The Eighth Tribe, 1974 (1. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1974-04-05 / 1-2. szám
April 5, 1974 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 3 OUR HISTORICAL QUEST A favorite motif in Hungarian art is the stag. A stately, inspiring figure it is, indeed, usually in a leaping position, as if it were about to reach the unattainable, which, however, eludes its grasp. The legend of this stag goes back many centuries to a time immemorial, when the two adventurous sons of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, went out together with bows and arrows to hunt. In the course of the chase they came upon a stag of unbelievable beauty and they set out in pursuit of it. The stag, however, eluded the hunters’ arrows and at night vanished into nowhere. The next day it appeared again to tempt the hunter in these two young men only to vanish once more when night came. For days this fruitless, but ever enchanting chase continued, until at last the stag disappeared altogether in a clearing situated within the bosom of a great forest. Here, according to the ancient legend, the young hunters found themselves face to face with a large company of dancing and laughing girls. Posthaste each of the hunters chose for himself one of the beauties of the forest and together they set out into the vast unknown to find a suitable home and country. Hungarians for a long time have entertained the idea that they are the descendants of one of these brothers, whose name was Magor. Hence, the ancient name — Magyar. This motif is particularly fitting when we look at the history of the Magyar people. Throughout a long history of over a thousand years, the Magyars appear to have been in quest of the enchanted stag. From the moment they entered upon the stage of European history in 896, theirs is a story of chasing after something that everlastingly eludes them. Hungarians in a sentimental mood like to identify this something with the high place they are destined to hold among the cultured nations of the world. Few of our second and third-generation Hungarians have seen the home and country which Hungarians found for themselves after crossing the Carpathians into the great Danuhian basin. It has never been a large or very populous country. But Hungary as a country has not been a disappointment, to say the least, to any who have had the opportunity to visit there. Certainly they would thrill to the beauties of that gem city, Budapest, with its countless parks and baths, its brilliant cultural life, and its quaint and entirely distinctive setting along the Danube at a spot which for centuries prior to the coming of the Hungarians served as the crossroads of several civilizations of people who have long ago disappeared from history. They would be fascinated with the rolling plains of the Alföld, stretching over miles and miles that are broken only by a ranch here and there of the finest horses in the world, and unfolding a life that has upon it the color of a fairy tale. As we would chance upon an ancient castle here and there to help conjure up from the patina of by-gone days some of the tales of Hungarian history that tell of gallant living and heroic deeds for country and for God, for freedom and the high ends of living. Here is a land in which Magyars have been questing after the rich fruits of the human spirit, as though forever enchanted by nostalgia for the stag of Magor’s experience. The history of this nation has not been calm and uneventful. Page after page tells of storms and unprecedented stresses. There are brilliant triumphs and tragic defeats. All in all, however, Magyars have made a substantial contribution to what we style European civilization, and no son of Magor need be ashamed. Certain democratic tradition came with the Magyar tribes from the vast sweeps of Asia. An interesting manifestation of this spirit is illustrated by the blood pact upon which the seven chieftains entered as they passed through the Pass of Yereczke. Under the shadow of the Carpathians where some of our forebears lived, Álmos, Előd, Kund, Ond, Tas, Huba and Töhötöm cut each other’s veins and, mixing their blood in a cup according to an ancient tribal custom, drank heartily, promising, as they did so, to adhere to strict principles of equalitarian rule. Only a few centuries pass by when what is called the Golden Bull is adopted by the rulers of Hungary in 1222. This is only seven years later than the adoption of the Magna Charter in England. This document contains substantially the same principles of freedom as are embodied in the Magna Charta and, like its English peer, became the foundation of constitutional government for Hungarians throughout subsequent history. A highlight in the development of this same democratic tradition was the Diet of Torda in 1572, where was declared the inviolable right of religious freedom to all peoples. This happened long before the Pilgrim fathers came to these shores seeking the same privileges against English tyranny. Indeed, it happened in the year when the face of the European continent was ghastly because of religious persecu
