S. Lackovits Emőke: Az egyházi esztendő jeles napjai, ünnepi szokásai a bakonyi és Balaton- felvidéki falvakban (Veszprém, 2000)

Festivals, holidays and customs of the ecclesiastical year

On the previous day, Holy Innocents whips were plaited by the boys from steeped willow wands onto 4-6-8 branches. They had been prepared by the boy's fathers, grandfathers or mothers. They went whipping early in the morning, visiting the houses in turn. They whipped those they found at home, or „got them up". They did not use to hit hard, only if they were specially requested to do so, or if they found someone still in bed. Whilst whipping the limbs, back, head and hips, they would recite some version of a health-giving spell or saying, e.g., „Be fresh, be healthy, do not get boils in the new year!" „Frisch und gesund, bleibt ganzes Jahr gesund" („Fresh and healthy, be healthy throughout the year!"). V. Epiphany The first festival in the new year, which forms part of the Christmas cycle, is Epiphany or the feast of the three kings on January 6. Western Christianity began to celebrate this feast of pagan origin under influence from the East, as the day of the Lord's christening, the visit of the wise men from the East (the three kings) and the miracle at the wedding of Cana. The Hungarian name (,Water Cross") is connected with the practice of water consecration, which in the Middle Ages was still carried out according to the Greek method (placing a crucifix on the water surface). Since the end of the Middle Ages, water has been consecrated in the churches of Western Christendom on this day, which at one time was performed together with the consecration of incense. Our film was taken in Magyarpolány, where at the morning mass, blessed salt is placed in the water and following this, the water is consecrated. The priest then sprinkles the faithful with this. Those present at the mass also take a botde of the water home with them. Consecrated water is one of the main sacraments of popular religion. They take enough home to fill the consecrated water stoops in the house, as the consecrated water must not run out from these. In case of other needs, enough is kept in reserve in the botde to last until the Epiphany of the following year. For three or four decades, there has been a custom of drinking from the consecrated water that is brought home from the church. It was poured into a glass, and each member of the family drank three draughts, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was splashed into the corners of the rooms, and a cross would be drawn in it on the foreheads of the children by their mother. The last in the family to go to bed would sprinkle the room with consecrated water, saying " May the almighty God bless you and keep you, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen." At the time when funerals were started from the house, consecrated water and evergreen branches were placed by the bier, with which a cross was drawn on the departed, and it was also poured into the open grave. On the day of Epiphany, consecration of houses is carried out, when the priest blesses homes by sprinkling with consecrated water, writes the initial letters of the names of the three kings and the year above the door in consecrated chalk, to which protection against sickness, fire and other troubles is attributed, and so this is not rubbed out. The names of the three kings are symbolic, and have only been