Magyar News, 1991. szeptember-1992. augusztus (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1992-04-01 / 8. szám
NEKCSEI CODEX A few decades ago an American scientist wrote a letter to Dezső Dercsenyi, a Hungarian scientist living in Budapest. In the letter he noted that there is something of importance in the Library of Congress in Washington that has to do with the Hungarians. Based on this information, Dezső Dercsenyi didn’t waste much time. His curiosity and expertise worked out to our benefit. On the first page of a book was a family crest that belonged to a Hungarian, Demeter Nekcsei. Well a Hungarian crest by itself wouldn’t be very exciting because there are many of them, but a crest that belonged to a person who ranked third after the king, following the governor or nádor, has the significance of belonging into the history of the Hungarians. Nekcsei held this office between 1315 and 1338 during the reign of Charles Robert and was responsible for the economic development of the country. This was the time when the rich Hungarian gold mines were in full production. The wealth of the country and the peace of the area made it possible for the Hungarian nation to have the population soar up to 3 million people. As was customary, the wealthy people had a sort of obligation to patronize the church. Nekcsei chose a place in the southern comer of Transdanubia, a village called Csatar. Here he built a church and a cloister for the pálos monks. Nekcsei probably came from that area because he was buried there, too. Not only did he build the cloister he also donated a hand written Bible. It was made in two volumes and the size of it wasas they say- half a table top. It was beautifully illuminated with the high quality art of Bologna, Italy. It took several years of the miniature painters to finish the work, and it was presented to the cloister in 1336. Based on the examination of the illustrations researchers came to the conclusion that the work was done in Hungary, probably in Esztergom. One of the miniatures depict the donor himself with his wife holding a model of the church. The model in fine detail shows the church with the exact structure of the one at the cloister. This bible is the most beautifully illustrated of the Anjou/ Angevin/era. Let us see what happened to this Bible. It is hard to keep track especially in times when turmoil prevails in a country, but we know that at the beginning of the 16th century it became the property of the king. Later on Ferdinand I, as a compensation, presented it to a Turkish diplomat who served in the king’s court and was imprisoned for a while in Istanbul. Then for a few centuries we don’t know anything about this bible. It resurfaced in the early 19th century when an English book collector purchased it for an unbelievable 73 pounds. In 1873, after the death of the book collector, the Bible was auctioned off and was placed as the Nekcsei Codex into the public collection of the Library of Congress in Washington. Now in cooperation between the United States and Hungary and facsimile edition will be published under the supervision of the Corvina Publishing Company in Budapest. This will be the third publication of the Anjou era, following the Legendárium and the Picturesque Chronicle. (CMB) EUROPEAN NAIL SALON Judith Racz 16 Fiske St. Fairfield, CT 06430 Tel: 333-1468 COMPUTER REPAIR INFOWORKS FAIRFIELD 331-0466 FORGET HE/SHE. SPEAK HUNGARIAN We refer to people by names or other recognizable characteristics, or we say he, if it is a man, or for a woman, she. Then there is the confusion when we don’t know if we are talking about a he or a she. Some words make it easy, like chairman, mailman, these are MEN and if we don’t know the gender we say person. Chairperson. But if it isn’t chair or mail, just simply somebody, we slash them together as he/she. Many debates and arguments take place, probably trying to accomplish more importance, because we want to show that the he is more outstanding than the she, or the other way. The English language says that a dog has to be he, if not known otherwise, and a cat should be she. An ocean, a car is she, then many other things are he. Those who think or speak in the Hungarian language never get into this problem. For them the Creator is just that, there is no he/she about it. We use only one letter - Ö -, and everybody is content with it I am sure that the English language is so entangled in this he/she that they will never get out of it So why struggle. Just learn Hungarian. (JFB) GYPSY MONUMENTS One has to scan through the world to find a monument in the memory of a gypsy. Despite all the efforts, one would end up in Hungary, in the city of Szeged. The people erected a statue depicting a gypsy violinist carved into marble. This gypsy violinist was known all over Europe, but most of all he was loved by the Hungarians, and he loved the Hungarians among all people. His name is Danko Pista. Today another monument is erected in memory of the Hungarian gypsies. This time in Nagykanizsa where about 2,000 gypsies live among a population of 55,000 Hungarians. This monument is in memory of those who were victims of WWII. It is hard to tell how many of them actually died because of their life-style, moving from one place to the other. They estimate the number of victims to be in the ten thousands. They were rounded up with the Jews for deportation, then after the Russian occupation the gypsies were taken to the Soviet Gulag. The unfortunate ones living in the area of Hungary that became part of the Ukrain were put to work on the Soviet virgin lands by Khrushchev. The huge monument is carved out of wood, showing a gypsy woman reaching up to the window, holding on to the bars. 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