L. Juhász Ilona: A harmincnégyes kőnél… Haláljelek és halálhelyek az utak mentén (Somorja-Komárom, 2013)
12. Földrajzi mutató
Summary 243 commonly seen, together with small and bigger parts of the motorbikes. Often a small model of the vehicle is placed into the coffin. As the result of the 20 years in my fieldwork I draw a picture of changing forms: from candles and flowers to tombs of marble. We can find similarities between visiting the accidents place with decorative cemetery memorials: for example use of photos, placing there “attachments”, as souvenirs, ornaments. The cult connected to the death sites is similar to the cult in the cemeteries. People visit the memorials not only on the anniversary day of the accident, but also on regular holidays (All Saints’ Day - 1st November; Day of the Dead - 2nd November; Christmas, Easter). Decorated small Christmas trees, plastic Christmas trees, pine twigs became more and more common; poinsettias, Santa and angel figurines are observable, also in form of chocolate figures. At Easter many memorials are decorated with pussy willow branches, daffodils, even with chocolate rabbit figures and Easter eggs. In recent years different food has appeared on many sites: the favourite food or drink of the deceased person. On the memorial of a small boy, apart from sweets, there even put some baby food cans. The inscription is always written in the language of the deceased. (It is important in multilingual areas.) In many cases only the persons nickname is indicated. On tree trunk at the death site sometimes a longer text (e.g. a poem) is written, more often together with a portrait. On permanent memorials the visual representation (a portrait) is placed, generally under foil or glass-covered. On memorial graves, almost without exception, porcelain or engraved portraits can be found. The inscription does not refer to actual cause of the death, and only says that it happened suddenly, unexpectedly and under tragic circumstances. Representation of the vehicle, which was causing the accident, is still a rarity on the graves. It is common to commemorate the anniversary of the tragedy. In printed press appear In memoriam texts, with photo. Songs have been composed for the remembrance, which later often serve as music dubs to a new folklore genre, spreading of the internet, and, similarly, there appear memorial videos on the web. They are based of photos representing the life of the deceased, showing also the place of the accident, and the memorial. The acceptance versus reception of the memorials is divided. Although the local authorities take and unclear opinion concerning the phenomenon - placing road memorials is not prohibited, only with the exception of highways or places where they may endanger traffic safety. In order to reduce the number of separated memorials, it is more common in various parts in Europe they set up signs on special zones at the road, where relatives can mourn in a safe way. Several beliefs are connected with road segments, where fatal accidents occur more frequently. E.g. a special part of the Czech highway D-l, around kilometre 80, is believed to be such a place. Many stories tell that there the large number of accidents is caused by haunting ghosts and other supernatural beings.
