Science of Religion in HungaRy

Transcription

Science of Religion
in Hungary
Special issue of Vallástudományi Szemle
published for the 10th Conference of the European
Association for the Study of Religions
Science of Religion
in Hungary
Edited
by
Mihály Hoppál and Péter S. Szabó
King Sigmund College
and
the Hungarian Association for the Academic Study of Religions
Budapest
2011
Vallástudományi Szemle
Sponsored by the Hungarian National Cultural Foundation
Published by King Sigmund College (Budapest)
and by the Hungarian Association for the Academic Study of Religions
Editor-in-chief: Péter S. Szabó
Established by: Lóránt Bencze
Editors:
Tamás Adamik, Péter Rónay, Ulrich Luft, György Németh, Ferenc Csima
Editorial board:
Ida Fröhlich, Mihály Hoppál, András Máté-Tóth, Imre Peres, Ferenc Ruzsa,
József Schweitzer, Jenő Szigeti, László Török, Tünde Zentai
Executive editor: József Bayer
Address of editorial office:
1039 Budapest, Kelta u. 2.
Tel.: 454-7600, fax: 454-7623
e-mail: [email protected]
ISSN 1786-4062
Typography: Zoltán Pintér
Typography preparation: Krisztina Fancsek
Printed by Robinco Kft.
Executive manager: Péter Kecskeméthy
[email protected]; www.harmattan.hu
Contents
S. Szabó, Péter
Lectori Salutem
7
Adamik, Tamás
Figures of Speech and Reason in the Recognitions 8
Bencze, Lóránt
On Christian Liturgy as Ecosemiosis 21
Birtalan, Ágnes
Non-Verbal Communication with Spirits – As it Occurs in the
Rituals and as it is Reflected in the Texts of the
Darkhad-Mongol Shamans
35
Czövek, Judit
Religion and Ethnicity
50
Hoppál, Bulcsú
The Minimum Phenomenology in Religious Studies
62
Hoppál, Mihály
Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies: Towards a
New Synthesis 69
Küllős, Imola
A Calvinist Peasant Prophetess in the 20th Century 87
Máté-Tóth, András
Functions of Religion in Central and Eastern Europe
99
Németh, György
Migrations of a Goddess: Ereschigal 112
Pásztor, Emília
Prehistoric Sky Lore and Spirituality 119
Somfai-Kara, Dávid
Spirit Invocation and Altered State of Consciousness
150
S. Szabó, Péter
Theory and Methodology in Hungarian Catholic Philosopher
Ottokár Prohászka’s Work for Social Progress 163
Szigeti, Jenő
Interethnical Relations Between the Small Protestant Churches
During the Austro/Hungarian Monarchy
176
Szilágyi, Zsolt
The Political Role of Mongolian Buddhism after the Transition
184
Voigt, Vilmos
Hungarian Glances to Hagiography and the Cult of Saints
in Scandinavia and in England 203
Contributors 220
Lectori Salutem
As editor-in-chief of one of the Hungarian journals devoted to religious
studies, the Review of Religious Studies (Vallástudományi Szemle), it is my
great privilege to welcome all of the participants in the September 2011
conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions. Our
journal seeks to be a forum for Hungarian researchers in religious studies
and to reflect the richness of activities in this field. The scope of our
editorial work ranges from representing the research findings of various subdisciplines within religious studies to mapping the political concepts which
underpin the activities of religious communities. Accordingly, the aim of the
present special issue is to give scholars and experts visiting us from various
European countries a sample of the work of their Hungarian colleagues. The
collection does not undertake to represent the work of all of the Hungarian
experts, nor does it represent that of the respective individual scholars in its
entirety. We hope, however, that the picture it offers will become enriched
and broadened by the end of the conference as a result of this collaboration.
I wish you all fruitful discussions and a very pleasant stay in Hungary.
Peter S. Szabó
Figures of Speech and Reason in the
Recognitions1
Tamás Adamik
1. The idea to examine the figurative language of the Recognitions came to mind
when reading Rufinus’s prologue to bishop Gaudentius because this prologue
is full of figures of speech, especially of metaphors. For example, Rufinus
addresses Gaudentius as nostrorum decus insigne doctorum, ’conspicuous
ornament of our doctors’ who has tantus ingenii vigor (Prol. 1)2 – ’so great
vigour of talent’, in turn he calls his own talent as ingenii tenuitas (Prol. 2)
’slenderness of talent’. He names his Latin rendering of the Recognitions:
praedam Graecorum bibliothecis direptam – ’booty, taken from the libraries
of Greeks’, because he will feed his Latin readers with foreign food: (ut ...
peregrinis nutriamus alimoniis: Prol. 2). The foreign things seem to be more
agreeable to the readers, therefore everything which is pleasant to the body
is foreign in Rome, for example Judaea sends balsami lacrimam, ’the tears
of balsam’, Creta comam dictamni, ’the hair of dittany’, and Arabia flores
aromatum, ’flowers of spices’ and so on (Prol. 3). He apostrophizes the
Latin Recognitions as Clemens nostrae linguae (Prol. 2) and as Clemens ...
iam Romanus (Prol. 4) since the protagonist of the Recognitions is Clemens
Romanus. On the stylistic elaboration of his translation Rufinus declares
that in it appears minus solito floridus eloquentiae vultus (Prol. 4), ’less
than usual bloom on the face of eloquence’, and he expresses the idea that
he translated the Recognitions with hard work as follows: peregrinas ergo
merces multo in patriam sudore transvehimus (Prol. 5, ’we conveyed the
foreign merchandise to our native land by much sweat’). The ideological
contents of the work he calls occultos sapientiae thesauros (Prol. 5), ’secret
treasures of wisdom’.
1 First published in J. N. Bremmer (ed.) 2010, 217–226.
2 B. Rehm 1994.
Tamás Adamik
9
The Recognitions came into being independently of the Homilies, in Syria
or Palestine ca. AD 350; it also appeared in Greek3, but it survived only in the
AD 406 Latin translation of Rufinus in ten books. So the Latin language of the
Recognitions mirrors the Christian Latinity of the end of the fourth century. The
Recognitions is a lengthy novel, and we therefore have to survey its structure,
in order to see the role of Simon Magus in the whole work. In book 1 the
young Roman Clement travels to Judaea to get to know the Christian teaching
from Peter,4 who preaches the gospel of the true prophet, i.e. Jesus Christ.
Peter kindly accepts him and Clement can attend his sermons because Peter
wants to prepare his people for the debate with Simon Magus.5 Book 2 contains
information on Simon Magus and reports the debates of Peter with Simon. In
book 3 Peter continues to expound the teaching of the true prophet; then the
debates of Peter and Simon follow again, and Peter defeats Simon, who leaves
in order to perturb the Christians with his magic power. At the end of Book 3
Clement informs us that Peter entrusted him with writing down all that he hears
from him. Book 4 proves that there is only one God, Book 5 discusses the topic
of two heavens, Book 6 focuses on right and wrong. In Book 7 Clemen informs
us about his family (how he finds his mother and his two brothers). In Book 8
there is a discussion about providence, in which an old man defends the teaching
of astrology. Book 9 refutes the determinism of astrology, which is defended by
the old man, who turns out to be Clement’s father. In Book 10 the discussion
continues about the origin of the world and about the pagan gods. Finally the
old man travels to Antiochia and discloses Simon’s crime (that Simon killed a
boy) in such a way that he drives Simon away. So Peter can go to Antiochia,
where he teaches, cures and succesfully converts many people.
In my contribution I analyze only the first part of the text concerning the
first debate of Peter and Simon Magus on peace and justice (2.20–36) from
the point of view of its figures of speech and its appeal to reason,6 a topic
which has generally been overlooked by scholars.7
2. Clement, the sophisticated young Roman, wants to see the simple
truth in the big questions of life and philosophy without fallacies of words
(verborum fallacia 1.5.4), without any dialectics (nihil dialecticae artis 1.
3 Cp. W. Schneemelcher 1992, II. 483–493.; J. Quasten 1975, 59-63.; J. Wehnert 1992,
211–235.; J. N. Bremmer 2010, 6–9.
4 B. Pouderon 1997, 63–79.
5 About Simon Magus see: K. Beyschlag 1974; G. Lüdemann 1975; T. Adamik 1998, 52–64.
6 Cp. H. Lausberg 1998; S. E. Porter 1997, 124–150.
7 Cp. P. L. Schmidt 1977, 101–115.; M. Vielberg 2000, 52–57.
10
Figures of Speech and Reason in the Recognitions
7.14), without the artificial embellishment of style (absque ullo dicendi fuco
1.7.14), and without the cords of the snare of syllogisms (syllogismorum
tendiculas 1.8.1) because the truth dwells in simple words (veritas in
simplicibus verbis, non in versutis et callidis habitat (1.9.7).8 Therefore he
sails forth to Judaea, to Caesarea Stratonis,9 where he hears that the next
day there will be a debate between Peter and Simon (1.12.2). Peter, too, will
contend against Simon with the force of simple truth and reason (1.17.7).
Simon, however, postpones the debate, and Peter therefore prepares his
fellow Christians for the discussion, that is, he preaches to them the Christian
doctrines, the teachings of the true prophet. Peter’s disciples, Niceta and
Aquila, worry about the debate with Simon. They were earlier disciples of
Simon Magus, and therefore they know him well, and they inform Peter of
Simon Magus. Niceta says that Simon is the most violent orator, nurtured in
dialectical art and in the snares of syllogisms (2.5.4).10
Aquila relates the biography of Simon and he highlights Simon’s
Samaritan origin, his mastery in magic arts and Greek culture. Aquila says
that he saw Simon to work a lot of miracles, for example, his mistress, Luna
was in a high tower which had many windows, and at the same time she was
visible in every window. He worked other miracles, as well, which made
people regarded him as a god. When Aquila asked Simon how he did these
unbelievable things, Simon confessed that he worked miracles by means of
the soul of a killed boy (2.13.2).11
3. Now let us see what means of argumentation occur in Peter and
Simon’s dispute. Peter greets his audience with peace. He wishes peace to all
those who like the truth, then he stresses that they have to seek justice and
the kingdom of God. They have to know the justice of God in order to act
rightly, and they have to seek the Kingdom of God in order to know what
reward they get for their right life because after their death the righteous
obtain happiness, the wicked punishment. They must follow the teachings of
the true prophet who helps those who sincerely seek the truth in peace. To
emphasize his ideas, Peter uses a lot of metaphors: Pax vobis sit omnibus, qui
parati estis dare dexteras veritati (2.20.1), iustitiae eius semitas incedentes
(2.20.1); in praesenti vita positos (2.20.3), per inanes ... quaestiones
8 Cp. E. P. J. Corbett – R. J. Connors 1999, 62–71.
9 See Der Kleine Paully 1964, I. 1004–1005.
10 M. Vielberg 1999, 41–62.; D. Côté 2001.
11 On the status of the magus see D. E. Aune 1980, 1507–1557.; C. Faraone – D. Obbink
(eds.) 1991, 260–276.; F. Heintz 1998; J. N. Bremmer 2010, 12–23.
Tamás Adamik
11
(2.21.1), inanes ... et vacui ab operibus bonis (2.21.1), abundanti viatico
bonis operibus repleamur (2.21.3), maioribus se erroribus inseret (2.21.7),
non per viam ... iusticiae incedens (2.21.7), ad portam vitae (2.21.7), in via
positi veritatis (2,22,1), non velocitate pedum, sed operum bonitate currentes
(2.22.1), intellegite itaque viam esse hunc vitae nostrae cursum, viatores eos,
qui bona opera gerunt, portam verum prophetam, de quo dicimus, urbem
regnum esse, in quo residet omnipotens pater (2.22.3), verus propheta ab
initio mundi per saeculum currens festinat ad requiem (2.22.4).
Simon retorts that there is no need for peace because in peace and
agreement people cannot find justice; bandits and lechers live in peace
with one another, too: Nos pace tua opus non habemus; si enim pax sit et
concordia, ad inveniendam veritatem nihil proficere poterimus; habent enim
inter se pacem et latrones et scortatores (2.23.1). He contends in the guise
of reason, therefore he uses fewer metaphors. He says not to call upon peace
but rather war, its mother, and to get rid of errors: noli invocare pacem, sed
magis pugnam matrem eius (2.23.4), expugna errores (2.23.4). In short,
Simon prefers struggle to peace.
In reply, Peter delivers his ideas quietly. He again emphasizes that peace
is better than struggle because we should seek truth in quietness and in order:
cum quiete et ordine veritas requiratur. In a quarrel, one who is better and
worthier should gain the victory. When some people feel that they will be
defeated in a dispute, they begin to wrangle in order to escape defeat. If truth
defeats somebody, it is not the person that is defeated, but the ignorance
which is in him. Peter again argues with metaphors: ponamus mundum hunc
campum esse aliquem magnum (2.24.1), nonnulli enim in disputationum
certamine ubi errorem suum senserint confutari, causa perfugii conturbare
continuo incipiunt et movere lites (2.25.1), cum omni patientia et quiete
indago disputationis habeatur (2.25.2), ut examinatione iustissima clarescat
veritatis agnitio (2.25.4), si quis a veritate vincatur, non ipse vincitur, sed
ignorantia quae in ipso est, quae est daemon pessimus, quam qui potuerit
effugare, salutis accipit palmam (2.25.5), quia ergo via dei via pacis est, cum
pace quae dei sunt requiramus (2,25,8).
Simon responds that Peter expounds prepared ideas, in order to seem
clever to the uneducated crowd. He will prevent him from doing so, therefore
he puts questions to him. Peter agrees. Now Simon says rudely, that Peter is in
conflict with his master, Jesus Christ who says: »I came not to send peace, but
12
a sword.«12: Non vides, inquit, imperitissime, quod contraria agis magistro
tuo, pacem deposcens, quod utique non convenit ei, qui expugnaturum se
promittit ignorantiam? aut si recte pacem ab auditoribus poscis, non recte
magister tuus dixit: »Quia non veni pacem mittere in terram, sed gladium.«
(2.26.5).
Now Peter takes over the tune of Simon, and he, too, argues both ad
personam and with reason: his master is right and he, too, is right, when he
begs for peace. But Simon ignorantly and blindly blames him for what he
does not understand because he did not hear that Jesus also said: ’Blessed
are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’ Neque
qui misit me male fecit gladium mittere in terram, neque ego contraria ei
ago, auditorum pacem requirens. sed tu et imperite et temere reprehendis
ea quae non intellegis; etenim quia pacem non venerit mittere in terram
magister, audisti, quod autem dixerit: »Beati pacifici, quoniam ipsi filii dei
vocabuntur«, non audisti (2.27.1–2).
Simon, responding to Peter, accuses him of being illogical by questioning
why his master ordered others to preserve peace if he himself did not
come to make peace: Pro magistro respondere cupiens, o Petre, multo eum
gravius accusasti, si cum ipse non venerit pacem facere, hanc aliis servare
praeceperit (2.27.4–5).
Peter answers that Jesus Christ as a true prophet does not contradict
himself, and does not order us to something other than what he does. His
words (i.e. ’for I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and
the daughter against her mother’) are said in the interest of peace. Jesus
advised the poor people to bear their hard life patiently, and he said to them:
’Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God’.
However, he also said that he is at war with those, who do not believe. It is
about them that he says: ’For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother’. He proves these ideas again
with metaphorical language: paupertatis pondus spreta cupiditate portarent
(2.28.3), sed et esurientes et sitientes aeternis bonis iustitiae saturandos esse
promisit (2.28.5), semetipsum a pessimis et pollutis cogitationibus contineret
(2.28.6), sic ergo magister noster discipulos ad patientiam virtutis invitans
(2.28.6), ne in egestate quidem positos miserati sunt (2.29.2), bellum verbi
et confutationis indicit (2.29.5), quod clavem scientiae quam a Moyse
traditam susceperant, occultarent, per quam posset ianua regni caelestis
12 References are to The Holy Bible 1983.
Tamás Adamik
13
aperiri (2.30.1), filius pacis (2.30.3), veritatis sermo (2.30.6), ut absque ulla
perturbatione possit via salutis agnosci (2.31.1), quod si quis pacis verba
non suscipit neque adquiescit veritati (2.31.2), adversum eum pugnam verbi
movere (2.31.2), regredietur ad nos pax nostra (2.31.3).
Simon argues again with apparent reason and sarcasm by saying, ’I
admire your stupidity. You expose the words of your master as if he were
a prophet. But he contradicts himself, therefore he cannot be a prophet.
Stultitiam tuam demiror. Sic nobis magistri tui verba proponis, quasi certum
de eo habeatur, quod propheta sit, quem ego perfacile demonstrare possum,
multa sibi contraria locutum. denique ex his, quae ipse protulisti, arguam te
(2.32.1–4).
Peter responds quietly and says that Simon raises objection to what he
does not understand. Jesus Christ sent his apostles not to speak but to teach
what he had entrusted to them, and that, if the apostles teach their own ideas,
they will be false advocates of the true prophet, since the true prophet cannot
contradict himself: non enim dicere, sed docere ea in mandatis habemus
et ex ipsis ostendere, quomodo unumquodque eorum veritate subnixum sit
(2.33.4), nam si aliud dicam, quam praecepit mihi ille qui me misit, falsus ero
apostolus (2.33.6). quod qui facit, utique se meliorem vult ostendere quam
est ille a quo missus est, et est sine dubio praevaricator (2.33.7). propheta
enim est et sibi ipsi esse contrarius non potest (2.33.9).
Simon contradicts him: if your master is incongruous, he is not a prophet:
Non opus habeo hoc discere abs te, sed quomodo sibi ista conveniant. si enim
inconsonans ostenditur, simul etiam propheta non esse docebitur (2.34.1).
But Peter explains that congruence does not make a prophet, incongruence
still less, because if people go deeply into it, what seems to be incongruous,
turns out to be congruous, and vice versa, so that it is better to know whether it
is a prophet who speaks or not. If he is a prophet and seems to be incongruous,
he is congruous but we do not understand him: hac de causa aliam non puto
rectiorem esse viam ad horum discrimen, nisi ut prius cognoscamus, si is
qui locutus est ea quae videntur inconsona, propheta sit. si enim invenitur
propheta esse, omnia illa quae videntur sibi esse contraria, constat habere
constantiam, sed non intellegi (2.34.3–5).
