Gulyás Éva: Egy őszi pásztorünnep és európai párhuzamai: Adatok a Vendel-kultusz magyarországi kutatásához – Szolnok megyei múzeumok közleményei 42. (1986)
the cult of Demetrius (26 of Oct.), for example in Little Cumania and in the area between the rivers Danube and Tisza. ín the 18—19th centuries Little Cumania, in the area of South-Central Hungary, actually belonged to the estates of Jazygia. The „puszta" in little Cumania was leased by livestock-owners fro Jazygia. The animals were driven there for grazing, and many of the owners also settled there. The wastes of little Cumania gained independence and seceded from Jazygia eventually in the 19th century as a consequence of commassation (breaking the pastures into arable lands). In these settlements the cult of Wendelinus might have spread as an influence by Jazygian colonizers. At the site of the former church of „Ferencszállás puszta" owned by Jazygions, in Kiskunfélegyháza, his primitive statue is standing, originating from 1831. He is also known in Lajosmizse, Kiskunlacháza (county of Pest) and an altar to him can be found in the Piarist church of Kecskemét (county of Bács-Kiskun). However, in little Cumania, the customs of Demetrius's day were still of the same popularity. In Kunszentmiklós (county Bács-Kiskun), the sheep-market of Demetrius was held on the same day, sheep-traders gathering from faraway lands. Relics of the veneration to Saint Wendelinus on the south of the Great Hungarian Plain are known as a result of the investigations by Sándor Bálint. The first relics occurred there also in the 18th century. The Piarists of Szeged (county Csongrád) erected a chapel to Wendelinus in 1760—70. The Wendelinus altar of baroque style in the church of LowerSzeged also derives from the 18th century. During the times of pestilence, sheep-owners in Szeged had services held at this altar. Similarly to Little Cumania, the veneration to Wendelinus and Demetrius are tightly connected. At the beginning of the last century the colourful march of shepherds in Szeged on Demetrius's day, the so-called „demetriation ", was still very famous. The region of Banat, colonized by Germans and now part of Yugoslavia, also preserves many Wendelinus-relics. Here Máriaradna had outstanding importance in propagating the cult, being a famous parishfeast site of Banat. In the eastern part of the Plains, among the Protestant people of the region, Wendelinus relics are rarely encountered. In this area the shepherd-customs of Demetrius's and Saint Micheal's day survived. This purely Calvinist region did not let any influence of church-baroque in, so it did not a low the sprea of the veneration to Wendelinus either. 145
