Forrai Ibolya szerk: Néprajzi Közlemények 22. évfolyam (Budapest, 1979)

INTRODUCTION These manuscripts, published in the present Volume of the Journal of Ethnography are testimonies of the reality and everyday life of a period from the 60's of the last century until the middle of this one. The two of them are quite different with respect to the place, the time and the atmosphere of the events being reported. One is a strictly economical, prosaically written, diary-like report, the other is rather a fairy-tale like story. However there are common features: they are recording events which play important or even determinative role in the lives of the countrymen, informing the reader about the courses of their lives together with the fate of the close community around them. The social reality and historical background of the age are of course interpreted and evaluated by their own view and comprehension. The first manuscript, entitled "Stories of Centuries", contains the records of the Gyüker family. The original, hand-written writing-book has been received by the Museum in 1952, when Maria Igaz on her collection trip has found it. (Inventory N° 4410. ) There are rather few particulars available about the origin and the biography of the diary. József Gyüker the elder started the recording of the events in 1787 but the records became more detailed and diary-like only in his old age, in the 60's. The diary afterwards has been kept by his son József Gyüker, from 1862 onwards and finished by József Gyüker the younger's grandson in 1944. The second manuscript,the history of the life of Balint Küsmödi became the property of the Museum due to the collecting work of Laszlo Földes. (Inventory N° 5905. ) The tape-record has been taken in 19 54 on five occasions, by Laszlo Földes and published here according to his notes. In 1945-46 Székely (Transylvanian) settlers arrived toBudajenö, families from Ditro, among them the family of Balint Küsmödi. The collector himself was a member of one of these settler families. The change in the course of life of this community, their accomodation to the new historical, economical, social and cult-