Now Simon says to Peter: Teach us why it is consistent that one who
divides, and whose divisions ruin those who are divided, nevertheles seems
to be good or to bring salvation: Doce ergo nos, quomodo conveniat, ut is qui
divisiones facit, quae divisiones cadere faciant eos qui dividuntur, vel bonus
videatur vel ad hominum salutem venisse (2.35.1).
14
Peter answers that his master divides those who are in error with the words
of truth, in order to stop the error and enforce the truth. And if it happens in
a house that the error, introduced in it by someone, divides the truth, and the
error succeeds, the truth cannot subsist: in errore positum mundi regnum vel
unamquamque in eo domum verbo veritatis dividit, procul dubio ut cadat
error et veritas regnet. quod si alicui accidat domui, ut error introductus per
aliquem dividat veritatem, cum error obtinuerit, certum est veritatem stare
non posse (2.35.3–4).
Simon contradicts: It is uncertain whether your master divides error or
truth: Sed incertum est, utrum magister vester errorem dividat an veritatem
(2.35.5).
Peter responds: It is another question. But if you think, that all that is
divided, is ruined, I will show, if you will hear it with peace, that Jesus divided
error, teaching the truth: Istud alterius quaestionis est. sed si constat apud
te, quia omne quod divisum fuerit, cadit, superest ut ostendam, si tamen cum
pace audire vis, quod Iesus noster errorem diviserit ac resolverit, docendo
veritatem (2.35.6).
Simon interjects: Don’t repeat the word peace frequently: Omitte, inquit,
sermonem pacis frequenter iterare (2.36.1).
Peter answers both with figurative language and reason: ’Why are you
afraid to hear about peace frequently? Or do you not know that peace is the
completion of law? For wars and struggles are born from sins; but where
there is no sin, there is the peace of soul; where, however, there is peace,
there is truth in the disputes, and justice in the deeds. Quid times crebro
audire de pace? aut ignoras quia perfectio legis pax est? ex peccatis enim
bella nascuntur et certamina, ubi autem peccatum non fit, pax est animae:
ubi vero pax est, in disputationibus veritas, in operibus iustitia invenitur
(2.36.2).
4. In argumentative discourse, the thesis indicates the truth that we want
our audience to accept. According to Aristotle, we persuade others by three
means: 1) by the appeal to their reason, 2) by the appeal to their emotions,
and 3) by the appeal of our personality or character.13 Which strategy we
use will be partly determined by the nature of the thesis and partly by the
kind of audience. The appeals to reason that an orator might use are merely
adaptations of logic, but they must not violate the principles of strict logic.
If they violate them, the orator commits a fallacy. The word fallacy has two
13 Aristotle 1982, 1.2.3.; 1356a.
Tamás Adamik
15
meanings: 1) a false, erroneous statement; 2) invalid or deceptive reasoning.
The first has to do with the matter of the argument; the second, with the form
of argument. The appeal to the audience’s emotions is of crucial importance
in rhetoric because they have a powerful influence on the will. Nevertheless,
the ethical appeal is also important in rhetorical discourse, because we deal
with matters about which absolute certainty is impossible.14 If the speaker
is a person of sound sense, high moral character, that is, he already has a
reputation familiar to the audience, this reputation favorably disposes the
audience towards him.
Above we have seen that Simon Magus was nurtured in dialectical art
and snares of syllogisms: in arte dialectica et syllogismorum tendiculis
enutritus (2.5.4). Indeed, he often uses fallacies, for example, in his first
response about peace he adopts a fallacy: si enim pax sit et concordia, ad
inveniendam veritatem nihil proficere poterimus (2.23.1). This is a fallacy
of matter, because his statement is false.15 His second argument is based on
contradiction: si recte pacem ab auditoribus poscis, non recte magister tuus
dixit: ’Quia non veni pacem mittere in terram, sed gladium.’ Simon here
adopts the fallacy of half-truth, in which everything that is said is true, but
because not enough is said, the total picture is distorted. The omission of
details conceals or distorts the context of the situation. This is again a fallacy
of matter.16 In his third answer Simon commits the same fallacy again, but
this time he worsens it because he draws a conclusion from his fallacy as
from a true proposition, and he again picks out a saying of Jesus from the
context. So, Simon disputes with Peter by means of fallacies.
In contrast, Peter argues by means of figures of speech. We regard figures
of speech as the grace of language, as embellishment, for they decorate the
style. But classical rhetoric did not treat them as decorative devices primarily.
According to Aristotle: „It is metaphor above all that gives perspicuity,
pleasure, and a foreign air, and it cannot be learnt from anyone else.”17 „Easy
learning is naturally pleasant to all, and words mean something, so that all
words which make us learn something are most pleasant. Now we do not
know the meaning of strange words, and proper terms we know already. It
is metaphor, therefore, that above all produces this effect; for when Homer
calls old age stubble, he teaches and informs us through the genus; for both
14 E. P. J. Corbett – R. J. Connors 1999, 71–80.
17 Aristotle 1982, 3.2.8.; 1405a.
16
have lost their bloom.”18 Longinus points out the persuasive function of
figures more explicitly: „Well, it is able in many ways to infuse vehemence
and passion into spoken words, while more particularly when it is combined
with the argumentative passages it not only persuades the hearer but actually
makes him its slave.”19 Quintilian emphasizes that the figures lend credibility
to our arguments, excite emotions and win approval for our characters as
pleaders (Inst. 9,1,20–21).
Now, Peter achieves all these objects by means of his figures of speech:
he teaches, delights, moves, and convinces his audience of the justice of
Christian religion. With his beautiful metaphors, he evokes feelings, for
example, dare dexteras veritati (2,20,1), iustitiae eius semitas incedentes
(2,20,1), abundanti viatico bonis operibus repleamur (2,21,3), ad portam
vitae (2,21,7).20 With his complex figures of speech, he carries his audience
with him: Quid times crebro audire de pace? aut ignoras quia perfectio
legis pax est? ex peccatis enim bella nascuntur et certamina, ubi autem
peccatum non fit, pax est animae: ubi vero pax est, in disputationibus veritas,
in operibus iustitia invenitur (2.36.2). In this train of thought he uses two
rhetorical questions, metaphors and a powerful climax. Besides, his figures
of speech are vehicles of his religious conviction and of his firm character,
as well. Peter is theios aner because he is an advocate of the true prophet,
therefore he surpasses the human dimension.21 According to Victoria ArnoldDöben, the figurative language is characteristic of religious discourse.22
Christine Mohrman confirms this by her researches into the diction and
style of St. Augustine and St. Bernard. The more mystic their style the
more metaphorical it becomes.23 Research into the style of other Christian
authors shows the same.24 In modern scholarship, the role of metaphors in
philosophical discourse is emphasized more and more, as, for example Paul
Ricoeur does it in his book La métaphore vive.25 Chaim Perelman states
18 Aristotle 1982, 3.10.2–3.; 1410b.
19 Longinus 1907, 15.9.
20 M. Vielberg 2000, 50–54. did not pay heed to the metaphors of Peter and to the falalcies
of Simon.
21 Cp. H. D. Betz 1983, 234–312.; P. Herczeg 1998, 29–38.
22 Victoria Arnold-Döben 1986, 16–20.
23 Ch. Mohrmann 1961, I. 396–402.; II. 361–367.
24 J. B. Hofmann – A. Szantyr 1972, 781.: „Daß ein Rhetoriker wie Tert. den metaphorischen
Ausdruck besonders liebt, ist begreiflich (s. Hoppe, Synt. 172 ff.), wie überhaupt die
Kirchenschriftsteller in den Metaphern, deren Kreis sie durch Übernahme des biblischen
Metaphernschatzes sehr erweitern, ein wirksames Stilmittel erblicken.”
25 Cp. P. Ricoeur 1975, 356–374.
Tamás Adamik
17
it as follws: „Today, whether it is a question of metaphors living or dead,
awakened or dormant, the certainty prevails that philosophic thought, and
perhaps all creative thought, cannot do without them.”26 But Peter can argue
by a natural appeal to reason, as well. He puts into practice the same rhetoric
which is described in book 4 of Augustine’s De doctrina Christiana as ideal
for Christian speakers.27
5. To sum up, we can say that Peter won in the first debate. After the
debate, when Simon left, from the three thousand people who attended their
dispute, only one thousand went away with him. Two thousand remained
with Peter and sang his praises.28 Peter won because – on the one hand – he
knew the truth, and – on the other – by his metaphors and reason he lent
credibility to his arguments, and excited positive emotions in his audience.
Bibliography
Adamik, Tamás
1996/97 Augustinus’ De doctrina Christiana IV und die antike rhetorische
Tradition. Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 37. 285–
292.
1998 The Image of Simon Magus in the Christian Tradition. In: Jan N.
Bremmer (ed.) The Apocryphal Acts of Peter. 52–64. Leuven,
Peeters.
Aristotle
1982 The „Art” of Rhetoric. With an English Translation by John Henry
Freese. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard
University Press.
Arnold-Döben, Victoria
1986 Die Bildersprache der Gnosis. Köln.
26 Ch. Perelman 1982, 124.
27 T. Adamik 1996/97, 285–292.
28 et cum haec dixisset, egressus est, secuta autem est eum ex omni populo qui cum ipso
venerat pars tertia, qui erant quasi mille viri; ceteri vero fixis genibus prostrabant se
Petro , super quos ille invocato dei nomine alios daemonia habentes curavit, alios etiam
languentes sanavit, et ita laetantem populum dimisit, mandans eis, ut in crastinum diem
maturius convenirent (2. 70. 3–4).
18
Aune, D. E.
1980 Magic in Early Christianity. Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen
Welt II. 23. 2. 1507–1557.
Betz, H. D.
1983 Gottmensch II. Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 12. 234–
312.
Beyschlag, K.
1974 Simon Magus und die christliche Gnosis. Tübingen, J. C. B. Mohr.
Bremmer, J. N.
2010 Pseudo-Clementines: Texts, Dates, Places, Authors and Magic. In:
Jan N. Bremmer (ed.) The Pseudo-Clementines. 1–23. Leuven,
Peeters.
Bremmer, Jan. N. (ed.)
2010 The Pseudo-Clementines. Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha
10. 217–226. Leuven, Peeters.
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1999 Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. New York – Oxford,
Oxford University Press.
Côté, Dominique
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1964–1975 Lexikon der Antike. 1–5. B. Herausgegeben von K. Ziegler –
W. Sontheiner – H. Gärtner. Stuttgart – München.
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1991 Magika Hiera. Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. New York –
Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Heintz, Florent
1988 Simon «le magicien», Actes 8,5–25 et l’Accusation de Magie contre
les Prophètes Thaumaturges dans l’Antiquité. Paris.
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1998 Theios aner Traits in the Apocryphal Acts of Peter. In: J. N. Bremmer
(ed.) The Apocryphal Acts of Peter. 29–38. Leuven, Peeters.
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1907 On the Sublime. In: W. Rhys Robert (ed.) The Greek Text Edited After
the Paris Manuscript, with Introduction, Translation, Facsimiles
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19
Lausberg, Heinrich
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Lüdemann, G.
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Theologische Arbeiten 1.)
Mohrmann, Christine
1961 Études sur le latin des chrétiens I–II. Roma, Edizioni di Storia e
Letteratura.
Quasten, Johannes
1975 Patrology. I. The Beginnings of Patristic Literature. Utrecht –
Antwerp, Spectrum Publishers.
Perelman, Chaïm
1982 The Realm of Rhetoric. Translated by William Kluback. Introduction
by Carroll C. Arnold. Notre Dame (Indiana), Notre Dame University
Press.
Porter, S. E.
1997 Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330 B.
C. – A. D. 400. Leyden – New York – Köln, Brill.
Pouderon, B.
1997 Flavius Clemens et le proto-Clément juif du roman pseudoclémentin. Apocrypha 7. 63–79.
Rehm, Bernhard (hrsg.)
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Georg Strecker 1994) Berlin, De Gruyter.
Ricoeur, Paul
1975 La métaphore vive. Paris, Éditions du Seuil.
Schmidt, Peter L.
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Dialogs. Christianisme et formes littéraires de l’antiquité tardive
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Vandoeuvres – Genève.
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McL. Wilson. Cambridge.
The Holy Bible
1983 Authorized King James Version. Michigan, University of
Michigan.
20
Vielberg, Meinolf
1999 Bildung und Rhetorik in den Pseudoklementinen. In: S. Döpp
(Hrsg.) Antike Rhetorik und ihre Rezeption. 41–62. (Symposium zu
Ehren von Prof. Dr. Carl Joachim Classen) Stuttgart, Franz Steiner
Verlag.
2000 Klemens in den pseudoklementinischen Rekognitionen. Berlin,
Akademie Verlag.
Wehnert, J.
1992 Abriss der Entstehungsgeschichte des Pseudoklementinischen
Roman. Apocrypha 3. 211–235.
On Christian Liturgy as Ecosemiosis1
Lóránt Bencze
It is a general Christian teaching that the Church, the deeds of the Church,
her words, especially the sacraments are signs that
mediate grace,
mediate divine life,
fulfil human life.
According to speech act theory, these signs can be said to be illocutions
or/and perlocutions or performative verbs, at least for the faithful.2 Various
types of liturgical performances (eucharist, liturgy of the word, prayer in the
community etc.) are always
calls for action and/or
performance of action and/or
fulfilment of what is said for the faithful who participate in it (e.g.
declaring a marriage).
In the “technical terms” of the New Testament the words that are uttered (by
Jesus and by the Church) come true immediately.3 It is also well known that
Thomas Aquinas put sacramenta in genere signi, i.e. he looked at sacraments
as sign types.4 He was and Roman Catholic theology has ever since been
interested first of all in the defectus of sacraments, i.e. – in linguistic terms –
1 First published by Linguistic Agency of the University of Duisburg. Duisburg (1996). Prof.
Kenneth Boyd (University of Edinburgh) wrote about the first version: “I found the ideas
about liturgy and ecology extremely thought-provoking, fruitful and helpful. Conceptually
and theologically it is a very fine contribution to our understanding of the liturgy.”
2 Cf. J. L. Austin 1962.
3 Cf. Lk 4, 21; Mt 8, 8; Lk 7, 7.
4 Summa theologiae. III. qu. 83.
22
On Christian Liturgy as Ecosemiosis
how a speech act is damaged or how and to what extent communication fails in
sacraments. Theologians have also been interested in categorizing liturgical acts,
in defining subtypes of them, and have been preoccupied with the possibilities
of interpreting them (i.e. which should be interpreted as law, which as allegory,
etc.). In the theology of the Eastern Church, liturgy has been religious teaching
and religious experience.5 This attitude of the Eastern Church was neglected in
the Western (Latin) Church – except in the practice of the Benedictines – till
the liturgical movements of the nineteenth-twentieth centuries. The reason for
this neglect was the overemphasis of the ex opere operato factor in the West.
Following the viewpoint of Thomas Aquinas and considering the question
from the viewpoint of semiotics, it is obvious that if the sacraments are sign
types, they are in one genus with human speech. Besides, sacraments are
connected not only to human speech acts but also to human nature as a whole
for they are connected to basic turning-points of human life, e.g. the sacrament
of baptism is connected to birth, the sacrament of marriage is connected
to sexuality and race preservation, etc. That is why liturgy as religious
experience and as communication is also a kind of ecological system: it is a
pattern that reinforces ecological thinking and acting in those who participate
in it. Liturgy is a vital part of human communication and of (human) ecology.
According to the Christological model liturgy, communication and ecology
cannot be separated and cannot be confused.
The sine qua non of liturgy and that of the sacraments as signs within the
liturgy are
the matter (materia), i.e. perceivability, and
the symbolic/metaphorical nature, i.e. the perceivable thing symbolizes
and refers to something else, it is not simply itself, it is for something
else. The symbolic/metaphorical nature is not just the result of a cognitive
procedure. It is of psycho-socio-somatic character and is socio-culturally
justified in a given community.
Attention must be called to the fact that information flowing in
communication is in-forming – as the etymology of the word reveals it.
Information penetrates into human personality and forms it. Information is
creative.6 In the liturgy the experience through the five senses is semiogenesis
5 Cf. A. Schmemann 1983.
6 Cf. L. Bencze 1996, 11.; Concilium 1995, 176.
Lóránt Bencze
23
at the same time. This experience is a symbolic/metaphorical one, and is a
type of holistic human communication, for liturgy is connected not only to
the five senses, but also to
turning-points of human life as mentioned above, to
seasons, to
constellations of the Sun, Moon and stars, i.e. to the
cosmos.
The place of the liturgy is also a metaphorical sign, the shaping of the
liturgical space is also a sign and/or a system of signs. This architecture of
the liturgical place is also of psycho-socio-somatic character. This character
includes the socio-culturally justified cosmic determination. We can think of
the churches in an eastward position, of light effects in churches, of pictures
and statues and of their arrangements, of black Madonnas in Africa, etc. Thus
the liturgical space communicates just like people and objects in it.
The liturgy prefers both verbal and non-verbal signs that are iconic,
especially metaphors.7 As we have seen above in metaphors artificial,
conventional and iconic signs amalgamate in a special harmony. Certainty
and uncertainty in the interpretation of a metaphor are a semiotic incarnation
of predictable and unpredictable, of expected and unexpected.
In theological terms the aim of semiosis in liturgy is metanoia (conversio),
i.e. radical conversion of life, a renewing without destroying. In ecological
terms the aim of the liturgy is to achieve a sustainable development of man
and his physical and socio-cultural environment, i.e. to achieve balance
and harmony without the extermination of conflicting factors. The idea of
ecological democracy is a struggle for harmony by preserving opposites
without curtailing them within reasonable limits. The violent elimination of
opposites in human society is tyranny, while the violent freedom of opposites
is anarchy. In ecology both have been eliminators of balance ever since homo
sapiens appeared on earth with his autonomy. Ecological thinking cannot
even exist without theonomy. Theonomy – in opposition to autonomy that
characterizes modern European thinking and results in the destruction of
ecological balance, in merciless exploitation of man and his environment, in
environmental pollution beyond description – is a humble approach not only
to the Creator of the world, but also to the created world. Creation is not just
7 Cf. the categorization of signs by Peirce, Ch. S. Peirce 1931/1958.
24
a past action of unknown temporal distance. It is a permanent creating, i.e.
a continuous action of creation without any time limit as Thomas Aquinas
suggested, as a free thinking philosopher and not as a faithful theologian.8
The basic consequences of theonomic and ecologic thinking and behaviour
in man are:
1. A respect for the individual and for difference. This respect is of social
interest. In this respect individuals, persons are planted in the family, nations
in the Church, peoples in mankind, reason in emotions, virtues in instincts,
grace in nature (as Bishop Prohászka pointed out).
