A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 24-25. (Békéscsaba, 2003)

Nagy László András: Figure of a rabies-veterinary surgeon in the folk memory in Füzesgyarmat

„ Veszett Daru " WAGENHUBER 1936. Wagenhuber A.: A veszettség és az ijedezés gyógyítása az Alföldön. Ethn XLVII/3 (1936) 15-158. Figure of a rabies-veterinary surgeon in the folk memory in Füzesgyarmat - László András Nagy Resume Sándor Daru jr. worked as a last representative of a famous rabies-veterinary dynasty from the end of the 1800s to the middle of the 1900s. We can meet his name in the beliefs of not only his close environment, the Sárrét, but the surroundings of the Nagykunság and Hortobágy also. I sought to make a proportional synthesis between the two fundamental layers of the materials collected earlier by the ethnographers and my collections: data coming from the data-suppliers in Füzesgyarmat and the closer family. Most of the text material, rooted in irrationalism, involved in our research are simply conveying beliefs. The figure of the realistic healer being in possession of, though disguised, empirical knowledge interwove with the silhouette of more belief figures with superman power: the scholar, the shepherd, the satanic coachman, the steed and the witch. The folk cure can be featured as a synthesis of the public knowledge descended from the scientific medicine and the knowledge originated in the folk tradition and available exclusively for specialists. Sándor Daru jr.

's concrete activities for healing rabies can be outlined only indirectly, using analogies of the written sources and folklore materials collected. Its reason lies in the fact that the rabiesvets concealed the principles of their diagnostic and healing activities, recipes of their medicines, their knowledge was inherited on male line to the first-born issue. They were forced to keep their methods in secret probably because of the tradition, in a less degree, while primarily the increasing hostility shown by the official medicine since the 19

th century and the legal sanctions introduced against the folk healers. Although the verbal statements on Sándor Daru jr. belong largely to the sphere of folklore, according to the used historical sources and the family memories his knowledge seems founded on empirical personal adaptation of the methods applied in the official medicine at the end of 18

th century. All of the data-suppliers in Füzesgyarmat asked by me (who were born, with several exceptions, before 1950s) have already heard the name of Rabied Sándor Daru, at least remembering him as often mentioned by older people. Many remembered only a belief-fragment relating to him, based on hearsay. These included Sándor Dam's animal-healing activities in general, and his causing illness, sending dogs. Nagy László András Sárréti Múzeum 5520 Szeghalom, Tildy u. 14. museion@freemail. hu 113