T. Bereczki Ibolya (szerk.): GYERMEKVILÁG MAGYARORSZÁGON (Kiállítási katalógusok - Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2003)
A change took place from the fifties-sixties of the 20 t h century: kindergarten and primary school began to represent more and more the turning point in the life of children. The ceremony to say good-bye to teachers and fellow-students on the last school-day became a common festival of the family and relations. The child, leaving the school, is honoured with flowers. Grandparents, godparents and parents alike present them with books, jewellery, clothing and even money. CALENDAR FESTIVALS Calendar festivals determined the rhythm of the peasant's life. The boys played a major role in the festivals in winter, and girls had more functions in spring festivals. The customs were aimed at securing good harvest, good luck and health in the next year. Rhymes told by children expressed good wishes for luck. The first event in winter, belonging to the subject of Christmas festivities, was the day of St. Nicholas on the 6 t h December. On the eve before, children used to clean their shoes or boots, placed them in the windows and parents secretly filled them in the night with apples, nuts, prunes, in later times with chocolate as a reward for good behaviour. Naughty children got a piece of coal or onions and a whip for punishment. On the day of Luca (Lucretia) on the 13 t h December, unmarried girls and boys dressed in white, painted their faces white with flour, took a feather-broom or a wooden spoon in their hands and visited the houses. They made the children pray, or they made them frightened or they gave them presents. During the time of Advent, younger boys and girls visited the houses of the village, telling rhymes with good wishes to the inhabitants. Nuts, sweet bread, cookies, sometimes money was their reward. In Roman Catholic villages, the teacher's wife used to bake a decorated wafer biscuit for the families of the pupils a few days before Christmas. The children delivered the wafers and told a rime when handed them over in the houses of the village. The purpose of their visit was to receive the food contributions due to the teacher for his teaching efforts. The most popular play was the nativity play, which has been popular from the 18 t h century. Its main accessory was a Nativity Crib in the shape of a church or of a stable, illuminated with a candle. The Holy Family was represented in it, surrounded by angels and animals. The actors of the play were shepherds, angels and the Three Magi, and sometimes Herod too. The custom to set up a Christmas tree came to Hungary at the beginning of the 19 t n century from Western Europe. It spread first among the German inhabitants of the bigger towns. Till the mid 20 th century, a branch of a fruit-tree was tied to the main beam. It was decorated with nuts, apples, honey-cookies, popcorn. The children believed that the angels or the Little Jesus gave the presents for their good behaviour. In our days Christmas Eve is celebrated on the 24 t h December with a richly decorated Christmas tree and a lot of presents. 28 t h December is the Holy Innocents Day. On this day, boys went around in the village, conveyed their good wishes for health and touched women and girls tenderly with a wand to make them healthy. On New Years' Eve and on New Years' day men and boys visited the families to wish them happy New Year. On the 3 ,f l February, the day of St. Blase, school children wearing a hat, girded a wooden sword and went from house to house to recruit pupils for the school and to collect contributions for the teacher. They visited the houses with the same purpose on the 12 m March, the day of St. Gregory. On Easter Monday, boys in groups visited girl's houses to convey their wishes in rhymes and to water them with water - or scented water. Guests sat down at the occasion, cakes were served and painted eggs or money were given them as reward. The Sunday before Whitsuntide was a real spring festival. The most skilled among the boys was elected as Whitsuntide king. Girls danced and sang to honour the spring. Many customs lost their meaning and function to our days. Some are still practised, a few are filled with new meaning and are important in kindergarten and school education. Several customs play a role in the development of personality, in leisure time activities and in the creation of new communities. CHILD AND WORK Children brought up in traditional village communities in Hungary used to learn agricultural work in a young age. 4-5 years old girl's were entrusted with the duty of taking care of the geese, and boys tilled the land with their father. 8-9 years old boys used to tend the flock: cows and pigs. When boys and girls reached the age of 11-12 years, they worked by the day or were employed as young servants. In well-to-do farmer families, they learned farming and household knowledge at home. Girls looked after younger siblings and helped in women's work, such as cleaning, washing, cooking. From the age of 12-13 years, they participated in bread-baking, they learned how to spin and to weave, teenagers of 14-15 years helped in the harvest as pickers. Boys above ten years were entrusted with responsible work, such as tending the horses during night, feed the cattle. While working at the side of their father, they got acduainted with the use of the scythe, and gradually became adept at all kinds of work related to farming and animal husbandry. Whatever the children earned, was the family's property, only bigger girls were allowed to spend some of their earnings for clothing. In wealthier families childhood was prolonged by one or two years. While tending for animals in the pasture, children had opportunity to play together. Adults made toys for children, which were miniature copies of working tools. Thus children were familiar with the use of tools. Under the guidance of parents, they learnt step by step how to handle the hoe, the spade, the mangling board, etc. The community expected youngsters to be able to start adult life with the necessary knowledge by marriageable age. During the world wars, women, older people and children replaced the men who turned soldiers. Orphans and children born out of wedlock as well as the eldest of large families had especially bitter and hard lives. From the second half of the 19 t h century, schools provided help in acquiring useful farming knowledge. From the sixties of the 20 m century, families started to neglect to educate children how to work. Children don't have opportunity to learn from their parents to appreciate work and to learn the knowledge necessary for maintaining the traditional way of life. TOYS AND GAMES The first playground of the infant was the dwelling room. It played on the bed, behind the oven, on the bench, on the floor. As it was growing, he conquered first the yard, where it played with the lamb, the kitten, the puppy, the chicks. In school-age the children discovered the wider environment: the streets, the hills, the forests. They played in the fields when they tended to geese, they played on the fields after the harvest. The favourite playground was the meadow near the water. They played with clay and made toys out of plants and seeds. The scenery of games is today the kindergarten and the school. Girls prefer games of circle, boys prefer sporty games in the breaks. Children prepared most of their toys in the past. They imitated with them their environment, they developed their skills and their capability to observe. Preparing the toy and playing with it were not 14