2. A respect of tradition and an openness to something that is new in
opposition to tradition. We are able to walk only if we take a step forward
with one leg and leave the other in its place (as Baron József Eötvös pointed
out). We look forward all the time like a car driver, yet we have mirrors in
our car that enable us to look backwards and sideways if necessary (after
Károly Csébfalvi).
3. Our love of man and nature manifests itself neither in crazy
transformations of man and nature, nor in underutilization or waste. It
manifests itself in a wise coexistence of living creatures through the journey
of life (after the mission statement of Zsámbék Catholic Teacher Training
College).
Liturgy can be said to be the main source and shaper of such a theonomic
and ecologic thinking and behaviour. Liturgy informs the world of the infinite
love of its Creator. The liturgy is an unconditional, universal (katholikos) and
love-principled participation in the world. Liturgy is an direct support to man
who suffers from the world and an indirect support to the world that suffers
from man.
Finally, we should not be surprised that the death of God in the twentieth
century has simultaneously been the death of nature. The consequence of the
unlimited autonomy of man was the devastation of the internal and external
environment of man. If we look at environmental pollution, nuclear, chemical
and political catastrophes that have been taking place up to now in the
twentieth century, we realize our scientific rationality has resulted in a crazy
irrationality (e.g. nuclear catastrophes, chemical pollution). Theonomic and
8 Cf. Summa theologiae. I. XLVI. 1–2.: „Videtur quod universitas creaturarum, quae mundi
nomine nuncupatur, non incoeperit, sed fuerit ab aeterno. ... Respondeo dicendum quod
mundum non semper fuisse, sola fide tenetur, et demonstrative probari non potest: sicut
et supra de mysterio Trinitatis dictum est. ... Unde demonstrari non potest quod homo, aut
coelum, aut lapis non semper fuit.”
Lóránt Bencze
25
universal (katholikos) ecological thinking and behaviour have been aborted
by capital, by media and politicians controlled by capital and media.
Over against this, in liturgy one can meet the wisdom of ecology, for
liturgy is of theonomic, universal and holistic thinking. Liturgy is the hope and
demand for the end of fear, terror and expulsion. The metanoia (conversion,
renewal) that is required in liturgy is the restoration of achievable harmony
and sustainable balance. While ecology is the relation of plants and living
creatures to each other and to their environment (Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary, Oxford Univ. Pr. 1995), liturgy is – as its etymology shows – a
common work and a work of community for each other and for each other’s
environment. Ecological relation and cosmic mutual dependency in liturgy
is koinonia, i.e. the unity of departed, living and future mankind and world.
Liturgy is a unique ecological information flow that is directed by the above
mentioned inseparable and inconfusable respect for Creator and creature.
For the faithful it includes the revelation of the information flow within the
Creator (Holy Trinity), the information flow between Creator and mankind
(incarnation of the Logos in Jesus Christ) and of course the information flow
between Creator and creatures in general (logoi spermatikoi). In ecology
relation and information flow include daily giving and receiving, taking and
dropping, building and unbuilding, etc. In the liturgy of the faithful, in this
common action of a human community, the daily forbidding and allowing
takes place.9 Both are to sustain balance and to achieve harmony (following
the ideas of Human Ecology by Imre Lázár, manuscript).
According to the above explication, liturgy is also an ecological pattern
system that aims at a psycho-socio-somatic synthesis, a holistic life and
synergetic actions. Though this pattern concerns the total regulations of the
whole man and his environment, yet its actual appearance is socially justified
in a given society and culture. Originally, not in the twentieth century, bread
and wine as sacrificial/metaphorical gifts could appear only in an agricultural
society with a given climate, in a society that could produce bread and wine
as items of daily consumption. The same can be said about religious and
theological terms. The term Logos could appear in the Hellenistic society in
which it had various meanings like order, speech, word, order of the world,
etc. The theology of this Logos can be partly identical with, partly different
from its Hungarian – more or less – equivalent term Ige, the meaning of which
is connected to word, verb, yes (igen), true, (igaz), truth (igazság), igéz (to
9 Cf. Mt 16, 19, potestas solvendi et ligandi.
26
enchant, to charm, to fascinate) etc.10 Consequently liturgy – as an ecological
pattern system and as (metaphorical) actions which aim at sustaining an
(human) ecological system – depends also on climatic parameters and can
gradually change as much as a given socio-cultural system changes, also
depending on climatic differences or changes.
Therefore the symbolic/metaphoric system and linguistic system of
liturgy can gradually change. Verbal and non-verbal metaphors and iconic
phenomena in general can be universal (katholikos) on the one hand, for
and if they are connected to universal human phenomena (like baptism is
connected to washing with water, etc. cf. above). On the other hand they
change, if they are connected to changing (socio-cultural) phenomena (cf.
the above mentioned theologies of Logos in Greek and of Ige in Hungarian).
We can also think of the different and identical semantic markers in Our
Lady, the Holy Mary, Gottesmutter, Regina coeli, Boldogasszony (“happy
woman” in current Hungarian and “pregnant woman” in old Hungarian) and
of the identical reference of the enumerated “names”.11
Liturgy is an ecological pattern system not only in theory, but in praxis.
Liturgy preplays an ecology that man needs to have to sustain human and
environmental ecology. It is well known that the playing of children (and
young animals) is a preparation for situations to come in life. Playing is a
simulation of expected and of unexpected situations. The more we play, the
more we might be able to cope with forthcoming events. Thus playing aims at
decreasing unpredictability and increasing predictability, i.e. at negentropy.
This playing is also similar to first language learning, in which the more
attempts at learning a given (phonological, morphological, syntactical,
textual, metaphorical) structure, etc. are produced by a child, the more
probably and more quickly he will acquire the proper knowledge and usage
of phenomena of a given language phenomena.
Liturgy is a performance and/or imitation and/or representation of patterns,
examples, models, archetypes and archetypical/metaphorical acts. Ancient
cannibalism appears in a sumblimated and “innocent” way in the eucharist
whenever Jesus’ words are repeated: Take this and eat, this is my body, ... drink
from this wine, for this is my blood etc. Ancient human sacrifice appears in
the biblical and theological expressions that God as Father loved the world so
10 See also the translation of Hamlet by János Arany which is similar to as well as different
from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
11 Cf. Frege’s famous example: In German both Abendstern and Morgenstern refer to the
planet Venus.
Lóránt Bencze
27
much that he sacrified his first born son for it. The so-called orans gesture (the
opening of arms) is even more ancient. It also reminds us of animals, especially
of dogs when they surrender themselves in playing. This gesture is probably
the same as that of approaching and embracing a friend, a child or a lover.
The basic difference between liturgy as playing and (theatrical and other
types of) playing is that liturgy is not only imitation but also a fulfilment of
what is played. What is performed comes true for the faithful.12 Thus liturgy
is not just a special system of (metaphorical) sign types, a special system
of playing, a performed drama of aesthetic values, etc., but for the faithful,
liturgical events are metaphors of real events and real events themselves like
Jesus’ death and resurrection were both symbols of rebirth, human sacrifice
etc. and real rebirth and real sacrifice. In theological terms liturgy is
the appearance of heaven on earth,
the appearance the divine in the human,
the appearance of the supernatural in the natural.
The various technical terms I have used here express various approaches
and meanings, but identical references. Following them, we can look at
liturgy as a play and simulation that aims at sustaining ecological balance,
establishing harmony. Liturgy in its psycho-socio-somatic nature treats
and conducts events that are lived by man as tragedies of dissonance and
inbalance in his ecology (death and resurrection, birth and rebirth, etc.).
Liturgy is a therapy for ecological disasters that happen to man, and a means
of avoiding imminent disasters.
Liturgical play includes dialogues in the sense dialogue takes place not
only between two, but among many. Dialogue in liturgy is not only a crosscultural communication, but a cross-creature communication.13 Dialogue is
a human and linguistic type of ecological information flow as it is mutual.
Mutuality in dialogue ensures the respect of the other. The very essence of
dialogue is – among others – the acknowledgement of the necessity of mutual
attention, of mutual dependence, etc. Therefore dialogue is the best means
for man to achieve harmony without the elimination of opposites. Liturgy
is nothing other than dialogues between God and man, between Christ and
12 Cf. the Theodramatik of Hans Urs von Balthazar 1973–1983.
13 Cf. the interpretation of Solomon Marcus that dia in Greek does not mean only two but also
through. S. Marcus 1986.
28
Church, between Christ and soul, between priest and faithful, between
individual and community, between two persons within a community.
If we consider liturgy as a semiotic and ecological play and a guarantor of
system it will throw light on some of the crises of Western European (especially
Roman Catholic) Churches, on the lack of priests and the uncertainties of
the faithful. Both in the Roman Catholic Church and in Protestant Churches
priests/pastors became social leaders. This type of leader appears both in
the demands of priests/pastors and in the expectations of the faithful. In the
terms of the analogies and approaches outlined above we can say that priests
became regisseurs, directors or/and playwrights in the same way that man in
Western European thinking won for himself the right to become an absolute
ruler of internal (human) and external (environmental) ecology. If we look
at the role of priest at the beginning of the sixth century in the Rule of Saint
Benedict, we are shocked to find that a priest is not a leader, not a director,
not a manager. He is “simply” a sacramental instrument: If any ordained
priest asks to be received into the monastery, do not agree too quickly.
However, if he is fully persistent in his request, he must recognize that he
will have to observe the full discipline of the rule without any mitigation ...
He should, however, be allowed to stand next to the abbot, to give blessings
and to celebrate Mass, provided that the abbot bids him. Otherwise, he must
recognize that he is subject to the discipline of the rule ... Whenever there
is question of an appointment or of any other business in the monastery, he
takes the place that corresponds to the date of his entry into the community,
and not that granted him out of respect for his priesthood.14 He ... must not
presume to do anything except what the abbot commands him ... he may not
therefore forget the obedience and discipline of the rule ... He will always
take the place that corresponds to the date of his entry into the monastery,
except in his duties at the altar, or unless the whole community chooses and
the abbot wishes to give him a higher place for the goodness of his life. Yet,
he must know how to keep the rule established for deans and priors; should
he presume to act otherwise, he must be regarded as a rebel, not as a priest.15
In these quotations the role and function of a Christian priest was – so to
say – clearly defined and declared. The distinction between ex opere operato
and ex opere operantis was not yet confused and this confusion did not
impose an unbearable burden on priests and an irresolvable contradiction on
14 T. Fry (ed.) 1982, Ch. 60.
15 T. Fry (ed.) 1982, Ch. 62.
Lóránt Bencze
29
the faithful. In the community planned by Saint Benedict the freely elected
head of the community (the abbot) – after his election – runs the community
as one man management. At the same time this manager is obliged to ask for
the advice of the whole community that elected him, or at least that of the
seniors.16 Yet he is not obliged to follow the advice. In addition there is no
discrimination concerning either the eligible person as abbot or the persons
who may give advice: Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be
the criteria for choosing the one to be made abbot, even if he is the last in
community rank. ... The reason why we said all should be called for counsel
is that the Lord often reveals what is better to the younger.17 The (human)
ecology and the balance of individuals, society and their environment in the
Rule of Saint Benedict are guaranteed in the rules that aim at struggling for
a harmony that preserves contrasts and opposites uncurtailed. This harmony
of uncurtailed contrasts and opposites is – among others – guaranteed for the
Rule states that
the manager should rule and decide, but at the same time in his decisions
he should adapt himself to the circumstances, – in other words – to the
situational context that is made of the given individuals, society and
environment,
he should rule first of all by his example and actions, not with his words,
he should not neglect either the internal (intellectual, spiritual, emotional,
etc.) or the external (natural and man-made) environment, playing one off
against the other, consequently,
he should not be discriminative (e.g. not only a priest, but also a man born
free is not bo be given higher rank than a slave...), yet,
he should apply the same discipline to all according to their merits ... ,
he must vary with circumstances ... ,
he must serve a variety of temperaments ...,
he must accomodate and adapt himself to each one’s character and
intelligence...18
The question of woman priesthood is put in another light in the ecosemiotic
view of the liturgy. In the ecosemiotic view of the liturgy, the question
16 T. Fry (ed.) 1982, Ch. 3.
17 T. Fry (ed.) 1982, Ch. 64. and Ch. 3.
18 T. Fry (ed.) 1982, Ch. 3.
30
simply either does not arise or if it happens to arise it is of no significance.
Emancipation movements in European culture were born parallel with the
destruction of environment in European civilization. If – in the traditional
Christian thinking – one compares the ex opere operato, i.e. the sacramental
function of priests to the archetype of Holy Mary cult (virgin, mother), then
priesthood looks insignificant, undesirable and almost contemptible for
a woman who thinks in an ecological way. Current European thinking –
wherever spread on the globe – is in plain contradiction to (theonomic)
ecological thinking. It caused troubles both in the external and in the internal
environment. As we have seen this anti-ecological thinking totally changed
the biologically and psychically determined role of a woman. It replaced
the archetype of virgin and mother with the archetype of sterile whore. As
in all fields of environmental pollution, this European civilization wants to
get rid of the trouble by means of substitute actions (cf. conferences instead
of actions – in opposition to the Rule of Saint Benedict: action instead of
words, etc. as mentioned above), women want to be put into the archetype
of (celibate) priesthood. There are several ecological and ecosemiotic
somersaults in this emancipational thinking and desire, among others that
priesthood and celibacy are not connected to each other by a divine law
(even in the Roman Catholic Church), that
sterility and celibacy can easily be confused, yet should not be. They
have totally different aims. The sterility that most emancipated women
undertake is a flight from responsibility and destroys both internal
(psychic) and external (childlesness) ecological harmony. European
welfare societies will not be able to pay pensions for there will be too
many retired people and too few young people who are active workers.
Celibacy aims at the unconditional support and service of disadvantaged
strata of society, e.g. widows, children, handicapped, mentally retarded,
sick, etc. Consequently celibacy aims at a kind of restoration of (human)
ecological harmony and balance.
As we have already seen liturgy is an action that is multimedial and
includes the operation of all the senses. Besides and within action and speech
essential parts of liturgy are
tha art of singing and (instrumental) music,
the art of gestures and mimicry,
Lóránt Bencze
31
the art moving of the body,
the art of clothing the body,
distance in actions,
dancing, etc.
All the actions and speech in liturgy have both literal and figurative
(metaphorical) meaning. Thus in Christian liturgy the essential and existential
convergence of metaphorical and non-metaphorical opposites, of timeless and
time, of divine and human, of eternal Creator and permanently created, etc.
cannot be either separated or confused. This convergence results in humble,
forgiving and honouring behaviour in man and guarantees an (human)
ecological harmony. When on the one hand one speaks of the therapeutic
function of liturgy, one acknowledges the balance-producing and restoring
function of liturgy. On the other hand one cannot do anything with liturgy
if one has no ecological thinking, i.e. one is selfish, powerful, satisfied with
oneself, has no sense for the metaphorical etc.
Liturgy is a series of ecological and ecosemiotic actions that in-forms
self-restraint in man. Liturgy broadens man’s view towards the metaphorical
in the non-metaphorical in his experience of the world around him. The
metaphorical calls his attention to characteristics in creatures that are beyond
usefulness. This stimulates man to turn to a sustainable development.
Repetition and memory also play an essential role both in metaphorical
thinking and in liturgy. Ecological and ecosemiotic balance are permanently
endangered. Therefore ecology and ecosemiosis must be permanently
sustained by repetitive actions. In liturgy repetitive actions, i.e. tradition and
creative actions, though they seem contradictory are kept in harmony (as
mentioned above). Just as the metaphorical can be interpreted on the basis of
the non-metaphorical, liturgy is neither pure emotion nor pure rationalism,
neither exlusive mysticism nor exclusive science, neither rigid tradition
nor superficial renewal. In liturgy emotion and rationalism, mysticism
and science, tradition and renewal, etc. are inseparable and inconfusable.
European civilization has tried to find substitutes for all of these harmonized
contrasts and opposites of liturgy. In these substitutes contrasts and opposites
are both confused and separated. In liturgy the greatest sinner is tolerated,
but the smallest sin is intolerable. In European civilization, for example, in
tyranny the smallest sinner is not tolerated, while in anarchy the greatest
sin is tolerated, etc. In both cases the (human) ecological and ecosemiotic
system is destroyed.
32
Liturgy is a perfect pattern of ecology and producer of ecological thinking
for liturgy is always takes place in a community (koinonia), as we have seen
above. Therefore it is also not accidental that metaphors of love are mainly of
nature (external environment) and of religion and liturgy. On the other hand
metaphors of the liturgy are also and mainly from nature and from love (cf.
Christ and Church as lovers in the New Testament, the poetry of John Donne,
Saint John of the Cross, etc.).
Another consequence of the koinonia of liturgy is that it requires personal
presence. Therefore radio and television broadcasts of both the catholic
mass and of the Protestant liturgy of the word are against the very essence
of liturgy. Broadcasting and media require the production of new religious
genres to fulfil the missionary task of the Church, not murdering her “old
genres”, and not shaping the liturgy into cheap imitations of media genres.
Ecology and ecosemiosis of liturgy include a behaviour and state of
permanent gladness, joy, happiness and jubilee. This is the joy of being,
the joy that “I am and thou art”, and “it is good to me that thou art” (after
prof. Péter Nemeshegyi). I happened to see a Catholic programme on the
television in Hungary. All the time everybody complained, everybody was
bitter: Only three of us work at the parish ... How terrible it was for forty
years of communist suppression ... We do not have this, we do not have that ...
