L. Juhász Ilona: A harmincnégyes kőnél… Haláljelek és halálhelyek az utak mentén (Somorja-Komárom, 2013)
12. Földrajzi mutató
244 Summary In connection with the cult of St. Christopher, patron saint of the travellers, we can observe small objects (key-holders, magnets, saint icons etc.) with his portrait, serving as amulets. The number is increasing equally among religious and non-religious drivers. St. Christopher Day car benediction in Slovakia is not very intensive, but shows a growing tendency. Saint Christopher’s cult in Hungary, as well as the number of restaurants, pensions, etc. bearing the Saints name is more elaborated. The actual customs around road accident memory respond to the particular regions of the traditional folk culture. However, as result of increasing inner migration and mobility, the new elements of customs appear soon in new regions as well. One may ask: why are road memorials needed, even when the victims body rests in the cemetery and the relatives erect there a proper grave? The location of the road accident is regarded by many persons as a kind of magic space, where - they feel - as if the deceased person is closer than in a cemetery. It is mainly explained that the soul left the body just on this place. Death caused by a road accident differs from the average forms of the death: it comes suddenly, the relatives have had no time to prepare mentally for it, and the unexpected death is most shocking for them. Therefore, we call the road memorials like “painful mementos of the unprocessed death” - as the first researcher of that subject in Hungary, Á. Kovács once expressed. On the other hand road memorials warn the people trafficking around: “Beware, the same can happen to You” Finally the road memorial sign is a message, a mediating signal, the meaning of which is clear to everyone. Transalted by Ildikó Haraszti and Vilmos Voigt
