The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1983 (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1983-12-01 / 12. szám
December, 1983 THE EIGHTH HUNGARIAN TRIBE Page 9 was supposed until now and that its importance goes far beyond what was acknowledged by certain foreign authors. The Old Hungarian script is a strong link which binds the Hungarians to the Near-East where the first literate nations of the world had emerged. All that has a considerable bearing upon the historical role of the early Hungarians. 2. The Old Hungarian faith 1. It is a foregone scholarly conclusion that zealous Magyar kings of Christian Hungary put all their energy into eradicating the last roots of the old pagan creed from the Magyars’ soul.21 These kings, indeed, ordered the destruction of the heathen altars and temples, and severely punished the venerators of rivers, fountains, groves, trees and stars. The kings also persecuted the diehard servants of the ancient divinities, treated them as pariahs and committed them to the care of Saint Lazar. Whatever element of the old belief and custom escaped the purge was baptized and incorporated into the new religion, or relegated into the realm of folklore.22 It would be, nevertheless, a hasty conclusion to say that the Magyar kings totally succeeded in brainwashing all segments of the population. There remained, indeed, much evidence proving the survival of the old faith, not only in folklore and place-names, but even in the royal administration. Moreover, the elements constituting the old faith were to a great extent brought into the Christian religion, including the very name of the heathen god, so that Christianization cannot be interpreted as total break with the past. As a major proof of this, Arnold Ipolyi, author of a monumental “Hungarian mythology”, was able to collect a more than ample documentation about the old faith as late as the second half of the XIXth century. Moreover, the work of Ipolyi has been completed since then, with plenty of new, detailed data. What the otherwise successful scientists were unable to prove, however, was the positive identification of the chief Magyar divinity: the Sungod. Therefore, they also failed to established the relationship of the Magyar faith to the great Oriental solar religion, especially with that of Egypt. 'L. An Arab historian, Ibn Rusta, in reporting about Hungarians of the IXth century, observed that “they are worshippers of the Sun and the Moon.” This summary statement emphasizes the root of the matter, which can be advantageously completed with Magyar sources. In a pagan Magyar hymn to the Sun, we read for example this: “Thou art the primeval Tree of Life... from which everything springs; by which the night of evil spirits is chased; to which everything in this world returns” (P 130 p. 7). The rising Sun was greeted by the farmers of the Csik county with their hats off, and with the following words: “Be welcome, oh Sun, thou bringest us daylight and giveth warmth to our soil. Be blessed, thou, who disperses the dark clouds, and ripens our ears. Be glorified thou, who waters our crops and adorns our fields with flowers” (P 125 p. 339 and f.; P 020). These quotations prove that their idea of God included the belief in a divine creation, and that God governs the created world. It is also clear that the Sungod was mostly venerated in his capacity as tutelary deity of the agricultural population. His most important task was to illuminate the Earth, which he did by means of a shining globe that travelled daily across the firmament from east to west. 21. The word Pogány ‘Pagan’ originates from the Latin Pagus ‘Village’ and Paganus ‘Villager’, signifying ‘People living in the countryside.’ In the Middle Ages, the same word was, however, used in a pejorative sense to say ‘uneducated, backward, despicable’, especially when speaking of non-Christian people. The alternative word for Pagan is Heathen. It is probably derived from the Old Hungarian word Héth ‘Seven’, a shortened from of the expression ‘Follower of the Seven Great Gods.’ 22. Hungarian chronicles preserved the memory of the cruel treatment King St. Stephen inflicted upon Thonuzoba who “stubbornly adhering to his beliefs, was unwilling to become a Christian, and was buried alive with his wife” (P 120 I p. 117). A similar cruel punishment was imposed upon a woman, Raski by name, who was prominent in a heathen uprising: “(She) was captured by the very Christian King Béla and confined in prison until she ate her own feet, and also died in the same place” (P 120 I p. 398). Persecutions of adherents to the old faith continued until about the middle of the Xlllth century, the last dreaded inquisitor having been Johannes Theuthon (+ 1252), commissioner of the Holy See to several Central European states (P 047). (To be continued) — How to order this book: see last page — The author gave permission to this magazine to publish segments from the book periodically. For which we ure very grateful. We urge our readers to purchase this very valuable book. Dr. Tibor Barath, P. O. Box 697, Station B , Montreal, Canada H3B 3K3. Send Money Order only: U.S.A. $12.00; Canada $15.00 per copy and an additional »1 .00 for postage and handling. Please mention that you you are a subscriber to the Eighth Tribe magzine.