We have failed because Hungarian society is such and such, people are such
and such ..., etc. If there is no liturgy, no faith that in-forms participants of
liturgy, these catholics were right. Yet if liturgy exists, they were all liers.
It is also not accidental that aesthetics has occurred implicitly whenever I
have analyzed any (human) ecosemiotic aspect of liturgy. Any neglect of the
aesthetic aspect weakens the very nature of liturgy, decreases the effectivenes
of liturgy as a psycho-socio-somatic phenomenon. Therefore the translation
of the artistic Latin texts of the liturgy into a cheap colloquial Hungarian
after the Vatican Council II. in the 1960’s was a crime against liturgy.
Theonomic human ecology is an integral part of ecology as a whole.
Liturgy shapes human ecology and ecosemiosis, and that is why with the
neglect of liturgy the whole ecology is damaged. This is what mankind has
faced in the last two centuries. Autonomy without theonomy cannot result
in a sustainable ecology. Ecology cannot exist without the ecosemiosis
that liturgy imbues into its participants. Without the renewal (metanoia)
that is produced by liturgy freedom becomes media-slavery, environmental
pollution and self-destruction. The problem of metaphor looks an ephemeral
and insignificant question if it is considered only from a literary or linguistic
Lóránt Bencze
33
point of view. Yet, if we look at it from an ecological and ecosemiotic point
of view metaphorical thinking is of vital importance for man and his world.
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Folgerungen. Würzburg, Echter Verlag.
Non-Verbal Communication with Spirits – As it
Occurs in the Rituals and as it is Reflected in
the Texts of the Darkhad-Mongol Shamans1
Ágnes Birtalan
In the present article I am going to investigate the non-verbal communication
between the Darkhad shamans and the spirits on the basis of the data recorded
during my fieldwork and on the basis of the corpus of the textual tradition
of Darkhad shamanism. Here I would like to express my gratitude to those
participants of the VII. ISSR who made valuable comments on my paper,
first of all to Laurel Kendall and John Pilch.
Before presenting this phenomenon, it is necessary to summarise the basic
facts about the Darkhads, whose shamanic tradition I have investigated. The
culture, the language and also the shamanic phenomena of the Darkhads
were first studied by the Russian researcher Garma Sanžeev,2 and some thirty
years later by Vilmos Diószegi,3 who devoted a decisive article to the origin
of Darkhad shamanism. O. Pürew, the Mongol scholar of Darkhad origin
was the interpreter of Vilmos Diószegi and since the visit of the Hungarian
researcher he has also started to study his own folk’s shamanic tradition.
In the 1990s he systematised his materials and published a monograph
on Darkhad shamanism.4 S. Dulam, the Mongol ethnographer, published
Darkhad shamanic texts in transcription and also a summary of his field
work results about the Darkhad shamans’ activity.5 The activity of the team
of the Hungarian–Mongol Expedition researching West- and North-Mongol
1 This article has been already published, cf. Non-Verbal Communication with Spirits – As it
Occurs in Rituals and as it is Reflected in the Texts of the Darkhad-Mongol Shamans. In:
Shamans Unbound. Ed. Mihály Hoppál – Zsuzsanna Simonkay in cooperation: Kornélia
Buday – Dávid Somfai Kara. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó 2008, pp. 153–163.
2 G. Sanžeev 1931.
3 V. Diószegi 1963.
4 O. Pürew 1999.
5 S. Dulam 1992.
36
Non-Verbal Communication with Spirits...
dialects and folk culture began in the 1990s.6 About the field work results of
the team connected to the Darkhads see below.
The Darkhads live in Khöwsgöl (Xöwsgöl), in the northernmost province
of Mongolia. The history of this ethnic group that lives mainly in four districts
of Khöwsgöl province has not yet been clarified adequately. They were a
privileged group who served the Khalkha holy Jebdsundamba, the incarnating
spiritual and political leader of the Eastern Mongols since the seventeenth/
eighteenth centuries. According to the sporadic information about them,
they were obliged to pay tribute in booty. Among the twenty-four Darkhad
clans there are numerous ethnonyms from various Mongol and Turkic ethnic
groups who settled in from various regions of Inner Asia and South Siberia.
They are famous for a specialty, namely the peculiar songs and shamanic
tradition of black shamanism. Their language belongs to the Khalkha group
(Khalkha is the official language of the Republic of Mongolia), but has some
features of the West Mongol (Oyirad) and Buryat dialects, has a particular
intonation and a specific vocabulary. The shamanic tradition has survived
among them even during the decades of Socialism.7
In 1991, a systematic fieldwork research started in West and North
Mongolia with the participation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the
Mongol Academy of Sciences and the Department of Inner Asian Studies of
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). The main aim of the ongoing fieldwork
is to record systematically the dialects and various aspects of the popular
culture of Mongol ethnic groups living in that investigated region. The team
of the joint expedition carries out fieldwork activity yearly in North and West
Mongolia and its archive contains a considerable amount of sound- and photo
material, parts of which are published in numerous articles and in a series
of books. The team was lucky enough to start its activity parallel with the
political changes in Mongolia, thus the areas of folk life that were tabooed
beforehand, such as the religious activity, could be researched.
During the past one and a half decades, a significant amount of material
on shamanism has also accumulated and is now at the disposal of the research
team, which is in the process of elaboration. I myself focused my studies on
shamanic texts, conceptualising the phenomenon “text” in a broader sense,
including ritual texts, interviews and also simple sayings of the shamans
6 The research has been supported several times by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund
(recently OTKA K 62501).
7 About the history of the Darkhads cf. Á. Birtalan – J. Sipos and £. Colō 2004.
Ágnes Birtalan
37
beyond the rituals. A bulky monograph is devoted to this topic on the
basis of my field researches focusing on the genre, the performer and the
communicative character of the text: Darkhad Shamanic Texts. Performer,
Genre, Communication (manuscript).
While participating in the rituals and recording texts, I was able to observe
the communicative situation at the place of the ritual between the shaman
and the community (i.e. the human participants), and between the shaman
and the invoked spirits. These communicative actions occur in a socially and
economically determined environment, in definite cultural circumstances (the
Mongolian cultural context). The communicative action is based on strict
reciprocity between the shaman on one side, and the communities of spirits
and humans, on the other.8 A feed-back control is exercised by the shaman’s
both communities; the efficiency of his rituals determines his place in the
community, and, moreover, his life and death. My research is focused first
of all on the verbal communication, but in addition, I had the opportunity to
examine several ways and means of non-verbal communication, too.
In the present article I aim to represent the system of non-verbal
communication between the shaman and the spirits as it was observed during
the rituals in situ and to draw a parallel between the ritual action and its
manifestation in shamanic texts – if there are any verbalised projections of
them. In my monograph I made an attempt at interpreting shamanic texts
as communication-based phenomena using the models established among
others by Spiro, Platvoet, Hoppál9 and Lovász.10
Texts and other channels, techniques, means of communication are
analysed in my above-mentioned monograph at the following levels of
communication centred on the shaman:11
8 A.-L. Siikala (1992, 38.) calls the spirit community of the shaman “identification group”
since the shaman identifies himself with them during the ritual, letting them enter his
body; on the other hand, she calls the participants of the ritual “audience group”.
9 M. Hoppál 1992.
10 I. Lovász 2002.
11 Communication between the spirits’ world and the human audience is not less important,
but it is also realised through the shaman (the shaman recognises the problems caused by
the spirits to people, the spirits talk through his mouth, he carries out the ritual to pacify
the offended spirits etc.).
38
Chart 1
I. Communication between the shaman and the spirits’ world
II. Communication between shamans (shaman and his master, shaman
and his disciple, shaman and other active shamans)
III. Communication of the shaman with his family
IV. Communication between the shaman and his human community
V. Communication between the shaman and his assistant(s)
VI. Communication of the shaman with researchers (native and foreign
researchers)
On the basis of studies investigating the aspects of the sacral
communication,12 the existence or absence of the following channels of
communication could be observed and established during my fieldwork:
Chart 2
I. Verbal Communication
II. Non-verbal Communication
1. Vocalic Communication (sound or absence of sound)
1.1. Beating drum, playing Jew’s harp
1.2. Tune and rhythm of the recited texts
1.3. Imitating animal sound
1.4. Communication via silence
2. Communication via Movements
2.1. Mimic
2.2. Gesticulation (gestures, clapping)
2.3. Postures (stepping, jumping, sitting, squatting)
2.4. Touching (the altar, images, offerings, the participants)
2.5. Falling down in a swoon
3. Communication via Offerings
3.1. Communication via fragrance (fumigation)
3.2. Communication via libation
3.3. Communication via tasting (food, drink, tobacco)
12 Designing this system we adopted the classification of Hoppál and Lovász, adapted to the
Mongolian context (I. Lovász 2002 passim).
Ágnes Birtalan
39
On the basis of my fieldwork, experience level I (Chart 1: Communication
between the shaman and the spirits’ world) and level II (Chart 2: Non-verbal
communication) will be discussed. Not all the above-mentioned ways of
communication accompanied the rituals of Darkhad shamans I could observe.
In the following examples of the communication-phenomena of the rituals
I witnessed, the presence of particular ways will be given in details, and the
absence of other modes of communication will also be touched on.
II. Non-verbal Communication
1. Vocalic Communication (sound or absence of sound)
1.1. Beating the drum and playing the Jew’s harp
The drum and the Jew’s harp are the
main sound-producing instruments
in the communication with the
spirits. While the Jew’s harp is
usually used during the day-ritual,
the drum could be sounded only at
night (Picture 1).
1.2. Tune and rhythm
Picture 1. Shamaness Bayar plays her Jew’s
harp during a day ritual (1999, Ulanbator,
photo Attila Rákos).
13 Á. Birtalan – J. Sipos and £. Colō 2004.
The tune and the rhythm of the
ritual texts also transmit a message
to the spirits’ world; to particular
spirits belong particular tunes
and rhythms. However, it was not
possible to identify a special tune
and rhythm for each spirit invoked.
The first attempt to investigate this
way of communication was made
by János Sipos and me,13 though this
aspect of shamanic communication
needs further research.
40
1.3. Animal sound
During the rituals the shaman might call his spirits with animal sounds. For
instance, the Darkhad shamaness Baljir (Bal¤ir) (or her soul) turns into an
eagle-owl, into a cuckoo or a bear and calls her protector spirits (ongons)
by imitating that particular animal’s sound. The animal sound could be
accompanied by beating the drum, or may appear solely without drumming.
I asked the shamaness’ daughter to help to decipher the records of the ritual
in situ. Listening to the recording made with her mother, Baljir’s daughter
explained to me as follows:14
Fragment 1
– Xengergē coxiōd baina, xengergē coxiōd baina. Xǖg, xǖg xügle¤ baina.
She beats her drum, she beats her drum. She hoots tu-whoo, tu-whoo.
– What kind of bird is it?
– Šar šuwū bol¤ baigā yum. Xī yam, xī yam genē. She becomes an eagleowl. She says khi-yam, khi-yam.
– What does it mean?
– Ene ongodō dūda¤ baina. Daxiad xǖg, xǖg, xǖg ge¤ baina. She calls her
ongods.15 She hoots again tu-whoo, tu-whoo, and tu-whoo.
Fragment 2
– Tengerē ur’¤ baina. Šar šuwū bol¤ baina. »rīn ongod Ojūrānyam yum.
She calls her gods. She becomes an eagle-owl. Her own ongod is
Odsuuraanyam.16
– Xā ge¤ bāwgai bol¤ dūria¤ baina. Inē¤ baina. Xöx« bol¤ xöx«čil¤ baina.
Saying kha, she becomes a bear and imitates it. She laughs. She becomes
a cuckoo and cuckoos.
Fragment 3
– Daxiad-l xöx«čil¤ baina. Yer-n’ xoyor ongod b«lsön xün baina. Xoyor
ongod or¤ irsen baina. She cuckoos again. She is generally a person
who shamanises with two ongods. Two ongods entered.
14 Materials of the Expedition Khöwsgöl, Bayandsürkh (Bayanjürx) August 1993, tape-
record.
15 The ongon generally means “the protector spirit and its representation” among the Mongols.
On the Darkhad notion of this phenomenon cf. Á. Birtalan – J. Sipos and £. Colō 2004.
16 In detail cf. Á. Birtalan 2007.
Ágnes Birtalan
41
Fragment 4
– Xengergē coxiōl baina. Odō bū¤ baina. Odō ongodō tarā¤ baina. Odō
xar’¤ bucan-ū. She continues to beat her drum. Now [the spirit(s)]
depart(s) [from her body]. Now she sends away her spirit(s). They [the
ongons] surely return now.
Fragment 5
– Tanūdīg xel¤ baina. Šar šuwūgār xǖgle¤ baina. Xöx«čil¤ baina. She says
it about you. She hoots like the eagle-owl, she imitates the cuckoo.
1.4. Communication via silence
Communication via silence I could not observe among the Darkhad shamans,
but it was significant in the ritual of a yellow shaman from West Mongolia
during a pacifying ritual of angry spirits in order to avert a storm. Shaman
Kürlää (Kürlý) inserted short phases of silence into his ritual text recited in a
probably pseudo Tibetan language.17 During the rituals of the black shamans,
using silence as a way of communication was not significant according to my
experience.
2. Communication via Movements
2.1. Communication via Mimic
During the night rituals, the mimic of shamans who have their shamanic
clothes and headgear on is not significant, though we have some photos
testifying to the trance experience on the shaman’s face. The day rituals
when shamans do not wear their shamanic outfit do not require special
mimic effects, but the trance experience is reflected on their faces as well.
An important factor of the day ritual is, however, the masking of the face
with the tassels attached to the Jew’s harp or covering the face with hands
while the shaman whispers the questions of the clients to the spirits. In some
texts, however, there are allusions to the mimic during the rituals, as in the
following fragment recorded from a West-Mongol (Oyirad) shamaness,
Amar¤argal. This invocation is also connected to the shamanic tradition in
Khöwsgöl province, as it is dedicated to Dayan Deerkh (Written Mong.
Dayan Degereki), a local god in Khöwsgöl province.
Amnīxa cagān šüdīg
Yaraljūlan sū¤ dūdī!
17 In detail Á. Birtalan 2001b.
I call you sitting and flashing
My white teeth in my mouth!
42
Alag xoyir nüdē
Ergeljǖlen sū¤ dūdī!
Dūgarax xōlō
Amā amgaljūlan sū¤ dūdī!
I call you sitting and rolling
My hazel eyes!
I call you sitting and opening my mouth
With my sounding voice!18
2.2. Gesticulation (gestures, clapping)19
2.3. Postures (stepping, jumping, sitting, squatting)
2.4. Touching (the altar, images, offerings, the participants)
Both night and day rituals contain a
large variety of movements including
gestures, postures, and steps. The
majority of rituals I could witness
were indoor rituals, thus the place for
the shaman’s movement was limited.
These rituals are carried out on the
honoured place of yurts or houses in the
presence of the audience, so the place
is also delimited by the participants of
the ritual. Black shamans change their
postures while drumming in front of
the altar. They stand, kneel, squat and
sit cross-legged, change their postures
with only a few steps. Black shamaness
Bayar also turned her drum in front
Picture 2. Shamaness Baljir hiding herself of her body with wide, energetic
into her drum during a night ritual (1992, movements. Shamaness Bayar and
Khöwsgöl province, Bayandsürkh district, Baljir seemed to be getting into their
photo Gergely Bolya).
drums at certain points of the ritual,
supposedly when they were asking the
spirits about the problems of their clients and the audience (Picture 2). The
following fragment of the above-quoted Dayan Deerkh invocation describes
the shaman’s movements during the ritual:
18 Materials of the Expedition collected from shamaness Dügerxǖgīn Amar¤argal in Uws
province, Dsüün Turuu (Jǖn Turū) district, at place Örgön Shugui (Örgön šugui) 27 August
1995.
19 On the gestures in the sacred spheres, cf. D. N. Freedman – A. C. Myers 2000, 497–499.
Ágnes Birtalan
Bayin sūx xülgī čin’
Barin sū¤ dūdī!
Dalimb xar tašūrī čin
Tulun sū¤ dūdī!
Altn saixn orgoig
Amssn [= ömssn] sū¤ dūdī!
Möngön sýxn orgoigī-n’
Amssn [= ömssn] sū¤ dūdī!
»xn xoyir öwdg«
Sögdön sū¤ dūdī!
Öngön cagān tolgōgō
Böxöljǖlen sū¤ dūdī!
43
I call you sitting and holding
Your rich mount for sitting!
I call you sitting and supporting myself’
On a black drill whip!
I call you sitting and wearing
The golden, nice headgear!
I call you sitting and wearing
The silver nice headgear!
I call you sitting and kneeling
On my two fat knees!
I call you sitting and bowing
My head white in colour!20
2.2. Gesticulation (gestures, clapping)
Very different were the movements of the yellow shaman Kürlää, who
practised Buddhicised rituals. Monks’ movements were borrowed for his
rituals from the Buddhist ceremonies. The shaman kneeled down and put
his hands into praying gestures – which I have not seen among the black
shamans. Sometimes he sat down in a cross-legged position – similarly to
the monks again – or clapped his hands, similarly to Buddhist monks who
discuss philosophical problems in this way. A similar sequence of movements
is, however, enumerated in a Darkhad invocation of black shamans:
Öwdög« sögdö¤
Xormýγý dewisč
Alaγā xawsarč
Ačitý ē¤ āwda
Amγalan mendīni aeltxa¤
Erēn xuyigā xödörč
Erdemtē xenggeregēm bari¤
Xuyig ömsgöl« ömösč …
Kneeling on my knee
Laying down the flap of my [garment]
Joining my palms
I greet with respect wishing peace
The merciful father and mother.
I put on my striped armour
I hold my wise drum
I put on my armour-garment ...21
20 Materials of the Expedition collected from shamaness Dügerxǖgīn Amar¤argal in Uws
province, Dsüün Turuu district, at place Örgön Shugui 27 August 1995.
