A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 50. (Nyíregyháza, 2008)

Néprajz - Ratkó Lujza: A nyírbátori cigányság viselete a XX. század első évtizedeiben

Antropological photo-album.] Szerk. Szuhay Péter - Baráti Antónia. Néprajzi Múzeum, Budapest 1993. RATKÓ Lujza Jósa András Múzeum Nyíregyháza H^1401 Pf. 57. e-mail: ratko@jam.nyirbone.hu Attire of the Nyírbátor Gypsies in the early-20

th century Folk costumes of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Costume history series I Ethnography has at its disposal only few data on the costume of the Gypsies of SzabolcsSzatmár-Bereg County. That is why the glass negative collection of the Nyírbátor Museum is so significant. This collection comprising 1221 pieces of negatives from the beginning of the 20

th century includes 24 photographs depicting Gypsies. We succeeded in separating these pictures on the basis of anthropological features of the faces, presence or absence of certain elements of the costume, the way of wearing it, differing from that of Hungarians. Detailed analyses of the pictures in question and comparison of this group with the rest of photographs not only supplied us with important data on the history of the costume but gave us an opportunity to make conclusions on the way of life and social conditions. The most important lesson of the examination is that in the first two decades of the 20

,h century, Gypsies of Nyírbátor did not have their own costume, but wore the same attire as the local population of the age. This, at the same time, shows that Gypsies of the region led a settled, not wandering way of life. However, several characteristic features could be observed that differ from the local peasant or bourgeois attire, and can be considered as special Gypsy elements. The most important such characteristics are the presence of fringed shoulder shawls, notched pattern of the lower part of the skirt (that continued to live in later decades of the 20

th century in the notched edge of aprons), the relatively large number of decorations, frequent bare-footness. The most characteristic feature is that costume and hair was less orderly and looser than that of the Hungarians. Beside some objects referring to occupation - two musical instruments and a whip - social position can be concluded from the quality of the attire: whether it was well off or poor, and how pretentiously it was worn. On the basis of these data we get a lot of information running on a wide scale: from gentleman's attire through nice peasant costume up to the consolidate bourgeois fashion, or extreme, individual attire, and the ragged dress of the poorest, foot-bared ones. We can assume that judging from the costumes, Gypsies of Nyírbátor at the beginning of the 20

th century were more differentiated from the point of view of social-financial situation than peasant or bourgeois population. These groups are depicted by much more photographs and represent a more balanced picture. Lujza RATKÓ Jósa András Museum Nyíregyháza H-4401 Pf. 57. e-mail: ratko@jam.nyirbone.hu