Nagy Gyula: Parasztélet a vásárhelyi pusztán (A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 4. Békéscsaba, 1975)

Idegennyelvű kivonatok, képaláírások, képek

the whole estate ended at the border of an other one. So the whole area was a regular farmsettlement. The house itself was usually an ablong shaped one-storied building. Usually the walls are made of mud or adobes. These are bridged across by rafters then covered with planks and spread with earth. This was the cover of the house in the loft three slit-and-tounge junction lied through the gable held the roof timber. The roof without the gable has been introduced in the 20

th century. For roofing reed had been used and was succeeded by tile between the two world wars. Most of the houses consisted of three rooms. The only entrance was on the medial one. This served as kitchen where the dwellers made cooking on an open fire at the chimney corner (i.e. a seat built of mud at a hinder part of the kitchen). This served as heating as well. There was no ceiling but so called "open chimney" over the fire that covered it as a tent and lead the smoke out the roof. This type of heating has mostly disappeared during two or three decades after World War I., as fire places had changed. The first type of them was built of bricks and covered with an iron plate, later the whole thing was made of iron. In connection with these usual, modem chimneys were built. On one side of the kitchen there was the room and on the other the larder opened. The fire-seat was always placed on the wall between the room and the kitchen as the high, conefrustum type mud oven was heated through the mouth opening to the later one. Wintertime the kitchen was very cold because of the open ceiling so the dwellers spent here just as much time as it was necessary and the real scenery of their life was the bigger and warm room. Here the oven was surrounded with a bench that was also sleeping opportunity. At the corner opposite to this there was the table and a bench. The beds were placed beside the longest wall. Over the way the wardrobe stood. Bread and some other meals were made in the oven of the room. Having appeared the modern close chimneys and disappearing the fire-seats from the kitchen the ovens had to be pulled down too. From this time the size of the kitchen became larger and it turned to be the centre of life even in winter as it was warm enough now. So the heating of the room with the iron stove put here became wearisome. The fact that women rarely made home made bread speeded up the demolition of the ovens from the years 1950-ies. The third premises of the house was the pantiy where different goods, utensils and small instruments were held. This had to be spacious enough as a self supporting peasant household had a great many implements and supplies. Sometimes this other room opening from the kitchen was used as dwelling place, too. In these cases a fourth room was built for pantry with an entrance from the yard. Also the loft is discussed here as an important storage space. The use and furnishing of these premises are described in detail considering the variations of the time and pecuniary circumstances. Outside the house there are several farm-buildings in the yard. The wealthier the farmer was the more stalls for the animals and storages for produce could have been found on the inner court. Although the store pit for grain, usually a 2—3 m. deep, pear-shaped hole, has a wide historic background here, and several of them can be found in the neighbouring boroughs still the inhabitants of the puszta having come to live here lately have already built small, overground buildings made of clay instead of these. But in the late 50 years even these are displaced by small and independent pantries. Smaller farmers kept their produce on their loft. At almost every farm a lath-walled, airy building can be found that is used for maize storing. The most important outhouse was the stall either for keeping horses and cows together or a stable and a cowshed separately. It depended on the number of the animals. Summertime the animals were kept outside a small encircled field or in a sideless "building" with a cover. There were separated stalls for the smaller animals. A particularity of this area the so called "round stall'. Coaches, fuel etc. were kept in a sideless but roofed 635