21 Caγādai awa, Cankxalan e¤īn tamlaγa. “Devoted prayer to Father Tsagaadai and Mother
Tsangkilan” (B. Rintchen 1975, 88.). On the spirits of Tsagaadai and Tsankhilan who were
the members of the Chingisid family, Tsagaadai (Mong. Čaγadai) was the second son of
Chingis khan, cf. Á. Birtalan 2001a, 958., 960., cf. also M.-D. Even 1988–1989, 156.
44
A black shaman may fall down in a swoon
at a certain point of the ritual. This is also
a means for the spirits to communicate
with him, it indicates to him and the
community (the audience) that he did not
act properly towards the spirits: he called
them at an inadequate time, or called them
for a negligible purpose (we recorded this
data several times from the Darkhads
during our field research). His recovery
from this state is also a message of the
spirits to him and also to the community:
the spirits give permission to continue the
ritual (Picture 3).
Picture 3. Shamaness Bayar falling
down in a swoon during a day ritual
(1999, Ulanbator, photo Attila Rákos).
3. Offerings
3.1. Communication via fragrance (fumigation)
Communication with fragrance plays a central role in Mongol shamanic
rituals. As shamaness Dsoldsayaa (Joljayā) stated, the shamaness purifies
herself before the ritual not only by washing her body but also fumigating it
with juniper incense. In the texts of the shaman-spirit dialogue recorded in
situ at our disposal, there is no occurrence of the offering of fragrance. But
it is quite elaborately described in the dūdlaga-texts (invocation)22 to Dayan
Deerkh recorded outside the ritual circumstances. The textualised lively
description of incense offering (san) made of the best kinds of juniper (arc)
is surely accompanied with the action of burning incense.
Fragment 1
Sangīn utāg
Sansar xürtel sūnaglūl¤,
I have let the smoke of incense offering
Extend to the universe and
22 On the dūdlaga, the most widespread genre of Darkhad shamanic rituals, cf. Á. Birtalan
2006a.
Ágnes Birtalan
45
Sansan sanā, bodson xüslīten,
I have prayed to you to deign to fulfil without obstacles
Sādgüe bütē¤ xairla! – ge¤ jalbirlā.
All the thoughts that are thought and the wishes that are imagined.
Xöwč taegās urgagsan
I have let the smell of blue-green juniper
Xöx nogōn arc ünertenīg,
That grew in the forest on the mountain range,
Xöx möngön tengert sūnaglūl¤,
Extend to the blue, silver Sky and
Xüssen büxnīgen dātgalā.
I have entrusted all the wishes to you.
Ar saridagās urgasan,
I have let smoke the pure aromatic [leaves]
Ariūn tansag ünerten ūgiūl¤,
That grew on the northern peak covered with eternal snow and
Arwan jügīn burxan saxiūs,
I entrusted [and prayed] [singing] with my melodious voice
Altan delxīn ejded
To the Buddha-guardians of the ten directions and
Ayalgūt dūgārā örgön, dūlan dātgala. The spirit-lords of the Golden Earth.
Xan bogd Dayin Dērx min’ ē!
My majestic, holy Dayan Deerkh!23
Fragment 2
Xöxī xangaegās urgagsan
Xöx nogōn arc, dali sūnaglūl¤,
Xörst delxīn ejded
xüč čadlārā jalbiryā!
Spreading [the smoke of] blue-green juniper and rhododendron
Grown in the Khökhii and the Khangai,
I pray with all my strength
To the lords of the crusty Earth!24
Incense offering (san) is also an independent ritual form and an
independent genre designation. Alongside with libation (cacal), fumigation
with ground juniper and incense sticks is an integral part of the frequently
repeated folk-religious practice. The families, i.e. the family chief regularly
puts juniper grist in front of the protectors of the family, usually different
Buddha images, and on ritual stone-cairns (owō). The mistress greets the
Sun in the morning with libation. Shamans also use incense during their day
23 Dayan Dērxīn dūdlaga 1. “Invocation to Dayan Deerkh” (Materials of the Expedition
Khöwsgöl, Mörön August 1997).
46
and night rituals not only for the purpose of offering to entertain the spirits
but also for purification. The shaman’s clothing must also be purified with
incense before using. Shamaness Baljir always fumigated the scapula before
divinating (from the burned specks and cracks) in order to purify the bone.25
Scapulimancy could be the occasion of the spirits’ arrival at the ritual place
as it is narrated in a Dayan Deerkh invocation:
Xamag ulsīn untāgār,
Xālag ǖdnī jawsrār,
Arc dalīn jaegār,
When all the people sleep,
Through the space of the door and gate,
Through the space of the juniper and the scapula,26
3.3. Communication via tasting (food, drink, tobacco)
Shaman and spirits also communicate with each other via offerings: with
fragrance of the fumigation (as was described above), with libation offering,
or via tasting food, drink
and tobacco through the
mouth of the shaman as
a medium (Picture 4).
Deciphering the ritual text
of shamaness Bayar, her
assistant Baljir (NB! he
bears the same name as
the famous shamaness; the
name is of Tibetan origin
(dPal sbyor) and could
be given to both sexes) Picture 4. The invited ongon spirit smokes some tobacco
explained this action (the as a kind of offering through the mouth of shamaness
Bayar (1999, Ulanbator,
tasting of food, drink and
photo Attila Rákos).
tobacco) that also appeared
in the text as follows:27
25 On the scapulimancy of shamaness Baljir, cf. Á. Birtalan 1993.
27 Materials of the Expedition collected from shamaness Bayar’s assistant, Baljir in Khöws-
göl province, Tsagaan Nuur (Cagān Nūr) district, August 1993.
Ágnes Birtalan
47
Fragment 1
– Explanation to Bayar’s text (1.): She says Salā! Salā! now [the ongon]
demands brandy and tobacco.28 This is when the ongod demands brandy
and tobacco. This is the ongod of Agar.
Fragment 2
– Explanation to Bayar’s text (2.): She says Salā, salā! It means “Bring it,
bring it!”. This means, “Bring it to me!”. Because the ongods are angry,
she prays.
Fragment 3
– Explanation to Bayar’s text (3.): She said Iikraa, iikraa, iikraa! [The
ongon] demands something. Saying “I smoke cigarettes.” the ongon
demands tobacco “Bring it to me!”. This is a Khuular ongod.
Conclusions
In the present paper I surveyed some aspects of the shamans’ non-verbal
communication with the spirits on the basis of my fieldwork among Darkhad
and Oyirad shamans, first of all on the basis of the Darkhad shamanic
rituals I observed in situ. Numerous non-verbal communicative actions are
also verbalised, i.e. reflected in the texts the shamans recite. Descriptions
of various gestures, movements, ways of offerings, such as fragrance, or
libation are inserted into the ritual texts and could be paralleled with the
actions accompanying the ritual. The various sounds, such as drumming,
playing the Jew’s harp and imitating animal sounds play as important a role
in calling the spirits as the ritual texts do, but the exact structure of these
ways of communication and their connection to the ritual text, such as the
correspondence between the tune, rhythm, drumming and the ritual text
needs further research.
28 An allusion to the offerings made during the rituals (Materials of the Expedition Khöwsgöl,
Tsagaan Nuur August 1997).
48
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1993 Scapulimancy and Purifying Ceremony (New Data on the Darqad
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2004 Talking to the Ongons: The Invocation Text and Music of a Darkhad
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Hoppál, Mihály
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Religion and Ethnicity1
Judit Czövek
Hungarian ethnography considers the Hungarian villages located in the
vicinity of Nyitra, in Slovakia, to be ones which, by virtue at their position
as a peripheral area and a Hungarian enclave, have, to this day, been the
preservers of countless archaic cultural phenomena. These thirteen villages
are situated to the north and to the east of the town of Nyitra, in a ring of Slovak
villages, at the foot of the Zobor and the Gimes Mountains. The district is also
called the Zobor District, from the mountain of that name, behind Nyitra.2
Its historical past, too, allies it with those exceptional Hungarian regions that
escaped the depredations of the ravaging Turks. The period between the 10th–
13th centuries saw the emergence of feudal large estates; the villages of the
Zobor District were, for centuries, under the mastery of the Archbishopric of
Esztergom, the Bishopric of Nyitra, and the Forgách Counts.3
Contact with other cultural areas was prevented not only by linguistic
isolation and the feudal social conditions but also by the adverse geographical
1 First edition: Northern Religions and Shamanism. Edited by Mihály Hoppál – Juha
Pentikäinen. Budapest – Helsinki, Akadémiai Kiadó – Finnish Literature Society, 1992.
2 This district is the nortwestern boundary of the Palóc dialect area. The villages of Zobor
include the following: Alsóbodok, Béd, Csitár, Gerencsér, Geszte, Ghymes, Kolony, Lédec,
Menyhe, Nyitraegerszeg, Pográny, Vicsápapáti, and Zsére. Some of those living here
declare themselves to be Székely, their ancestors having settled in the region as defendert
of the border-land. They cite as evidence the family names: the frequent names include
Székely, Erdély, Hajdu, Czakó, Andráskó, and Farkas. (See B. Orbán 1868, I. 4.; M. Jókai
1989, 1–2.) According to another variant in the oral tradition, the area provided refuge to
those pagan Hungarians who refused to adopt Christianity. To support that contention, the
names of particular dülő-s are mentioned (dülő = a large unit of fields several of which
make up the lands of one parish), such as Hajnalgyep (“Dawn Lawn”), Hajnalkert (“Dawn
Garden’), Táncosfa (‘Dancers’ Tree’), Vaskapu ‘Iron Gate’) – M. Jókai 1989, 1.; K. Bakay
1978, 56–57.; I. Virt 1987, 7–9.
3 J. Sziklay – S. Borovszky é. n.
Judit Czövek
51
circumstances of the villages located in the valleys of the mountain chains
which separated them from the Small Plain.4
The distinctive character and culture of the region came within the notice
of ethnographical research relatively late. Sándor Réső Ensel, János Erdélyi,
József Kelecsényi and Arnold Ipolyi were among the first to publish folklore
texts from the Zobor District,5 yet, it was thanks to Zoltán Kodály that it
entered public consciousness. Between 1906 and 1917, Kodály made several
visits to the Hungarians based in the environs of Nyitra, drawing attention, in
the 1909 volume of the journal Ethnographia, to the unique character of the
traditional poetry and folk music of the region.6
The area has since become one of the foremost collecting areas of
Hungarian folkloristics, including research on folk music: irrespective of genre
divisions, it is an absolute cornucopia of folk culture for all inquirers.7
I myself made my first collecting trip to the area in 1986. Inspired by the
results, I have since turned there three times in the period that has elapsed
since then to study the role of special days in the calendar, of religion and
small religious communities, in the preservation of ethnic consciousness
and in the commitment to national existence, and the acceptance of that role
with something approaching a sense of mission; for in almost every village
community I found some illustrious personages whose activity might serve
to illustrate this profound dedication.
4 According to János Manga, “the peasants of the discrict have preserved to this day many
ethnographical phenomena no longer to be found in most other districts. That is due to the
closed geographical situation of the Hungarians living there, the Slavic ring, from which
we find only a narrow connecting line towards the southeast, touching the villages of Kalász, Aha, Csiffár, and Tild, into the Garam Valley”. J. Manga 1942, 3.
5 Relying on Pál Kelecsényi, János Erdélyi (1848, 148–150.) set forth a Midsummer Day’s
custom from Kolon, another version in presented by József Kelecsényi 1854, III. 29–31.;
Arnold Ipolyi 1854, 192–194.; Sándor Réső Ensel 1867, 178–188., and in separate studies
by Ferenc Atovich 1890, 220., and by Béla Vikár 1901, 353–363., 401–417., 449–459.,
497–503.
6 The result of Kodály’s collecting work is 752 melodies noted down or recorded for phonograph. See Z. Kodály 1909, 29–36., 116–121., 245–247., 1913, 114–116., 169–174.,
235–239., 292–294., 357–361.; 1953; 1955–1956.
7 It was the fieldwork and studies of Zoltán Kodály and János Manga that opened a window
on the rich tradition of festive customs that the villages of the Zobor District had once
possessed. Of Manga’s innumerable essays, I here call attention to the one published
in 1942. Treading in Kodály’s footsteps in this region were László Vikár (1958, 1–4.),
members of the Musicological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (László
Dobszay, Janka Szendrey and Bejámin Rajeczky) and Tibor Ág and his collegues in
Slovakia (T. Ág 1974).
52
My choice fell on Vicsápapáti because this is where I had chanced upon
five excellent male precentors – that fact alone is pretty unusual –, whom,
on closer acquaintance, I found suitable for the authentic transmission of
the liturgical traditions of the village. In the remembrance of these men,
the festive tradition attaching to special days in the calendar lives on to this
day – passively, for the most part, yet, in the course of particular customs, for
instance, on the occasion of the death-watch, in living practice also.
Before going into the substance of what I have to say, a brief profile of the
village and of the background community would seem in order.
According to official statistics, Vicsápapáti has 2,240 inhabitants, 10 per
cent of whom declare themselves to be Hungarian.8 Their number in reality,
however, is far higher than that, the statistics being a reflection of the year of
the physical and spiritual displacement (the re-Slovakization, the deportations,
the population exchange, the alterations of the settlement structure, the forcing
into extinction of the Hungarian school); as, indeed, they are a reflection, too,
of the moral and intellectual disorientation and ambivalences of self-definition
brought on by a sense of being second-class citizens.9
The feeling of uprootedness was increased by the nationalization of lands
in 1946, the breakup of the traditional economic-social structure. Some of
those lift without land worked in the local cooperative, with the majority
(primarily the men) seeking jobs in industry in the nearby towns, where
they were employed mainly as unskilled labourers in the construction and
building industry and as stevedores. All that relegates them to a structurally
disadvantaged status, as regards their role in the social stratification, while
the migration of people away from the area hastens the erosion of ethnic
indentity and the process of assimilation.10
It is common knowledge that, for those living in the minority, the mother
tongue is a sign system symbolizing their mutual bonds under a single
community, and continuity in the cultivation of the native language is the
principal condition of ethnic survival.11
The Hungarians living in Vicsápapáti are characterized by a confusion of
values in the native parlance: we witness the emergence of negative forms of
linguistic self-esteem and judgement. It has been in the last couple of decades
that this negative linguistic code of values has intensified, as the Hungarian
8 M. Jókai 1985.
9 K. Janics 1979.
10 A. B. Székely 1988, 35.; L. Für 1982, 38.
11 L. Für 1982, 36.; A. B. Székely 1988, 34.
Judit Czövek
53
language, isolated from social life, is slowly coming to serve only the most
intimate affair of the community, of the family – the king of communication
that resists projection onto the external relations of the community. This
process induces a deterioration of the Hungarian language, leading to a decline
in the powers for self-expression and self-assertion, as well as to disorders
of identification. That disadvantaged linguistic communication model can
be traced to the lack of education in the native language and of instruction
in Hungarian; though the general loss of prestige of the mother tongue, in
lingustic usage, must, at least, partly be laid at the door of the priority of
the Slovak language, the bilingual condition. Bilingualism is a precondition
for participation in the social division of labour, in the case of the young
generation, however, it also implies a retreat of the use of Hungarian for the
purposes of communication and, among the youngest, even a relinquishment
of their Hungarian identity.12
Hungarian is used as a medium of daily intercourse only by the generation
of those over fifty; as, indeed, they are the only ones, too, who attend church
services held in Hungarian, who watch the programmes on Hungarian TV
and tune in to the Hungarian radio.
The linguistic use of the middle-aged is characterized by bilingualism,
while the young people and children hardly even speak Hungarian. That results
in a linguistic division even within the small, private unit of the family – a
division that is already eroding the ties of kindred and friendship that used to
provide cohesion in the past. One of the corollaries in the steadily less frequent
observance – indeed, the gradual falling into desuetude – of the traditional
community occasions. By now, one can scarcely find a family in Vicsápapáti
that spends together the major festivals, the special occasions that were once
so important, such as Christmas, the pig-killing feast, or the name-days.
We get a characteristic description of that from one of the preceptors:
“Things used to be different in the old days. Now you get nothing.
Everything’s gone, there’s nothing new. Now we’ve got everything, but
there’s no merriment, only the loneliness.”13
Young people do not feel this “loneliness”, as the school provides them
with the opportunities for socializing (school ceremonies, excursions, disco,
12 The dangers of bilinguality are discussed by A. B. Székely 1988, 42.
13 J. Czövek 2002, 20.
54
etc.). For the older generation, on the other hand, it is the active participation
in religious life and in the funeral service that provides scope for the practice
of what are called collective representations’.14
These religious manifestations – which are really devotional forms of
folk religion – are directed by the community of the preceptor men of the
village. It is they who take upon themselves the role of identifying with the
Hungarian nationality, of declaring their identity. In a community deprived
of intelligence, they, through their acceptance of that role, are the maintainers
of a certain cultural heritage. Within the framework provided by religious
life, they integrate the behaviour and activity of the individuals organized
into small communities.
The precentors of the village are not the sole representatives of the popular
spirit. It is well-known in Hungarian folklore that such outstanding leading
personalities are to be encountered in most peasant communities (they are
the holy men, pilgrimage, leaders, professional moumers) – individuals
qualified to perform a plurality of roles, both secular and religious. Their
talent and special aptitude empower them to act as custodians of, and to
develop further, the written and the unwritten tradition.15
Holy men and holy women – as their very name indicates – are marked out
from the rest of their fellows by their deeper than average religious feelings
and knowledge in faith, so that they deservedly become the spiritual, religious
guides of the community. Watching over the completeness of the community
cult, they keep alive elements of the tradition that are beyond the ken of the
priest, given his different social position and educational background.
From the standpoint of the evolution in devotional history, these special
individuals may, in fact, be regarded as the intellectual successors of the
licentiates, semi-priests of former times. This question has a great literature,
which gives ample treatment to the emergency created by the religious
misery of the Turkish occupation, an emergency in which necessity and a
shortage of priests forced the enlistment of the services of laymen, resulting
in a characteristic Hungarian manifestation of lay apostleship.16
In the village under discussion, Vicsápapáti, it is the community of the
aforementioned singing men which performs this rule, which there too – it
may fairly be stated – has been created by an emergency, as the Hungarian
14 E. Durkheim 1898, 152–155.
15 The most comprehensive treatment of this question has been provided by S. Bálint 1942,
1981.
