Magyar Hírek, 1987 (40. évfolyam, 1-23. szám)

1987-12-01 / 23. szám

Ute feacg

CHRISTMAS IN HUNGARIAN FOLK-ART

On the sacred hill of Pannónia

Christmas is the most important traditional feast kept by Hungarian families. The second weekly restday is often officially moved to the 24th of December-this year as well - making Christmas a three-day holiday. Many people save part of their annual leave for the days between Christmas and the New Year. Thus they enjoy a long stretch off work in the festive season. The duration of the festivities therefore reminds of the old festive Christmas season, preceded by Advent, and ending on the 6th of January, Twelfth Night, or Epiphany. This is manifest in the meaning of Christmas as well, as it finds expression in art.

Christmassy subjects are common in art. Great numbers of mainly medieval representations of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi exist. Some of the greatest composers have composed music for Christmas.

May we in that context refer to the ways Hungarian peasants have expressed their joy at Christmas as art?

The carved Nativities used by Hungarian peasants were seldom made by artisans. These portable structures representing a church, a kind of puppet stage or a stable were generally the work of peasant jacks of all trades. Since they were always unique pieces, in no way multiple or mass produced, even when they were made by artisans, they only roughly resembled each other. They were usually modelled on the old, worn-out Nativity manger, or - when that could not be found - on its memory. When it was made to look like a church, and was meant to represent a real church, they used the local parish church they knew best, as a model.

Since Nativity players visited neighbouring villages as well, the forms they used in building their scenes and their details also had an influence.

The materials used and the methods of construction were in accord with the modest conditions in which they lived. The Nativities made by peasants in the late 19th century and early this century were mostly of wooden boards, occasionally untrimmed. The sawn boards were usually covered with coloured, shiny paper, trimmed boards were painted, sometimes in a variety of colours. The walls of a Nativity in a museum were simply stained dark. The boards were nailed. The Nativities were usually only roughly worked, a good finish was the exception. A careful finish of building elements occurred usually when they actually tried to copy the appearance of a church. Only one pottery Nativity is known today, and it seems a relatively accurate copy of a church (see the cover). Nativities were also made of cardboard with a coloured paper covering. In the

Wooden carved church used in a Nativity play

PHOTOS BY ESZTER MOLNÁR REZES

course of restoration of one such Western Transdanubian Nativity - collected around the turn of the century - a newspaper sheet printed in 1848 was found, which was used to line the inside of the cardboard wall. Another Nativity made of wicker-work had a straw roof.

The interior arrangements of the Nativities - like their exterior - modelled the interior of a church or a stable. Combinations of these were also known. The shape of the figures and the composition of the scene echoed the varieties of the Nativities in painting and sculpting. The figures were made of wood, paper, textile and plaster, but also of fired or unfired clay. Besides Mary nursing her Child and Joseph adoring him, figures of angels, shepherds and the Magi were present usually with the Star of Betlehem above them. The figures were mostly painted in various colours.

In some districts of Hungary - thus in some parts of Transdanubia and in the north-east beyond the River Tisza the Nativities were supplemented by puppet stages. The players there interspersed the Nativity play with puppet scenes often embellished with profane details. The central figure of the puppet play was the wicked king, Herod - who was held responsible for the absence of proper facilities at the birth of Christ and his punishment. The figure of Death executed Herod using a scythe, then the Devil took him. These puppet figures were real naive works. They were made of simple sticks of wood, moved by wooden or wire extensions. They indicated their role in the play with their costumes made ingeniously from a few bits of rag.

Nativities also adorned the festive tables of families. More frequently they were part of the scenery of Nativity plays performed in costume. Christmas carols were also sung on such occassions. Some of the costumes the players wore were ordinary pieces of attire worn in other but the usual way (fur-coats worn inside out, boys in petticoats etc.) but they also made special costumes for the play, for instance leather masks, a paper mitre, sticks adorned in various ways.

The range of the Epiphany plays was also part of the art of the festive season. These plays were based on the Three Magi who found Jesus after following the Star of Betlehem. Their high hats were particularly richly decorated. The Star, which they carried was affixed to the end of an expanding contraption made of lattice. When thus raised high the star showed how high the star appeared on the sky, which led the Magi in their search for the Child Jesus.

DR. ERZSÉBET F. GYÖRGYI

The hill rises only 282 meters above sea level. Today some six hundred people live in the thousand years old Abbey there: monks, theologians, schoolboys and the immates of a home for retired priests. The present name of the place - Pannonhalma - was coined at the time of the Hungarian language reform.

According to the legend St Martin, later Bishop of Tours, was bom near the spring at the foot of the hill. He is the patron saint of the Abbey. His relics came into the possession of the Abbey’s treasury thanks to Queen Gizella. When preparing for battle against the rebel Koppány, Saint Stephen the King prayed to St Martin and made a vow that if he proved victorious he would give the estates of his foe to the St Martin Abbey built on Mons Sacer Pannóniáé (the sacred hill of Pannónia).

Gregorian chant fills the chapel. The choir of the Abbey is rehearsing for a broadcast. The black robes of the monks and the wordly, colourful garb of the students enlivens the holy space. Teaching monks and pupils are gathered by the heritage of centuries. The traditional chant also cements stones of some nine centuries - the 19th century pulpit, the eight hundred years old stone garlands and leafs, as well as intricate lizards, and the beautiful Gothic arcades built by Cistercian architects, produce matchless acoustics.

After the rehearsal P. Asztrik Várszegi, the prior, removes the plastic curtain that protects the excavation area. With the fondness it deserves he passes his hand along the plinth of a column excavated 75 cm. below the present level. It plainly shows that the column was finely carved in the 13th century at its basis, just as they had imagined.

The prior - a teacher of History and German - next walked to a section of the wall that was also excavated and studied by archeologists. The plastering technique used there indicates an even earlier period, the 12th century. A restrained explanation does not dare to go further than that. But what became of the stones of the monastry that Prince Géza began to build - I ask myself delving even further into the past. Even if they demolished and rebuilt the walls, the stones were here for the builders already. Perhaps this or that of the roughly-mortared granite stones felt the warmth of St Stephen and his saintly son, watched as young Prince Imre kissed the inhabitants of the sacred hill of Pannónia as their devotion deserved. It is certain that both of them visited the monastery in the 1020s.

“The hill of St Martin trained priests and monks for missionary ser-44