Horváth Attila – Solymos Ede szerk.: Cumania 5. Ethnographia (Bács-Kiskun Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei, Kecskemét, 1978)

Novák L.: A Duna Tisza köze temetőinek néprajza

lement of catholic Jazygians (jászok) into protestant centers (Kiskunhalas, Kecskemét, etc.) had a similar reason. The pressure on Protestantism manifested itself also in such a way that into larger Presbyterian centers which survived the devastations of the Turkish occupation catholic inhabitants were settled. In Nagykőrös e. g. the Presbyterians ousted the Catholics in 1668 but by the end of the 18th century they built a church for the catholic minority. Another form of the convertion to Catholicism was an administrative measure that ended the freedom of the protestant religion. This could happen in the resettled communities first of all (e. g. in the northern part of the region between the Danube and Tisza rivers, in Aporka, Majosháza, Bugyi, Alsónémedi, etc.). The religious reconciliation materialized in this region rather late, at the end of the 18th century, as a result of the decree „Edictum Tolerantiae" of Emperor Joseph II. The above edict also ended the discordance around cemeteries and burials. It made possible also for the Protestants to bury their dead in their own cemetery with their priest of their own religion, and in accordance to their own ceremonies. Even that was prescribed in this decree that believers of such religions which had neither priest nor cemetery in a community should be buried by a priest of another religion into the cemetery of this latter religion of the community in question. One of the most important points of this decree was that everybody was permitted to use traditional grave markers, and it threatened those who would be found guilty in this respect with punishment. The study of grave markers is an important part of this paper. Among them the sepulchral vaults, sepulchral structures, and other grave markers made of wood or iron represent separate groups. In respect, to the traditional social communities only the sepulchral structures, the tombstones, and the iron grave markers can be taken into consideration. They don't preserve social conventions, though, they reflect social relations. Sepulchral structures were built by the upper social strata of villages or countrytowns, and the members of the nobility in order to demonstrate the difference between their rank and that of the lower strata of the communities which erected simpler grave markers. This ambition clearly appears e. g. in the case of Nagykőrös. There the presbyterian church secured free burial place to each of its members in its cemetery if the family was satisfied with the forthcoming place. However, ifit didn't fit them and they wanted to lay the deceased to rest in another place in the cemetery where they wanted to build a sepulchral vault too, they had to pay for the burial place. In this way, the sepulchral structures showing wealth and rank were built in the center or along the main road of the cemetery. These structures (mausoleums), crypts follow the architectural styles of the periods in question (Baroque, Neoclassic, Art Nouveau, etc.). The tombstones can also be evaluated from similar viewpoints. Tombstones and stone crosses erected in the 18th century or in the first half of the 19th century represent the Baroque-Neoclassic style. Their material is red limestone. These grave markers got to the tombs of noblemen, highly respected officials or wealthy burghers. This fashion became wide-spread in the second half of the 19th century. In villages and country towns, inhabitants of property and rank had granite or marble grave markers and obelisks made and erected on their graves. This fashion made a strong effect on the grave marker cult of village and countrytown folk in the 20th century: giving up the use of their traditional grave markers (wooden crosses and headposts) they ain to erect ones made of cast stone or concrete. Also the wide-spread use of grave markers made of iron took place by the end of the 19th century. Also the wrought iron crosses in good style can rather be connected to the fashion of the time than to the preservation of traditions. From the viewpoint of social traditions the wooden headposts represent the most interesting group of grave markers. On the basis of headposts which can be documented from the end of the 19th and from the first half of the 20th century, two fundamental strata can be distinguished, the group of the old and that of the new style respectively. In cemeteries of the region between the Danube and Tisza rivers — just like in Hungary in general — the appearance of wooden headposts can be connected to the Reformation in the 16th century. The wooden headposts of the old style characterized by knobbed decorative features can be traced back to that period. They are called gomhosfa (knobbed post). In the development of the decorative features Turkish influence predominates. The Protestants weren't allowed to be bu298