Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1978 (6. évfolyam, 16-18. szám)

1978 / 18. szám

political dynamcis of contemporary Hungary. Toma writes on the background and development of the present system with emphasis on political participation, problems of legitimacy and policymaking. Volgyes discusses the political culture, socialization, and the means (mainly mass media) as instruments of political communication, and concludes with a discussion of distribution of welfare. The authors conclude that “Although it istruethat Hungarians posses greater rights than every before and that their domestic rights -- to passports, to electoral choice, and to equal treatment under the law — have never been more liberal, the fact remains that the Party carefully delineates the parameters of their action...” In sum, "the small windows in the houses of the villages, and the balconies of the huge, prefabricated apartment houses of the cities have begun to bloom once again with flowers. Hungarians have thus symbolically begun to tend their own gardens — for their own enjoyment and for that of their children. Perhaps this turning inward represents the greatest step the population could take toward selfpreservation, a happiness outside the political sphere in the relative tranquility and safety of the small material conveniences that the past few years of progress have enabled them to attain.”

Volgyes if Prof, of Pol. Science at the U. of Nebraska, and Toma is Prof, of Pol Science at the U. of Arizona.

Weingartner, Erich ed. CHURCH WITHIN SOCIALISM; Church and State in East European Socialist Republics.

Based on the work of Giovanni Barberini. IDOC International, Via S. Maria dell'Anima, 30.00186 Rome, Italy, 1976. 262 pages, charts, maps, tables, price n.a., paper. (The volume is identified as Dossiers Two & Three of IDOC Europe.)

The volume comprises two parts: The first part presents the underlying ideological assumptions on which Marxist- Leninist legislation is based and then illustrates measures taken on that basis. The second part contains documentation for part one. Structured by countries (the USSR and eight East European Communist countries) it contains select legislative documents, articles, interviews and news items. The portion on Hungary, after giving some facts on history and government, reproduces a relevant chapter of the Hungarian Constitution, the agreements between the government and the Reformed Church (1948), and the Roman Catholic Church (1950), the decree on the limitation of religious orders (1950), another decree on government approval of church appointments (1957), and an article by Bishop Jo'zsef Cserha'ti, which first appeared in Vigilia as “Harminc e'v a hazai egyha'zszemle'let alukulasa'ban” [Thirty Years in the Changing Consciousness of a Church], There is great emphasis on “objectivism” which is said to be lacking in Western publications on East European church affairs. As Barberini sees it, for Protestant Churches the “Church-state ‘normalization’ has in effect largely been achieved." He sees “acceptance of socialist reality as not merely an irreversible, but even a desirable environment for church activity.” He believes, that the churches have won from the governments “at the very least, a position of indefinite temporariness, and with it perhaps a permanent vitality.”

The above volume has been followed up by a special issue of IDOC Bulletin No. 7 (July 1977) summarizing and in part reproducing reactions and reviews of the volume. The issue begins with a special section on Hungary dominated by an article, “Relations of a New Type,” by Imre Miklós, head of the State Office for Church Affairs, and first printed in Világosság

ARTICLES & PAPERS

Pentzell, Raymond J. "A Hungarian Christmas Mummers’ Play in Toledo, Ohio,” Educational Theatre Journal 29 (May 1977) 179-198.

The Hungarian settlement in East Toledo (Birmingham) dates from the 1880’s when the National Malleable Castings Co. transferred some of its Hungarian workers from Cleveland. Local records show the people emigrated from the Palóc region (North Central Hungary), and the residents call their Christmas play the “Abaúj Betlehem.” It is performed by members of St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, which has two troupes, and St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church with one troupe. The principal player is the Öreg (the demonic old man); he is supported by 3-4 shepherds, 2 angels and several öregek. According to tradition and pictorial evidence, the performances have been going on since the early years of this century (c. 1912). Costumes are loose blouses and skirts forthe shepherds and tall conical hats forthe angels, full bag-masks of fur and a fur jacket for the Öreg. The angels carry a Betlehem (creche) and money collected for the church is placed therein. There is a performance in church preceding Midnight Mass, and on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the players take to the streets and perform at certain households and at corner taverns. There is a standard text but considerable ad-libbing is expected. Variations in the texts seem to point to descent from different Hungarian villages.

The texts of the plays follow the nativity plays of Northeastern Hungary with some of the Sze'kely variations. Pentzell suggests that while some elements are related to plays from the Great Plains, the primitive or “pagan” action of the Toledo plays resembles those of the Sze'kelys. He also suggests two widely different sources for the mixture of pagan and Christain elements: folk reworkings of late Renaissance and Baroque religious dramas, orthefusion of a totally non-Biblical dramatic mumming with the nativity drama. In any case, the plays show a strength of the best medieval religious drama: “that tensile strength which links radically contrasting tones within a transcending theme.”

Signed Karl. Review of BELA BARTÓK. Turkish Folk Music from Asia Minor. Ed. by Benjamin Suchoff, with an afterword by Kurt Reinhard. Princeton U. Press, Princeton, NJ 08540, 1976. 288 pages, idust. $17.é0; and A. ADNANSA YGUN. Bela Bartdk’s Folk Music Research in Turkey. Ed. by László' Vikar. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó', 1976.431 pages, musical insets iliust. $36.00 Reviewed in the Journal of the American Musicological Society XXXI (Summer 1978) 2:382-384.

The two volumes are the first scientific studies of Turkish

(Continued on page 4)

(January 1977). The bibliographical part contains reviews and short notices of relevant articles.

IDOC (International Documentation and Communication Centre) describes itself as an “independent, transconfessional information center, specializing in documentation and research on the contemporary Christian experience within the process of socio-political change and human liberation.” Founded in 1962, its home office is in Rome. General Secretary is Mark Reuver.

NO. 18,1979, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

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