H. Szilasi Ágota - Várkonyi Péter - Bujdosné Pap Györgyi - Császi Irén (szerk.): Agria 51. (Az egri Dobó István Vármúzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2018)

Palád i-Kovács Attila: A palócok kutatója, a palóc-kutatás szervezője

Attila Paládi-Kovács

RESEARCHER OF THE PALÓC AND ORGANISER OF THE

PALÓC RESEARCH

Palócföld is a region in Northern Hungary named after the Hungarian ethnic group that inhabits it. Most likely the Palóc ethnic group came about in the middle of the 17th century and the name itself is derived from the name of the Cumanian people in the Western Slavic languages. The Palóc dialect is a very characteristic regional version of the standard Hungarian language. Ferenc Bakó started his complex research on the Palóc way of life and traditions in 1967. His programme at the time covered a large variety of disciplines, working with ethnographers, folklorists, historians, linguists, sociologists and physical anthropologists. The field work was carried out using a special ethnographic questionnaire, often relying on the help of nonprofessionals (usually teachers and university students). An “exploratory questionnaire” was completed in around 500 settlements and the field work covered five counties. The extensive fieldwork was stopped after 1977 to concentrate on a smaller area of 20 research sites instead, switching to the methodology of intensive data collection. The field work, conducted over two decades, resulted in a vast amount of documentation, which was then archived in Eger’s Dobó István Museum. The 1960s and 1970s saw the publication of several studies, local and thematic monographs, expanding our knowledge of this region of Northern Hungary and the Palóc ethnographic group. The programme continuously yielded further publications. The so-called “Palóc research” led to several conferences, organised with the aim to discuss the theoretical and methodological issues that had arisen during the work. Eventually, in 1989 the participants of the programme published their research findings in four bulky volumes. Entitled Palócok (The Palóc), the books were edited by Ferenc Bakó, who is considered the spiritus rector of the entire work. This collective research was among the most important undertakings in 20-century Hungarian ethnography.

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