Horváth Attila – Solymos Ede szerk.: Cumania 5. Ethnographia (Bács-Kiskun Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei, Kecskemét, 1978)

Novák L.: A Duna Tisza köze temetőinek néprajza

without knowing their factual role in respect to the conveyance of the informations. This is particularly true in the case of such villages where headposts are still made, the headposts of women are distinguished from those of men but the motives aren't known anymore [e. g. in Áporka where nêgysarkos (of quadrangular cross-section)-tulip headposts are put onto men's graves, and laposfejű (flat-headed)-knotted (of hair) ones onto women's graves]

. In several villages of the northern part of the region between the Danube and Tisza rivers, the headposts reflect factual conventions concerning the distinction of the two sexes (e. g. in Áporka, Majosháza, and Alsónémedi). But the mixing of motives has reached such an extent in other villages that the headposts — if they are still made at all — don't convey any more detailed information: here the old traditions are followed in headpost carving without knowing the social conventions which brought the traditions into being. In most cases the new style headposts exist as survivals. This is particularly conspicuous in the case of settled alien ethnic groups. E. g. Germans from Württemberg who settled in Harta made comparatively simple headposts decorated with stylized tulip and star motives for they were Lutherans. The Slovakian settlers mixed with Hungarians assimilated themselves better, and their original rich decorating (first of all wood carving) traditions luckily concurred with the headpost making and decorating practice of the Hungarians. These all manifested themselves in that way that in their circles the headpost also becomes a survival phenomenon, and at the same time it possesses the largest treasure-house of motives in the whole region between the Danube and Tisza rivers (in Alberti, Irsa, and Pilis). Their characteristic is that the jardinière motive that occurs first at the end of the 19th century can be found only on their headposts. The life symbol assemblage consisting of the tulip, the star, and the knobbed decorations is completed here with the jardinière from which the whole system of decorating elements emerges turning the fancy headposts (cifrafejfák) into real trees of life. In the field of headpost making a decline began at the beginning of the 20th century. Though, the headposts representing the old stratum greserved their form in this time too, the new-style headposts underwent a change in form: they were replaced by headposts of very simple carving lacking any decorative feature. They were generally made by woodworking machines with less and less hand-carving. Besides the simple, flat headboards also obeliskshaped headposts copying the form of tombstones came into fashion. 300