16 K. Juhász 1921; S. Bálint 1974.
Judit Czövek
55
priest working in the village – the only intellectual –, being too much of
a loyalist, strives to eliminate the local Hungarian religious traditions;
moreover, he does so under a glib flow of reformist rhetoric. Were it not
for the precentors, the Hungarian tradition rooted in the ancient paraliturgy
would, in all probability, pass into oblivion.
The Hungarians living in Vicsápapáti regard the priest as a servant of
God; they recognize and respect him, since he it is who says mass and he
administers the sacraments. Having said that, besides the official ritual, the
faithful also have a need for a religious life that is looser in format – one that
is self-sufficient, as it were. This paraliturgical form, if you like, is given
direction and provided with a focus by the precentor men.
To appreciate fully the significance of the activity of Vicsápapáti’s
precentors, one needs to make some comparisons with the surrounding
Hungarian villages; for, in the villages of the Zobor District, this function
has, by now, all but completely disappeared, or it loves – thanks to the efforts
of one or two women – only in a drastically vestigial form. I said “women”,
because only in Vicsápapáti did I find men.
It may partly be attributable to that fact that the singing tradition treasured
by the precentors reflects some more archaic variants and that, in their activity,
they continue to preserve numerous traditions of the Catholic Middle Ages
and the Catholic Baroque. Prior to divine service, they direct the common
praying and singing in the church; in the absence of the priest, they conduct
the litany on their own; on All Saints’ Day and on All Souls’ Day it is they
who perform, in the cemetery, the folk liturgy for Allhallows; they prepare
with special care for the midnight mass, for the Passion on Palm Sunday and
Good Friday; they are the ones who run the pious societies, who lead the
pilgrimage; they keep vigil in the houses of mourning; in short, they foster
those manifestations of piety which run counter to the moral ecology of the
century, with its individualistic and analytical bias.
As far as keeping awake the Hungarian’ awareness of their identity is
concerned, and from a folkloric-aesthetic standpoint, the most important role
of the precentors is that which they perform in the course of the wake –
funeral – funeral-feast. Up until recent years – until the priest began to forbid
or curb the practice –, the death-watch used to be conducted in conformance
with what they refer to as the tradition bequeathed by the ancestors’.
The survival of the rites surrounding the dead – even in their progressive
diminution – is important in Vicsápapáti because it is this tradition that has
preserved the symbols of funeral customs; and it is almost obligatory for the
56
entire community to join in the whole ritual or at least particular phases of
it, starting with the death-watch right to the burial feast. The vigil obliges
everyone to pay the last respects. Thus, it at no other times, at least on these
occasions the community, the family are together, infusing them with a
heightened sense of belonging together.
In Vicsápapáti, the precentors keep vigil on two evenings. On the first
evening, it lasts for a shorter time, while the second vigil lasts until midnight –
indeed, in the old days it used to last until the early hours of the morning.
Also, the latter occasion is the more ceremonious and solemn of the two,
conducted, as it is, according to a set ritual.17
The precentor men are invited to keep vigil by both the Hungarians and
the Slovaks. The vigil is conducted by the precentors, from their manuscript
books and copy-books inherited from their predecessors. They have a peculiar
singing material: for every occasion they present a rich repertoire. At the vigil,
17 The bell-ringer informs the community of the beginning of the vigil by a brief ringing of
the bell or, as they say, by the sounding of a verse. In general, people start gathering at
the house of mourning after mass, at sunset. “When right falls, well, that is the time that
the precentors and the prayer leaders come to the house of mourning, – they are the ones
who pray and sing beside the deceased person, here and there, they may have a drink or
two, a little wake-me-up stuff is brought for them, and they entertain the family. They
comfort them, so it’s called a vigil. They keep vigil till morning. They disperse at 3 after
midnight.” (J. Czövek 1990, 148.) “In the room of the vigil, the singers have a separate
table. Everything is got ready, with a candle and a crucifix placed on the table. The candle
is lit by the singers, who also put it out when the vigil is over. The singers are the first to
take their places at the table, which is to the left of the bier. The principal singer sits at the
head of the table, with the others seated to the left of him. He starts the singing, and then
it goes round counter clockwise. The chief singer is the conductor, he gives the commands
and the starting tone. While he prays, none is allowed to smoke, for prayers are said three
times.” (J. Czövek 1990, 148.) For every occasion, the singers choose the songs in such a
way that they have enough material to continue the whole right through. During the vigil,
they keep short breaks every now and again. At these times, they are offered some refreshments, and they talk to the relatives. “There they talked not only about things to do with
God but also how the life of the dead person had been spent – how much they had toiled
and suffered, and, if they knew them well or they were friends, they also recited the mistakes, the mistakes the poor man or woman had made or the good things they had done.”
(J. Czövek 1990, 149.) “When we finish the vigil, a relative – the one that was closest to
the dead person – is charged with offering refreshments. The prayer leader, in turn, gives
thanks: May God give eternal rest to the dead and strength and health to us, who live, and,
when we die, may He give us eternal salvation after our lives, in our body and soul, in our
faithful living. When we die, may He forgive us our sins. May God bless us.” (J. Czövek
1990, 149.). “And when the people go home, we go up to the coffin. Placed at the end of
it is the holy water, with a small sprig of evergreen in it. With this we consecrate the dead
person and make the sign of the cross over them: ‘Farewell, my friend! We shall meet in
the next world.” That is how we take leave of the departed.” (J. Czövek 1990, 149.)
Judit Czövek
57
the choice is determined by the contents of the singing, the psalms, depending
on the rank, gender, age, morals, faith, and marital status of the deceased
person. Different songs are sung for believers, for users of the rosary, for
unbelievers, for fathers of families, and lay elders. As they say,
“We give the initial song to everybody; then we talk about eternity, and
then we give warning to the living about death, about mortality and passing,
the inevitability of death, with the consolation of eternal life.”18
Their repertoire of songs combines the pieces of the lay vocal tradition
and those of cantorial practice. It is probably at least partly attributable to
their habitation of a peripheral region that a large part of the lyrics of their
wake songs are chosen from the 1891 edition of István Illyés’s popular
psalm-book. Illyés’s collection, entitled Soltári Énekek és Halottas Énekek
(Psalms and Funeral Songs), occupies a prominent place among his folk
hymm collections. It has preserved and rescued a part of the material of
the 16th century Protestant-Catholic common style.19 In addition, they use
various religious broadsheets, manuscript booklets and hymn-books, which
are ethnographical documents, as well as documents of devotional history
and of the history of taste.
The rendition of the wake songs in uniform. Every song or psalm is sung
right through, will all the verses. They often know several different lyrics
to the same melody and, conversely, one particular lyric may be sung to
18 “Before every song, every psalm, each time we begin, we say the Lord’s Prayer three times
and the litany, the litany for Allhallows. Then come the songs. The Lord’s Prayer and the
litany form a single block, whether they [the deceased person] are young or old. When it is
a small child, we say just a small prayer, three Lord’s Prayers, and then we begin the song
“Liliomnál és rózsánál valék szebb virágszál!’ [I was a flower more beautiful than a lily
or a rose.] If the departed is between, say, twelve and twenty, we sing the song beginning
with the words ‘Én is vőlegény vagyok’ [I am a bride-groom, too]. For girls over ten, we
sing ‘Föltették a szűzkoszorút a menyasszonynak’ [The virgin’s wreath has been put on
the bride]. ‘Emlékezzünk mi keresztény népek!’ [Let us remember, Christians] is recited
beside family men, while for the older ones we do ‘Megszabadultam én a testi haláltól’ [I
have been delivered of bodily death]. There are songs we sing for both men and women –
‘Serkenj fel már ember bűneidből’ [Awake, man, from your sins] is one of those. We sing
it when the departed is over forty. It is suitable for men who – like me, let’s say – were hard
workers, slaving away for much of the time.” (J. Czövek 1990, 149.)
19 See L. Dobszay (1972, 240–241.) and Zsuzsanna Erdélyi’s textual notes in László Lajtha’s
monograph (L. Lajtha 1956, 569.). Illyés must be given credit for the fact that the popular
productions of the 16th and 17th-century religious literature have survived. It is a measure of
the popularity of Illyés’ book that, up till 1921, it had gone through several editions.
58
different tunes. Accordingly, here too we may observe changes of melody
and lyrics and the phenomenon of wandering melody.
Of the five singers, Péter Billik (1921) is the principal custodian of the
tradition. He has, to a certain extent, a follower in his younger brother Ferenc
Billik (1926) who stands out with his voice among the rest. He is the one
most open to new trends; given a slight bent in his character for fashion, he
may be inclined to loosen somewhat the rigorous constraints of tradition.
He is an outward-looking person, maintaining contact with the pilgrimage
guides of the other villages. The other three singers – Mihály Chudy (1915),
Vendel Chudy (1920), and Mihály Andrásko (1937) – may be described as
occupying an intermediate position. They retain their good sense of style,
but they receive the new with some reservations. In one way or another, they
are ail related to each other, allowing us to regard it as a case of a tradition
being handed down within a narrow family circle. Within living memory,
the line can be traced unbroken to several generations. Precentorship is
complemented by the bell-ringer’s, sexton’s, and parish-clerk’s activity.
They, the five of them still perform their duty with the sense of vocation
and responsibility they have received from their forefathers – as a national
mission, as it were, “in the name of God”.
Precentorship – as they themselves put it – “requires an exemplary life”,
for this, too, is instrumental in winning the approval and respect of the
community. This is what one of them had to say about this:
“We followed our father because we saw all that industry in him and his
faithfulness to God. He had accepted this role, he felt it to be his duty to stay
true to his Magyar roots and to teach people to revere God. If a precentor
praising God did not know how to honour or admonish his fellows, his
singing would have no value. ... But praying is not all you must or can do or
an exemplary life is, in itself, prayer too. We must exhort the people who have
some to be very much like those seeds mentioned in the Gospel which fell on
rocky ground. We must awaken them so that they will attend to God, for we
are not on our own in this world.20
By their service perform “in the name of God”, they do a great deal for
the Hungarians living in those parts. And, sure enough, they are intensely
aware of the importance of that, as is apparent from the following remark
they made:
20 J. Czövek 2002, 31.
Judit Czövek
59
“When we die, that will be the end of the Hungarians here. Because when
we let the tradition die out then everything else will die out, too. I think,
therefore, that we ought to keep the old custom, if we can.”21
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Atovich, Ferenc
1890 Zobor-vidéki szent-iváni szokások. Ethnographia XI. 220–226.
Bakay, Kornél
1978 A magyar államalapítás. Budapest, Gondolat Könyvkiadó.
Bálint, Sándor
1942 Egy magyar szentember. Orosz István önéletrajza. Budapest, Ma��
gyar Irodalmi Intézet és Könyvnyomda.
1979 Középkori liturgikus hagyomány a népkultúrában. In: Tamás
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Czövek, Judit
1990 Vallási kisközösségek összetartó ereje a Nyitra-vidéki magyar szórványközösségekben. In: Sándor Lovik – Pál Horváth (szerk.)
Néphit, népi vallásosság ma Magyarországon. Budapest, MTA Filozófiai Intézet kiadása.
2002 Ha mi meghalunk. Zoborvidéki virrasztóénekek. Pozsony, Kalligram
Kiadó.
Dobszay, László
1972 A népének hazai története. Tények és tanulságok. Vigilia 4. 240–
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Durkheim, Emile
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métaphysique et de morale 6. 273–302.
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Janics, Kálmán
1980 A hontalanság évei. A szlovákiai magyar kisebbség a második világháború után, 1945–1948. Illyés Gyula előszavával. (2. kiadás)
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Jókai, Mária
1989 Zoborvidéki női ingek hímzése. Debrecen.
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1985 Néprajzi Közlések. Zoborvidék. Bratislava, Csemadok.
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1909 Zoborvidéki népszokások. Ethnographia XX. 29–36., 116–121.,
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1867 Magyarországi népszokások. Pest, Emich Gusztáv.
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1988 A nemzeti lét vállalása és a társadalmi beilleszkedés. Társadalomkutatás 3. 34–35. 42.
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é. n. Nyitramegye. Magyarország vármegyéi és városai. 4. Budapest,
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1901 Szentiváni ének. Magyar Nyelvőr 30. 353–363., 401–419., 449–
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1958 Népdalgyűjtések Nyitrában. MTA Nyelv- és Irodalomtudományi
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1987 Halállal kapcsolatos szokások és hiedelmek Zoboralján. Budapest,
Néprajzi Kutató Csoport (Folklór Archívum 17.)
The Minimum Phenomenology in Religious
Studies
Bulcsú K. Hoppál
“…my psychological standpoint is empirical;
experience alone is my teacher.”
(Franz Brentano: Psychology from an Empirical Point of View)
Introduction
Today religious studies is a set of different disciplines rather than a unified
branch of science. Similarly, the contemporary status of religious studies
reflects the richness of specialized sciences (Fachwissenschaften). In spite
of this the main principles of the methodology of religious studies are less
clarified than in natural sciences, for example in mathematics. The reason
for this is that religious studies taking into account its historical background
and multi-faceted object is situated in a “frontier”: it incorporates the
features of historical and natural as well as of philosophical sciences. The
danger of this that the representatives of these fields unjustifiably extend the
methodological and contextual concerns of their specialization to the whole
of religious studies.
Here I would like to make two remarks: 1. from the point of view of the
specialized sciences one cannot but necessarily presuppose a unified notion
of religious studies. 2. even if we deepen our knowledge in our specialization,
even if we publish magnificent contributions to this specialization contributing
to the possible, future building of religious studies, we cannot disregard the
idea of the original methodological unity of religious studies.
In the following I try to show the origin of the methodological plurality
of religious studies and its philosophical foundation. My first point is that
without the proper understanding of the concept of “religion” we cannot talk
about religion, religious phenomena, similarly we cannot pursue religious
studies in its proper sense.
BULCSÚ K. HOPPÁL
63
On the development of the notion of religion
The meaning of the notion of religion as we know it today is the result of
a long historical development. One of the first milestones characterizing
this development was the Hellenistic understanding of religion, which often
referred to religion simply as philosophy. The word religio was introduced
by the Latins, who applied it to a phenomenon for which the Greeks used
many terms. The original meaning of religio is taboo (religio est), cult and
duty. With the arrival of Christianity, the central cultural achievement of
Hellenism reached its climax. In the 5th century religio means belief in God,
mystic, cult, church and state, science and philosophy all at the same time.
At the turn of the 15th–16th century religio went through a significant
change, since Islam occupied Constantinople and islamicized its population.
This led, for example, Nicholas of Cusa to refer to Islam not as a sect (secta)
but a religio, which is – according to Nicholas of Cusa – also the creation of
God.1 From this historical point we see the commencement of the conceptualgeneralizing development of the religio, and at the end of the 19th century
it becomes a species with several sub-species, like Islam, Christianity, and
Buddhism.
Further significant development was made by Protestantism, which
defined itself as confessio and not as religio. Confessio is the translation of the
Greek martyrion: it means witnessing of truth, reality and God. In contrast to
this, religio is only an external routine, cult. By this, Protestantism re-defines
the conceptual framework of religion, and inspired by the German medieval
mysticism and medieval Nominalism gives a new meaning to it. In other
words, the inner, religious, confessional element became dominant. It is
beyond doubt that without such a development of the concept of religion there
would not have been such a variety of sciences concerning religion. At that
historical point, the notion of religion incorporated a double meaning: 1. the
personal commitment and 2. the peculiarity and unconditionality of its object.
These both constitute the confessio-aspect of religion and this is precisely
the feature which is often disregarded by many scholars of contemporary
scholarship.2 I claim, therefore, that religious studies is of theological and
philosophical origin, and the German philosophical literature and reflection
1 See N. de Cusa 1988.
2 Note that by the term confessional I do not intend to say that religious studies have to be
confessional or non-scientific.
64
was of capital importance in respect to the radical rethinking of religion
and religious studies. Note that one of the possible etymologies of religio is
that it comes from the word re-legere, that is, to re-read, or to re-think, that
is to repeat one’s life according to a higher measure. This thought can be
paralleled to the Heideggerian understanding of Wiederholung, which means
an appropriate attitude to the question of being (Sein). By Wiederholung of
the principle problem of our life (being) we understand the disclosure of its
original, so far hidden possibilities; by working these out we transform it and
the substance of the problem is first preserved. Or in other words – if I might
to summarize it in this way – we perform an authentic religious act. And I
think this is precisely where we have to find the origins of the discipline that
we nowadays call religious studies.
Van der Leeuw and Eliade
This paper, however, must also address methodological issues. My aim is
to show that the main ideas of the early phenomenological movement can
be found in the thoughts of Mircea Eliade and Gerardus van der Leeuw.
The secondary aim of the paper is to show that historicism and historical
approach and I think any other approaches cannot be understood (and applied)
without a previous application of a strictly phenomenological philosophy. In
order to come to this conclusion I will make clear what I mean by “early
phenomenology” and phenomenological approach in religious studies. I
will contrast two methods of religious studies: the phenomenological with
the historical approach. I will argue that the historical approach has been
influenced by the philosophical-phenomenological method, which has a long
tradition in the Western thought. I shall analyze the method of research of
two classical figures of religious study.
Mircea Eliade called “phenomenologists” those who claim to grasp
the essence and structure of religious phenomena and “historicists” or
”reductionists” those, who claim that religion is the subject of a historical
approach without any further meaning and value beyond history. In Patterns
of Comparative Study of Religion he says that religion cannot be explained
adequately by means of sociology, psychology, economics, linguistics or art.
Any such attempt, he argues, reduces religion fundamentally to something
other than itself. As a phenomenologist, Eliade never tires of arguing that
religion must be described and understood on its own terms, or within its own
BULCSÚ K. HOPPÁL
65
planes of reference. For example, according to Eliade, the sacred cannot be
reduced to the psychological, the sacred manifests itself in “hierophanies”, it
has a language and form of its own that has been recognized historically and
cross-culturally. Eliade was interested in understanding religion in general, in
this sense he rejected every kind of “reductionist” view of religion, especially
any historical explanation of it.
