Kecskés Péter (szerk.): Upper Tisza region (Regional Units of Open Air Museum. Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1980)

1. LAND AND MAN

1. LAND AND MAN The borders of the land The region called by the population „Erdőhát" comprises the land between the „Tiszahát" and the „Szamoshát" along the river Tisza and Szamos in the north-eastern corner of the county formerly called Szatmár County, now County Szabolcs-Szatmár. Within „Erdőhát" there are different smaller regions, one called „Túrhát", the other „Palágyság". Geographically, this region of the plain in County Szatmár and County Bereg is considered as being a portion of the „Szamosköz", yet from the ethnographical point of view it must be considered as a distinctive unit on the basis of its material culture and folklore. The face of the land The majority of the small villages were settled on land cleared of forest during the 12—14th century. As the author of a monograph on County Szatmár, Antal Szirmay, wrote in 1809: „The mud of the Túr makes the soil very poor and even the fish taste polluted, but the oak trees on its banks grow to be very fine". The oak-forests were bordered by groves of alder-trees, ash and lime, cornel bushes and hazelnut. Regular inundations watered the willows along the Tisza and the Batár rivers, and forced the villagers to change their homes over the centuries. The roads of heavy loam connecting the villages were impassable during the autumn and spring rainy season. A single road remained, called the road to Kölese, leading from Nagyszöllős to Szatmárnémeti, touching Csécse, Fülesd and Vámos5