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

association. According to the constituion only men could apply for membership. They had their own sheep-stock, grazing under the case of an employed shepherd. Meeting were held twice a year, in spring and in autumn. The time of the sessions followed the time of driving out and in the livestock, but the one in autumn was held at any rate on Wendelinus's day (the 20th of Oct.). The functioning and structural organization retained many archaic features, showing the characteristics of craft guilds and old autonomous village-communities. We do not know about any other Wendelinus-associations outside the region of Jazygia in Hungary, but numerous local economic associations existed with similar features, formed for the purpose of grazing, in the market-towns of the Plains. Actually the same aim was served by the Wendelinus-associations, endued with religious character. Parallels could be mentioned from Germanspeaking areas, from South-Germany and Switzerland where Wndelinusassociations were formed in the 14—18th centuries (Wendelinbruderschaft), mainly after devastations by plague or pestilence. In the whole series of townships in Jazygia (Jászárokszállás, Jászdózsa, Jászberény, Jászapáti, Jászjákóhalma, Jászszentandrás, etc.) the socalled Wendelinus parish-feast was organized on that day. At the Wendelinus-altar of the Franciscan church of Jászberény a torchlight-ceremony was held by the shepherds. The young members of the association stood around the alter with lit torches in their hands. After the mass they marched under the flags of the association to the statue of Saint Wendelinus at the edge of the town. In the evening they consumed the lambsupper in the house of the president; this.was called Wendelinus-supper among the folk. The lamb was cooked by a skilled shepherd in the open air in a cauldron. He was presented with a litre of wine for his services. The supper was an exlusive amusement for men only, and meals were served by the little dean. The actual revelry of the shepherds began afterwards, with singing and dancing until dawn. Such meeting swere the traditional places of shepherd-songs and male-dances in the last century. The Wendelinus-suppers of sheep-owners in Jászberény can be considered as the altered forms of ancient sheep-feasts, shepherd-balls. Let us say some words about the peculiar portrayal of the Wendelinus statues in Jazygia, about their folk stylistical marks and their creators. The statues, according to local traditions, represent Saint Wendelinus in „Jazygian folk costume", dressed as a shepherd. The oldest statue stands in Jászárokszállás (made in 1832), depicting him in sheepskincoat 143