Meg is mosakodjál! (Higiénia a 20. századi falun) (Kiállítási katalógusok – Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2006)

ARCHAIC PEASANT HYGIENE The most significant criteria of the archaic peasant hygienic habits is the closeness to nature, which mainly meant the exploitation of natural waters, careful use of water and "eeo-friendly" methods. The most archaic, almost nomadic shepherds did not have a wash, but smeared their hair with suet and wore a special pair of trouser: the so-called oak-trouser, which was impregnated with sheep milk and ash. To modern people, the hygienic requirements of the villagers were also minimal: the exemption from parasites and the lack of impurities on the apparent surfaces of the body. They extenuated the odours; they considered the different smells - such as stable, perspiration and any other smell of the body - natural. The conditions of living and the archaic linen clothes and its difficulties in washing did not make regular and thorough washing possible and necessary. The method and frequency of washing depended on the change of seasons too. The people, mainly crowding in the smoky, airless houses in winter time almost never had a wash. With the arriving of the spring, they washed the dirt of the previous months from their body in the nearby river, on the first warm days. The pots, used for washing were mainly made of wood, rarely they were earthenware products. The form of the earthenware wash-bowl reminds us of the later appearing enamelled bowls. One type of the wooden objects is the so-called gipsy bowl, which was scooped from one piece. This was used in several sizes, from the small bowl to the carapaces. The other type includes objects, which are circular and made of staves and hoops; and those wooden angular carapaces, which are made of boards. For having a wash, home-made soap, for the few occasions of washing the hair, ash lye were used. The common towel was put behind the door, hanging on a nail. They did not brush their teeth, but cleaned it with chewing of resin, or with friction of charcoal. People - mostly men - often drank brandy in the morning. The fingernails and toenails, if not breaking down, were cut with penknives and rarely with scissors. The men shaved once in a week - on Saturdays - and refitted their moustache on the same day. They did not use body lotions or other chemicals. The dried skins were smeared with fat without salt; the face was sometimes treated with milk or butter. When attending the baby, they used fat without salt, flour, yellow earth or lime from the wall, as dusting powder. In the traditional vernacular culture, the physical and ritual-magical functions of hygiene connected closely and at several points. In the morning, when they were having a wash, they also prayed. At home, when they prepared a bath, or in the thermal springs or at the locations of pilgrimage, having a wash had a ritual function, mainly healing. Illness and abnormal behaviour were considered to be consequences of hex, against which the protection was e. g. the creation of water with coal. Among the habits and customs, connected to the main points of life and the holidays of the year the ritual washing and hygiene can also be found. The customs of ritual-magical washing, listed here are based on the real characteristics of water and the myths and beliefs, emerging from them. As the water washes away the physical dirt, it purifies from the sin, illness, hex and the impurity of sexuality and death in a symbolic way. Rontás ellen a gyermek fürdővizét kasza élén kellett a teknőbe önteni. Szatmár megye. Fotó: Luby Géza 1937. (Néprajzi Múzeum Fotótára F77600.) Against hex, the bath of the child had to be poured into the bowl on the blade of a scythe. County Szatmár. Photo: Géza Luby 1937. (The Photo Archives of the Ethnographical Museum F77600.) 6