When he says for example in the Sacred and the Profane that his primary
concern is to present the specific dimensions of religious experience and that
he shall not dwell on the variations that religious experience has undergone
in the course of history, he considers the object of the scientific cognition
cognizable in the sense that the object possesses a scientifically detectable
essence, which is independent of its different historical manifestations. In
other words, for Eliade religious phenomena can be the object of a scientific
inquiry insofar as they possess an essence (essentia, idea).
Gerardus van der Leeuw had similar views on the method of religious
studies. When he speaks about “structures”, “visible self-manifestations of
the object”, “types”, “essence”, etc. – which can be re-translated immediately
to the Platonic Greek – he follows the same philosophical pathway as Eliade.
Van der Leeuw also contrasts the historical, factual objects to the “type”,
which has its meaning and needs no historical representation. According
to van der Leeuw, the ideal, that is the real objects of religious studies are
a-temporal, meaningful system of structures. The phenomenologically based
notion of “epoche” is also a fundamental working hypothesis for van der
Leeuw. It means the “bracketing” of different forms of grasping the empirical
world, which makes possible the understanding of the essences and reality
of ideas, by which it becomes a meaningful experience independently of its
historical forms.
My thesis is that Eliade as well as van der Leeuw refused all kinds of
reductionisms and considered phenomenology as the proper method of
religious studies. I tried to argue that Eliade, van der Leeuw as well as other
leading figures of religious studies of the 20th century applied the main ideas
of philosophical phenomenology, which has its roots in the thought of E.
Husserl, M. Scheler, A. Reinach, and D. von Hildebrand. In the following
I’m going to concentrate on the notion of philosophical phenomenology.
Note that there are different schools, movements in phenomenology, in my
view, however, there are common points in all of these phenomenological
schools. There is an original idea, a so-called “minimum phenomenology”,
which evoked the entirety of phenomenological tradition.
66
Philosophical or “minimum” phenomenology
Our question is: what are the main common points in all phenomenological
schools. The first basic common point is that the method of these approaches
strives to be strictly scientific. Secondly, they share a further common
methodological feature. According to the phenomenological schools,
phenomenology can be conceived as a method with an original relation to
objects of understanding. In their view phenomenology is an attitude, a way
of seeing things. Thirdly, they all describe phenomenology as an essenceintuitive (Wesensschau) method and not as descriptive. In this sense, as opposed
to the – classical – positivist method, phenomenology intends to be a genuine
empiricism of facts. The fourth common point of all phenomenologies is that
they all share a peculiar interest in the understanding of the real meaning of
things. This is what they call “eidetic reduction”.
In the first paragraphs of the paper I proposed that by clarifying the notion
of phenomenology we will have a better understanding of what religious
science is. As we follow this train of thought, however, it seems that the
phenomenology of religion is the religious studies. The phenomenological
method can also be found in the basic question of religious studies: what
is religion? In religious studies it is obvious that through the phenomena
accompanying religion we aspire to understand religion itself as one of the
basic characteristics of man. There have been many approaches to religion:
theological, psychological, philosophical, biological, etc. Some of them
however were unable to go beyond their particular system of belief and
thought. Similar statements can be made concerning the historical description
of religions and the cognitive approaches to religions. In contrast to this,
phenomenology of religion is an unbiased descriptive and interpretative
method, which disregards the real wealth of religions and seeks what is
common in religions and belongs essentially to the phenomenon of religion.
But it is only a method and not religious studies itself!
We have basically two options: either we say that phenomenology
of religion is an autonomous, primarily philosophical discipline, which
concentrates on the common points of religions, or we say that phenomenology
of religion is a scientific method which can be used, applied in all branches
of religious studies.
It seems to me that the era of prevailing methodologies is over. There is
no more Eranos-circle or Structuralist religious studies as it was in the fiftiessixties, and there are no prevailing views, schools, scientific approaches in
BULCSÚ K. HOPPÁL
67
the centers of religious studies. According to my observation, apart from the
widely popular cognitive approach in the scientific study of religion of today,
there is no remarkable, new and dynamic methodological view, which would
revitalize the scientific atmosphere. There is however one thing certain: the
academic study of religion is neither confessional nor interreligious.
Religious studies in it present state can be conceived as a certain social
or cultural science. From this follows that its methodological approach
also often bears the characteristics of a social science. This, however, can
result in an “inadequate, reductionist” (note this is Eliade’s expression)
definition of religion. There is, however, no harm in saying so. Either way,
phenomenology helps provide a deeper understanding – not least of religion.
Even if religious studies were to apply only to this maxim, it would be able
to tell more about religious phenomena and put it into the wider context
of the proper understanding of religion. This, however, is again a genuine
philosophical act.
Phenomenology, whatever concept we from of it, should have its place
in religious studies. There are however many religious scholars who forget
about the fact that philosophy in its last analysis has always been concerned
with religious issues. Philosophy is – as Plato and Aristotle say – theologike
episteme, and therapeia ton theon.
Now, one might ask which characteristics of the philosophical
phenomenology should be applied to religious studies. Some say that
none. Timothy Fitzgerald for example claims that one must reject religious
concepts as well as the concept of religion, because those are essentialist
concepts. According to Timothy Fitzgerald, essentialists are unable to define
what religion is.3
Even if we don’t apply all insights of a philosophical phenomenology,
there are two points which can help us in pursuing religious studies. The
first is the modest essentialism. By this I mean that one has to presuppose
that one’s scientific inquiry into the understanding of things necessarily
implies essence-intuition (Wesensschau) whatever the result of this inquiry.
In not doing so his or her scholarship is challenged. Science as such, as
well as the ethical standpoint of the religious scholar becomes illegitimate
if his or her primary, definite purpose is not the systematic understanding
of the phenomena. The second point, which needs to be applied here are
descriptions, which are not prematurely overloaded by definitions.
3 See T. Fitzerald 2003.
68
After the positivism of Hume and Locke the philosophical achievements
of the 19th century gave rise to a new and fuller understanding of religion.
Similarly, in the 20th century, after a positivistically understood psychologicalpsychologistic period it was again a phenomenologically tuned philosophy
which recapitulated the main questions of religious inquiry. I don’t know
whether there is a sequence in this whole history. My humble suggestion is,
however, that religious studies, in all its facets, should take into consideration
the main insights of the minimum phenomenology, or at least shouldn’t be
hostile to the philosophical approaches of religion.
Bibliography
Cusa, Nicolaus de
1988 Schriften des Nicholas von Kues in deutscher Übersetzung. (hrsg.
Ernst Hoffmann – Paul Wilpert – Karl Bormann) Hamburg,
Meiner.
Fitzgerald, Timothy
2003 The Ideology of Religious Studies. Oxford, Oxford University
Press.
Eliade, Mircea
1958 Patterns in Comparative Study of Religion. New York, Sheed and
Ward.
1987 Sacred and the Profane. San Diego – New York – London, Harcourt
Inc.
Leeuw, Gerardus van der
1956 Phänomenologie der Religion. Tübingen, J. C. B. Mohr.
Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies:
Towards a New Synthesis
Mihály Hoppál
From the Pre-History
In the late autumn of 1985, a symposium on Finno-Ugric (Uralic) Worldview
and Mythology was organized in Budapest as a regular Finnish-Hungarian
folklore symposiums. The two organizers of the conference Juha Pentikäinen
and Mihály Hoppál had drawn up a long term plan, which they had discussed
also with Julian Bromley, director of the Ethnographical Institute of the Soviet
Academy of Sciences, who was visiting to Budapest. It was agreed in a Proposal
for Research Cooperation signed on November 16, 1983, as follows:
“Finland and Hungary share a common cultural and linguistic heritage, being
members of the Uralic family of languages. There are long-standing research
traditions in both countries concerning the origins and the development of both
the cultures. Considering the value of the exchange of ideas in the respective
fields, we propose a joint project on comparative studies concerning the Uralic
World View and Folklore in accordance with ethnolinguistics. This joint
project would include symposia of experts in both countries (ca. 6 from each
countries) and will result in at least two volumes of publications in the field.
The project can be started in 1985 and finished in the course of 1988. It is our
intention to include some of the distinguished Soviet scholars in the project.
We propose that the respective research academies of Hungary and Finland
would appreciate this cooperation, including the project in the plans for the
scholarly exchange between the two countries for the years mentioned.”1
The symposium of 1985 and the first volume of Ethnologica Uralica an
international series of books for Uralic studies in ethnology, folklore and
1 M. Hoppál – J. Pentikäinen (eds.) 1989, 9.
70
Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies...
mythology volume are the manifestations of the project. It has also been
agreed upon that the traditional Finnish-Hungarian joint work must be
developed in the future into trilateral cooperation. It was understood that
Russian researchers should be involved in the project, since the majority of
Finno-Ugric peoples than still lived in the Soviet Union (now in Russia).
Without their contributions no authentic picture can be given of the state of
the researches on the folklore and mythology of Finno-Ugrian peoples.
The volume Uralic Mythology and Folklore2 includes both the papers
prepared specially for the symposium and those which have already appeared
in one or another of the languages concerned (e.g., Hungarian, Estonian or
Russian) for which reason there is every reason to publish them in English
as well. The backbone of the volume is represented by the revised versions
of the lectures presented at the symposium. As for as the arrangement of the
volume is concerned, the studies have been divided into six large groups. The
first group comprises the studies centred on the history of studies likeVilmos
Voigt’s paper, testifying to wide-ranging philological knowledge, analyses
one of the Ten Commandments (“non erunt tibi dii alii praeter me”), which
forbids the worship of (pagan) gods and the offering of sacrifices at waters
and trees.3
The second chapter deals with the relationship between world view and
narration (H. Ilomäki, I.-R. Järvinen, I. Kríza). Two studies centre on the
myth of creation of the world – in particular, the so-called Diving Bird myth.
Whereas Ilona Nagy reviewed the lesser known Hungarian and Bogomil
material, V. V. Napolskikh, gives a highly-detailed survey of the creation
myth that is called simply “earth-diver myth” (the bringing up of the earth
from the depths of the waters, the myth of how the earth was caused to
emerge from the water). It is worth to quote his findings.
“The creation myth about a water-bird who dives to the bottom of
primordial ocean and brings some soil to make the earth is common in the
mythologies of different peoples of the Northern hemisphere. Because of its
wide spread and it is often combined with such really all-common motives as
the primordial ocean, and an opposition between the good and evil creators,
the myth is sometimes regarded as a world-wide theme, or is derived from
the Indo-Iranian mythology, as it was supposed through the Bogomil and
Slavic Orthodox traditions. But if we single out only the two main traits of
2 M. Hoppál – J. Pentikäinen (eds.) 1989.
3 V. Voigt 1989.
Mihály Hoppál
71
the myth: (1) diving for a soil, and (2) a water-bird as a diver, we should find
the myth to be neither world-wide nor Indo-Iranian by origin. Even it would
be possible to determine the circle of the bearers of the myth and its ethnohistorical development.
The Diving-Bird Myth (the term was suggested by Yu. B. Simčenko
abreviated as DBM) is present among the Eastern Slavs and among some of
their neighbours. Taking into account the fact of absence of the DBM among
other Indo-European peoples, it can be suppolsed that the DBM was borrowed
by the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs from Finno-Ugrians for whom the DBM
is common and it is reconstructed as the main myth of the proto-Finno-Ugric
cosmogony.
The DBM is also the main, or even the only creation myth of most of
the Samoyeds: Nenets, Nganasans, Selkups, and it often occurs in welldeveloped myth that could be reconstructed in two forms: (1) the loon and
the duck are ordered to dive to the bottom of primordial ocean for a piece of
soil. The loon refuses or divers unsuccessfully but the duck brings a piece of
soil with difficulty. This variant remains among Samoyeds. Very interesting
is also the Ostyak myth where a snipe is instead of the duck; (2) only one bird
the duck who is often associated with the Devil, in Udmurt myth there is no
bird but the devil dives and brings a soil in his mouth.”4
Napolskikh connects the theme of Diving Bird Myth with this mythical
complex found throughout Northern Eurasia, also presenting numerous
parallels with North American Indians. From a detailed analysis of the
variants, he concludes that this creation myth was presumably specific to
the Uralic peoples, as well as to the Yugakir and some Altaic peoples. It
is particularly interesting to see that this myth is peculiar to the peoples of
Siberia – the ancestors of the Uralians and the Yugakir. His assumptions are
also confirmed by archaeological data. As he stated:
“In conclusion we would like to pay attention to the question about the initial
bearers of the DBM. There is no ethno-linguistic group except the Uralic
(Uralo-Yukaghir) that could be this initial bearer. We think that these DBMbearers were the Siberian, as it is often called “Mongoloid” element of the
Uralic (the Finno-Ugric) peoples. In any case beyond doubt is the fact that
the ancestors of Finno-Ugrians were heavily influenced from the east, from
Siberia, so they have kept the creation myth common with the Asiatics and
4 V. V. Napolskikh 1989, 105.
72
the Americans, as the only, or the main one, and they have also preserved the
ideological complex including and explaining the DBM up to now.” 5
Recent studies produced more data on Siberian – North American
mythological parallels.6 The third chapter cantains the studies focusing on the
beings in mythological systems and the beliefs associated with them. The line
of articles is opened by a brief article by Tekla Dömötör.7 Its subject matter
in the medieval portrayals of Hungarian soul images. Her correctly chosen
starting point is the fact that Ivar Paulson’s classic study on the “primitive”
soul images of Eurasian peoples8 took into consideration everything but the
Hungarian material. That is the gap which the study concerned seeks to fill –
by on iconographical survey of the various portrayals of the soul. However,
he did not include in the analysis the most recent publications, which provide
a deep analysis of Hungarian soul images. The medieval portrayals tend to
point only at the European connections. This study is neatly complemented
by Béla Büky’s comparative analysis on Finnish and Hungarian terms for
soul,9 and by a Russian scholar A. I. Teryukov’s article on Zyryan soul
images,10 as well as by the Estonian A. Viires’ writing on the old Estonian
concept of the soul.11
The articles of the fourth chapter approach the Finno-Ugrian material
with the methods of comparative mythology. The declared aim of this kind of
research is to reconstruct the given mythological system. That is the subject
matter pursued by the triad of authors,12 who tried to locate some of the elements
of the system of Finno-Ugrian mythology that are to be found in the mythology
and folklore of other peoples. It must be recognized that there are very few such
elements, as opposed to the system of Indo-European mythologies.
Péter Veres and Éva Schmidt, who could not attend the symposium in
person because of their study trips in the Soviet Union, also prepared articles
for the volume. Some years ago, at the symposium dealing with the topic
Myth and History Péter Veres presented his research on the mythological
background of the ethnic names of the Ob Ugrians. His study was originally
5 V. V. Napolskikh 1989, 111.
6 Y. Berezkin 2005.
7 T. Dömötör 1989.
8 I. Paulson 1958.
9 B. Büky 1989.
10 A. I. Teryukov 1989.
11 A. Viires 1989.
12 A. Ajkhenvald – E. Helimski – V. Petrukhin 1989.
Mihály Hoppál
73
published in Hungarian, completes what he then presented and attests an
extremely thorough acquaintance with his material.13
It was early in 1985 that Eva Schmidt prepared a classification of the
mythological beliefs of the Ob Ugrians for The Encyclopedia of Religion14
published by Macmillan. She classified the protagonists of the mythological
structures on the basis of their distinctive features, and, moreover, she
distinguished the individual spiritual beings according to whether they play
a role only in the beliefs, in the heroic epic, or only in rituals. In this manner
she showed that in accordance with the tripartite division of the world
model, the beings of the upper, the middle, and the lower world populate the
mythical world. That kind of classification also makes it possible to indicate
the concrete social functions of the particular natural spiritual beings and
gods, as well as those of a category of spirits that Schmidt calls warlord
guardian spirits. While reconstructing the system of mythological figures, she
managed to outline the reflection of the social structure. It must be pointed
out, however, that among the Ob Ugrians, the social units themselves do not
make up a clearly structured system, and therefore the classification also
seems too complicated. Schmidt’s writing makes the important statement
that the anthropomorphic warlord guardians, looked at from a historical
perspectives signal the influence of a southern nomadic culture.
Interesting enough, the conclusions of several of the volume’s studies
agree upon the fact that recent data and results indicate that the ancient FinnoUgrian world view, mythology, and folklore preserve traces of a whole range
of Indo-European influences and, more specifically, a highly significant
Iranian influence.15 A detailed examination of these ethnocultural parallels
will be one of the important tasks of the comparative studies in the future.
The studies of the fifth chapter scrutinize the facts of folklore and the
mythological world picture in vivo – in their embededdness in the social
environment. Certain of the studies greatly extend the range of the parallels
presented (E. V. Revunenkova), while others narrow down, as far as possible,
the range of analyses (H. Helve, U. Vento) concentrating on a single culture
(Finnish). Their results prove their choice of subject to be appropriate.
From the methodological standpoint it is important – as these data and
analytical results also demonstrate – that the range of investigations will
13 P. Veres 1979.
14 É. Schmidt 1987.
15 See in particular the study of V. N. Toporov 1989.
74
have to be widened if we are really going to understand our Finno-Ugrian
myths and the world image of folklore texts. The confines of the FinnoUgric – and frequently even of the Uralic – world may prove too narrow for
comparative examinations; hence the accustomed paths must be left for new
ones, which means having to forget some notions that have, by now, ossified
into dogma.
On this particular occasion, we only raise the idea that what is needed
in future is not only comparative mythology research, but contrastive type
of investigations as well, providing us with another opportunity to learn
something new from modern linguistics. Using contrastive methodology, we
shall perhaps be able to form a more accurate picture of the relationship of
the mythological areas to each other.
