Gulyás Éva: Egy őszi pásztorünnep és európai párhuzamai: Adatok a Vendel-kultusz magyarországi kutatásához – Szolnok megyei múzeumok közleményei 42. (1986)

continues organically in Jzygia and reaches down to its southern part and in some cases even beyond it (Fig. 1.) In this land the extremely divergent and uniquely rich relis of folk tradition are connected to the figure of Saint Wendelinus. His painted primitive stone statues can be found in the confines of most of the villages in Jazygia. According to tradition, these were erected to commemorate a the end of a plague some time in the past. The Wendelinus-legends talk about his figure and the connected beliefs explaining the origin of statues and of customs related to the feast-day of Wendelinus. The legends represent Saint Wendelinus as local a herdsman, herds-boy or shepherd. In Jászárokszállás he is thought to have been a „herds-boy of simple sual, from this area. When plague was reeking destruction in the fields, he was on his knees, praying. His invocation gained a hearing and that is why a statue was rected in his honour". In Jászapáti „little Saint Wendelinus was the shepherd of Jesus, his most faithful pastor. He saved the cattle from the plague". Wendelinus's day is a votive feast, celebrated by the so-called Wendelinus-associations, the religious and societies of sheep-owners. Sheep-breeding in Jazygia flourished at the beginning of the 19th century, due to the prospering wool trade. It was characteristic of the extent of sheep-breeding that the livestock-census of 1828 recorded 77,684 sheep in Jazygia, the number being nearly seven times larger than that 100 years earlier. Sheepbreeding went on on such a large scale that merchants came to the area for wool even from Transylvania. Most of the society of Jazygian sheep raisers was made up of small-holders because of the lack of large farms in the region. Each owner kept 100 to 150 sheep, depending on social and financial differences. Given such circumstances, it was useful to gather in economic associations for grazing the sheep together; this was the original aim of the economic organization of sheep-owners, formed spontaneously, which was called Wendelinus-association after the elected patron. Beside the economic function they also undertook the task of propagating the veneration to the Saint. The first associations were formed in the second half of the 19th century in Jászberény (1866), then at the beginning of the 20th century with sheep-keepers moving out to detached farms the Wendelinus-associations were formed mainly with religious aims in the „world of farms". The organization had its constitution and elected directorate. The functionaries were the president, secretary, treasured and little dean, later the inspector, too. The task of the little dean was to inform the members about the sessions and any event related to the 142