Fraternity-Testvériség, 2008 (86. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
2008-07-01 / 3. szám
FEATURE son requested that he be taken out of bed and placed on the ground as he thought it would be easier to die there. Mirrors and other shiny surfaced objects were covered when a person died. The window was opened so that the dead person’s soul could easily depart. Fires were put out in the house so cooking had to be done at a neighbor’s. A vigil was kept at night in the house of the deceased, during which time community members sang, talked, and recited popular poetry. The dead person was always carried out of the house feet first and placed on a wooden frame with four legs called “St. Michael’s Horse.” Numerous magic rituals were performed; for example, small children were made to touch the toes of dead parents in order that they should forget them easier. The news of someone’s death was made known to the community by ringing bells; the death knell differed according to whether the dead person was a man, woman or child. Before internment, fastenings and buttons were left undone on the clothes of the dead person, and coins were placed on his eyes. Another common custom was to place a sickle or some other sharp bladed instrument on the dead person’s stomach so that “it should not swell.” The favorite personal belongings of the deceased were put into the grave, and sometimes an object that had been forgotten was included for someone who had died before. The wooden headboards erected on the graves of the cemeteries of Eastern Hungary and Transylvania as well as in other Protestant districts of the country are particularly interesting, and the Museum at Kerepesi Cemetery houses the finest collection I’ve seen. The most characteristic types are the knob-shaped posts, often considered to resemble humans. The boat-shaped posts in the village cemeteries of Szamosszeg and Szatmarcseke give the impression of human figures, especially on a snowy, winter day; it’s as though one is walking by a row of idols. No historical references exist, but specialists think the knob-shaped posts are a Turkish influence. Unfortunately, most are falling into rapid decay. Historical documents refer to mourning garments of various colors, namely red, yellow and white. The white mourning dress is still known in Csokoly and a few other villages in Somogy County and in the region of Ormánság. Today, however, most village mourners usually dress in black. My husband’s grandmother wore black clothing her entire life following her husband’s death shortly after she married. One of the most archaic and beautiful poetic elements in Hungarian funeral customs is the informal recital of laments, which survives to this day despite the Church’s disproval of the custom. The Church tried to replace laments and dirges with religious songs and texts, but the lamentations survive because in them, relatives address their deceased and combine traditional sayings with their own personal thoughts. Hungarian folklorists still collect these lamentations to preserve them, but they are fading into obscurity with time. In very early times, it was customary to sing these medieval Latin dirges in first person singular at the burial rites of chiefs, soldiers and warriors. The loud wailing dirge was compulsory because people thought very badly of anyone who didn’t mourn over his relatives. At these occasions, the wailer spoke in the deceased’s name and gave an account of his deeds. Today, some part of this custom survives in epitaphs that are given by others to describe the departed person, tell how he died and lived, who he was, and what he will be remembered for. It’s a far cry from the epithet Franz Lehar, son of a composer in the Austro-Hungarian Army and creator of the “The Merry Widow” operetta, who wrote a one-line epithet for himself: “Now I have finished all my earthly business, and high time too .....now comes death.” 14 FALL 2008
