi Péter - Bujdosné Pap Györgyi - Császi Irén (szerk.): Agria 50. (Az egri Dobó István Vármúzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2017)
Bitskey István: Születésnapi köszöntés a régi magyar költészetben
Tóth Sándor 1994 A latin nyelvű humanitas poétikai stúdiumának elméleti könyvei a magyar irodalmi felvilágosodás korszakában. Grigely József latin nyelvű poétikai kompendiuma és mintái. Gradus Kiadó, Szeged. István Bitskey BIRTHDAY POEMS IN OLD HUNGARIAN POETRY As early as the first centuries of antiquity, it was customary to celebrate the birth anniversaries of prominent people with a birthday ode (genethliacon) written for such an occasion. Initially these were prosaic texts written in Greek (genethliakos logos), later followed by rhymed orations, becoming very popular in the Hellenistic era. This tradition was adopted by the Romans, then became more widely used in Hungary during the renaissance. It is classified as natalitium or genethliacon within the group of occasional poems in the catalogue lists by genre in 16th century poetry textbooks. Copies in Latin, German, Slovakian and Hungarian are all registered in the literature on the subject. This paper examines the most important birthday poems in Hungarian, also describing their poetic characteristics. Students of a famous school often greeted their teachers on their birthday. An example is the series of birthday poems celebrating Mihály Solymosi Nagy in Nagyszeben (Sibiu). They help us to identify the main characteristics of this genre. In most cases the name of the person being celebrated is known, however, the names of those reciting it are rarely included and they may not be the authors of the text. The text often starts with the motif of being woken by instrumental music, which marks the big day. It is followed by the expression of gratitude, acknowledgement and good wishes, while the celebrated persons good deeds for the benefit of the public are also mentioned. Sometimes these good wishes are extended to family members. The texts must also consider the expectations of the audience, apart from the person himself These poems often express the hope that the celebrated person will continue to actively serve the collective interests in the future and support the community that is greeting him. The genre remained in fashion until the end of the 18th century. Its prominent representative was János Gyöngyössi (Hungarian Poems, Vienna, 1790). From the early 19th century, however, it was replaced by name day greetings, as shown in the large number of occasional poems by András Béréi Farkas. 24
