S. Lackovits Emőke: Az egyházi esztendő jeles napjai, ünnepi szokásai a bakonyi és Balaton- felvidéki falvakban (Veszprém, 2000)

Festivals, holidays and customs of the ecclesiastical year

two weeks after Pentecost. This feast came into being as a result of the mediaeval cult of the Host, and the struggle against heretics, and has belonged to the whole Church since the 13th century. Also in the Hungarian language territory, there are data from the late 13th century on the celebration of Corpus Christi, and from the 15th century there are reports of the luxurious Corpus Christi processions of the royal court. Into the ceremony were incorporated practices of 12th-l4th century German origin, involving walks in the fields and processions to pray for the weather. A general practice on Corpus Christi, which still survives, is to set up four tents at four separate places in the settlements, representing the four compass points, and these are prepared by different families, or members of the Rosary Society, as an honoured task. Generally, four Y-shaped branches are used for the framework of the tent, which are fixed into the ground, and their upper parts bound together with four thinner branches or laths. The area of the tents is lxl m, the height 2 m. Inside the tents, green grass is spread on the ground. The tent frameworks are covered with green foliage - hornbeam, birch, lilac - and flowers are fixed to it. Everyone feels the responsibility to contribute at least one flower to the Corpus Christi tent. Our film was taken in Szentgál, where even the Reformed church members give some flowers for this purpose, and this favour is returned by the Catholic villagers with consecrated flowers. In the Corpus Christi tents, small altars are prepared on the pattern of the church altars. A small table is covered with a white or embroidered cloth, a largish picture is placed on it as a background, generally a depiction of Christ, in the centre a crucifix is positioned, on both sides potted plants and cut flowers as well as candles, and possibly statues of Jesus and Mary. The Corpus Christi ceremony begins in the church with mass, then the procession is put together in a determined order. At the front are 8-10 girls, in white gloves and white dresses, scattering flower petals, behind them under a canopy the priest carrying the Host, next to him the ministrants, then the members of the consistory, finally the girls, married women, married men, and the boys. Singing, they proceed from one tent to the next, where after prayers have been said, following sprinkling with consecrated water and incensing, they fall to their knees when blessing with the Host is performed. The ceremony is completed in the church. The Corpus Christi tents are dismantled on the feast day, and everyone takes home one of the flowers or green twigs, as power to drive out sickness and to protect against lightening strikes is attributed to them. They are considered to have prophylactic power, and even the Reformed brethren take some of them. In the villages with German minority of the Balaton Uplands, the now discontinued "pirger custom" was linked to Corpus Christi. The "pirgers" (Bürgers) were ex-servicemen, married men, and members of the civil fusiliers unit, and 12-36 of them, dressed alike and with rifles on their shoulders, accompanied the priest, enclosing him on both sides. They thus participated in the Corpus Christi ceremony and the procession. During the mass, they lined up in military order in front of the church and when the Gospel was read, they shot into the air as a sign of respect. They did the same at the elevation of the Host and also at the blessing