All in all, the publications of the volume is an indication that presenting
such rich material is greatly needed, as even the more recently published
summaries tend to repeat Uno Harva’s data, published 40–50 years ago, a
state of affairs that cannot be continued. We hope that the conference, by
raising some interesting topics and presenting a good many methodological
ideas, will contribute to a better understanding of the mythology and folklore
of Finno-Ugrian – more exactly, the Uralic – peoples.16
As for our further plans we intended to publish another volume of
Ethnologica Uralica series based on the papers of the conference Circumpolar
and Northern Religion – Interpreting Shamanism and Folk Religion in Arctic
and Sub-Arctic Regions, held in Helsinki in May 1990. Prof. Juha Pentikäinen
was the chief organizer of the conference as he remembered:
“In the history of the I.A.H.R., this conference will remain the first greater
encounter between the scholars of religion from the East and West. It was in the
General Assembly of the I.A.H.R. in 1975 in Lancaster, Prof. Michael Pye and
myself were given a special duty to promote international contacts between
Western and Eastern scholars. It is now have this special opportunity to join
today in this conference ‘in the Spirit of Helsinki’. This is also a historical
meeting of the distinguished academic representatives of the Northern Peoples
themselves and the scholars interested in their values and religions. There are
two historical reasons to arrange the study conference in Helsinki in 1990. The
conference is a part of the academic program of the 350th anniversary of the
University of Helsinki, founded by Peter Brahe in 1640. The study conference
also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the chair and Department of
Mihály Hoppál
75
Comparative Religion, established at the University of Helsinki in 1970. Even
in international comparison, this department has a unique interfaculty position
because its teachers and students represent two schools. They are or become
either candidates, licenciates or doctors of humanities or divinity. The topic of
the conference is Northern and Circumpolar Religion. It could also have been
written in the plural form, in accordance with the valuable article written by
Prof. Åke Hultkrantz, the honorary member of the Organization Committee, for
the Program Booklet of this conference: ‘Arctic and Circumpolar Religions’.
As Hultkrantz writes, many overlapping concepts have been used in this
context even in scientific literature.”17
The conference was a great success since more than sixty paper were
presented and a selection of them (27 articles) has been published in a book:
Northern Religion and Shamanism.18
It can be stated that both of these Conferences profoundly contributed to
establish officialy our great plans concerning the Encyclopaedia. All these
provided a good basis for the further continuation of the work, which may
ultimately lead to the compilation of an encyclopaedic dictionary of Uralic/
Siberian mythologies. The idea of this project – called Folklore and Mythology
of Uralic Peoples: Problems of Terminology – was already discussed with
our Leningrad colleagues at the beginning of 1988. We agreed that only
international cooperation could produce results on such a complex subject.
The Encyclopaedia Project
With their complicated histories and cultural differences the Uralic
peoples have maintained and created original religious and mythological
traditions, where traces of archaic religious systems, e.g. shamanism,
animal ceremonialism and astral mythology, merged with ancient foreign
influences and more recent modern religions. Thus the rich religious and
mythic traditions of Uralic peoples form a unique cultural property and an
interesting subject for research. Both comparative research aiming to get
information about the historical processes of North Eurasian cultures and
field-based studies focusing on the contemporary cultures benefit from a
knowledge of Uralic mythic traditions.
17 J. Pentikäinen 1992, X.
76
Let me use here some parts of the Preface of the first volume since we –
the editors: Anna-Leena Siikala, Vladimir Napolskikh, and the present
author – tried to outline of the history of the project. The Encyclopaedia of
Uralic Mythologies, initiated by Prof. Dr. Kirill V. Chistov (St. Petersburg),
DSc. Mihály Hoppál (Budapest), Dr. Nikolaĭ D. Konakov (Syktyvkar), Dr.
Aleksandr I. Teryukov (St. Petersburg), Acad. Prof. Anna-Leena Siikala
(Helsinki) and Prof. Dr. Vladimir V. Napolskikh (Izhevsk).
In 1993 the first meeting of the organizers was held in St. Petersburg.
As it has been agreed on, that scholars from their own nation (or ethnic
minorities) will be asked to write the entries, and research histories of their
own mythologies. As project organizers understood the native speakers
would be the authors for each mythologies. It has also been decided that
the mythologies must be published in the national languages, as well, and
progress reports would be reviewed for time to time and discussed in different
countries like in Finland (Joensuu), Estoria (Tartu) and Hungary (Budapest).
The actual participants of the project group has grown considerably as
specialists from different regions have taken the task of writing and editing
their volumes. The consultant on the Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies
in the United States is professor Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer (Georgetown
University Washington, D. C.). Three Russian volumes of the Encyclopaedia
have been published. The volume on Komi mythology first appeared in
Russian in 1999, and a volume on Mansi mythology was published by a
research group led by Dr. Izmail N. Gemuev in Novosibirsk in 2001. The
third volume on Khanty mythology appeared in 2000 in Tomsk and was
supervised and partly written by Prof. Dr. Vyacheslav M. Kulemzin. We are
grateful to the initiators, the writers and the editors of the different volumes,
to the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and universities in
which the work has been done, and to the Academy of Finland which has
financed the project meetings, given scholarships to writers and helped in
financing the translations.
The Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies is a descriptive and analytic
compendium of the mythologies of culturally different Uralic peoples. For
this reason mythology is understood here in an exceptionally broad sense,
including not only myths proper but also information about religious beliefs,
connected rituals, the sphere of magic and its specialists. The volumes offer
basic information about the people in question and an overview of the history
of the research. The central part of each volume is the explanatory and
etymological dictionary of mythological terms of the tradition concerned.
Mihály Hoppál
77
An index of mythical concepts and names and a list of literature is added to
each volume. Because the mythologies of Uralic peoples differ considerably
in data, research tradition, written language vs. vernacular, etc., the volumes
are not entirely uniform. The main bulk of material represents knowledge
collected by many generations of researchers, kept in various archives or
discussed in publications, and the writers have complemented this existing
data with their own folkloristic and ethnographic field materials. Thus we
can see the significance of these traditions in people’s day-to-day lives.
The first volume of the Encyclopaedia of the Uralic Mythologies published
in Russian was Komi Mythology produced by the Institute of Language,
Literature and History at The Komi Research Centre of the Russian
Academy of Sciences and published with the help of the Ministry of Culture
and Higher Education of the Komi Republic. The superviser of the group
of authors and the main writer of the volume is a well-known researcher
of Finno-Ugric mythologies, Dr. Nikolaĭ D. Konakov. The group members,
Andreĭ N. Vlasov, Irina V. Il’ina, Pavel F. Limerov, Oleg I. Ulyashev, Yuriĭ P.
Shabeav and Valeriĭ É. Sharapov, divided the work according to their special
knowledge of Komi mythology, magic and folk religion.
The Komi volume is a translation of the Russian volume following the
original text as closely as possible, the main difference being the pictures.
Furthermore, the translation and editing of the volume revealed clearly the
problems faced in this kind of work. The basic translation from Russian into
English was done in Izhevsk by C.Sc. Sergeĭ Belykh with the supervision
of the scientific editor of the volume, Vladimir Napolskikh. The translation
was first revised by Peter Meikle in Budapest and finally after the editing of
terms by Anna-Leena Siikala, Dr. Karen Armstrong, Professor of Cultural
Anthropology at Helsinki University, finished the translation process. The
information given in the articles in the Encyclopaedia has been gained and
published by generations of researchers whose names are given at the end of
the articles. This means that the information and attached terms originated in
historically diverse theoretical schools and the views of the various writers
guide the present interpretations. The different terminological usages of
Eastern and Western researchers of culture and mythology also caused some
problems to the editors and translators in addition to the common difficulties
of translation from one language into another. In the case of Komi Mythology
the original language is Komi, which had to be taken into consideration. The
reader has to remember that different dialects have their unique forms which
might be contradictory. Because the word entries are in the Komi language,
indexes are the key for readers who seek special information on a subject.
78
As for as the basic theoretical principles of the volumes are concerned
Anna-Leena Siikala explained them very clearly:
“An interest in myths derives from their central position in a world view
and their possibility to illuminate past modes on thought. By codifying the
structures of a world view, myths carry mental models of the past.
Myths address both cultural and existential questions. They establish a
link to immutable principal events of the past and in doing so establish a
social whole united by notions of a common origin. Thus they have the power
of self-definition. Therefore, research into mythical traditions has been vital
in analysing both the shaping of ‘European” history and the cultural identities
of small ethnic groups. Since the 1980s the study of mythical traditions has
grown in importance in Western Europe. Renewed interest in mythology
and ethnic religions can also be noticed in post-Soviet Russia. The quest for
mythology, for example among artists of different Finno-Ugrian groups, is a
phenomenon on the modern globalising world.
The Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies offers a comparative base for
the study of the roots and present forms of Finno-Ugrian and Samoyedic
mythologies and ethnic religions. A comprehensive examination of myth
traditions also provides a foundation for the study of the present day cultures
of Uralic peoples. Without an understanding of a particular tradition’s history,
one can hardly appreciate the nature and importance of ethnic traditions in
today’s cultural processes. The Encyclopaedia project seeks to delineate the
main characteristics and historical processes of Uralic belief traditions.”19
The volume, Khanty Mythology, has been written under the leadership of
Vladislav M. Kulemzin. It is the first treatise about Khanty culture in English
produced by researchers knowing the conditions in Siberia from long term
experience, as they themselves live in Siberia. Professor Kulemzin, from
the Faculty of History at the Tomsk State University, has extensive field
experience among the Khanty. Among his publications are works on Khanty
shamanism and Khanty traditional world view.20 Dr. Nadezhda V. Lukina
completed her studies at the Tomsk State University. After defending her
doctoral dissertation in the State University of Moscow in 1985, she has
worked in institutes conducting research on the Northern Siberian peoples,
mostly Ob-Ugrians in Salekhard and in Khanty-Mansiĭsk. Timofeĭ A.
Moldanov was born in a Khanty family of reindeer herders in the village of
19 See N. D. Konakov et alii 2003, 9. – on mental models see M. Hoppál 1974, 1979, 1981.
20 V. M. Kulemzin 1976, 1984.
Mihály Hoppál
79
Yuril’sk near Berezovo and has first-hand experience in herding. Since 1991
he has been developing methods to teach folklore among the Northern Khanty.
He has published several well-known works on the Khanty oral poetry and
world view. At the moment he is the director of the research institute on ObUgrian peoples in Khanty-Mansiĭsk. Tatyana A. Moldanova was also born in
the village of Yuril’sk. She completed her studies in the Herzen Pedagogical
Institute in Leningrad in 1984. She has specialised in Khanty decorative art
and has published important works on Khanty ornaments. The editors feel that
it has been very important to give native Khanty researchers the possibility
to show how the view of insiders can illuminate questions concerning the
traditional, and especially just now, rapidly changing culture.
There have been several editorial problems because of the linguistic
difficulties in a translation operating in the territory between three different
languages: Khanty, Russian and English. The long and multifaceted
background of the research literature is mirrored in the text and has naturally
effected the description of encyclopaedic terms. The three dialects of the
Khanty – Northern, Eastern and Southern – have been, and are, divided into
several sub-dialects. The terms are, however, given by referring to the main
linguistic groups. Because of the rapid cultural change during the twentieth
century, the Northern and Eastern Khanty are the most known to researchers
and also the most referred to in the volume. The apparent changes of verb
tense in the description of Khanty culture is due to the process of cultural
change. Although in the Southern areas many cultural features belong to the
past, they still may be in use in some areas among the Northern Khanty.
The editors of the volume, Vladimir Napolskikh and Anna-Leena Siikala,
have revised the text in some cases by leaving out passages which might
be unclear to Western readers. However, in principle to volume has been
edited by respecting the choices and interpretations of the authors without
broadening the thematic scope or content of the book.21
Mansi Mythology was first published in Russian in Novosibirsk in 2001.
The editor of the work and the head of the team was †Izmail Nukhovich
Gemuev (1942–2005), the director of the Siberian Department of Ethnology
and the deputy director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the
Siberian Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Izmail Gemuev’s
original theoretical works on the traditions of Ob Ugrians and Samoyeds
are internationally respected. The contributors to Mansi Mythology include
21 From the Preface in V. M. Kulemzin et alii 2006, 10.
80
several experts in Ugric cultures. Zoya Petrovna Sokolova, a well known
researcher of Ob-Ugrian traditions, is the senior researcher of the Institute
of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in
Moscow. Most of the research team work, however, was done in Novosibirsk.
Professor †Andreĭ Markovich Sagalaev (1953–2002) was Doctor of history
and the director of the History Department of the Pedagogic State University
of Tomsk. Arkadiĭ Viktorovich Baulo is a specialist in the religion and
mythology of Northwest Siberian peoples. He is the Vice Director in the
Institute of Archaelogy and Ethnography of the Siberian Department of the
Russian Academy of Sciences. Galiva Evlampievna Soldatova PhD works
in the Department of Folklore of Siberian Peoples in the same institute. She
is interested in the traditional music of Siberian peoples. Anna Alekseevna
Lyutsidarskaya PhD works in the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography
of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The introduction to Mansi Mythology contains two parts. The first part
is devoted to a summary of Mansi history in the second millennium AD,
to the description of the main traditional ways of life of the Mansi, and to
the problem of the adaptation of the people to the circumstances of socioeconomic change at the end of the twentieth century. The second part describes
the essential points of the Mansi world-view and reveals the main principles
of the construction of a mythological system. Mansi cosmology reflects a
nature inhabited by a multitude of gods and spirits. The authors have tried to
present a description of the main elements underlying the traditional worldview of one of the indigenous groups of Siberia.22
Selkup Mythology is the fourth volume of The Encyclopaedia of Uralic
Mythologies, edited by Anna-Leena Siikala, Vladimir Napolskikh and Mihály
Hoppál, which offers a basis for the study of the roots and present nature of
Finno-Ugric and Samoyed religions. The volumes present information on the
history, social organisations and livelihoods of the peoples in question, describe
the central parts of their religions and world-views and give a reference list of
the most important studies and archives on their culture and folklore.23 Each
volume involves a large dictionary of mythological terms for the tradition
concerned. Mythology is understood in a broad sense, including not only
myths proper and mythic narratives but also the beliefs and practices involved.
The reader of Selkup Mythology will benefit from reading Khanty Mythology
22 I. N. Gemuev et alii 2008, 9–10.
23 N. A. Tuchkova et alii 2010.
Mihály Hoppál
81
and Mansi Mythology, the second and third volumes of The Encyclopaedia
of the Uralic Mythologies. They deal with beliefs and ideas related to Selkup
mythic thinking.
Vladimir Napolskikh, who edited the Russian version published in 2004
in Tomsk, has had the main editorial responsibility in publishing Selkup
Mythology. He has worked with Natalya A. Tuchkova from Tomsk, who has
headed the group of authors. The scientific interests of Natalya A. Tuchkova
lie in the ethnographic studies of Siberian peoples, the mythology of the
Uralic and the Turkic peoples, the Selkup language, the history of Siberia,
museology and the classification of ethnographic museum collections. During
the 1990s she carried out active field work among various local groups of
the Southern Selkups. In 1999, under the supervision of V. M. Kulemzin,
she defended her doctoral thesis “The Dwelling and the Settlements of the
Southern Selkups as the Components of Inhabited Space”. Since 2003 she
has worked as Assistant Professor of the Department of Archaeology and
Ethnology at Tomsk State Pedagogical University.
Internationally well known, Ariadna I. Kuznetsova, Professor of
the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics in Moscow, has
investigated the mythology of Northern Selkups. She has arranged and taken
part in more than twenty linguistic expeditions, mainly to the Samoyed
and the Finno-Ugric peoples. Olga A. Kazakevich from Moscow is, like
Kuznetsova, a specialist in the Northern Selkups. In 1989 she defended
her doctoral thesis “The Computer Corpus of the Selkup Language: Its
Creation and Application in Specific Linguistic Research”. Kazakevich is
the author of numerous publications on Samoyed studies, phonosemantics,
ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics, methods of language teaching, including
five monographs, and co-author of a textbook on the Selkup language.
In addition to Natalya A. Tuchkova, Aleksandra A. Kim-Malony from
Anchorage, USA, took part in the writing of the Southern Selkup chapters
of this book. The scope of her scientific interests covers various aspects of
ethnolinguistics – the Samoyed and the Germanic languages, reconstruction
of the world-view on the basis of the cult vocabulary, shamanism and the
mythology of the native peoples of Siberia and of America. She has arranged
nine ethnolinguistic expeditions to the aborigines of Siberia – the Selkups, the
Khanty, the Tuvans, the Buryats, and carried out field work among the Cree
Indians (Canada). In 1999 she defended her doctoral thesis on “The Selkup
Cult Lexicon as an Ethnolinguistic Source: The Problem of Reconstruction
of the World-View”. Since 2002 she has been Professor of the Department of
82
Linguistics at Tomsk State Pedagogical University, and the Adjunct Professor
of the Department of Anthropology at Alaska University, Anchorage, USA.
The research group includes ethnographers and linguists; they have a broad
knowledge of Siberian languages and cultures and thorough experience in
Selkup studies. Hence the members of the group have a deep understanding
of Selkup dialects, their mythical world and traditional life style. The
extensive work for translation of the book into English was done by Sergei
Glushkov. Academician Anna-Leena Siikala concentrated to the editing of
the work into English. Clive Tolley, a specialist in Northern literature and
shamanism, revised the translation and gave a great many pieces of editorial
advice. The financial assistance of the Academy of Finland has been crucial
for the project from its beginning in the late 1990s.24 The actual printing and
proof reading (and the lay out) has been made by the Akadémiai Kiadó in
Hungary.
Those who compared the first four volumes of the Encyclopaedia have
the firm opinion that the last volume, the Selkup one, represents a very high
scholarly standard, which may serves as a good example for the authors of
coming ones. As for the continuation of the Uralic mythologies is concerned
there are detailed plans with conspectuses and deadlines for the future volumes
like the Finnish, Estorian and Hungarian. In these countries there are wellelaborated preliminary studies from the ninghteenth century onward and rich
folklore collections which may serve as good basis for a new synthesis.25
There are already published and comprehensive works on Udmurt26 and
Mordvinian mythologies.27 So, practically these Volga-Finnish peoples’
mythologies are ready, waiting for the final editing and translation during the
coming years. For the continuation and completing the series of Encyclopaedia
there is a need for young talented and dedicated scholars to write on the
mythologies of the Saami, the Udmurt, the Nganasan, the Nenets, and other
nations to complete this successful synthesis.
24 From the editors’ preface in N. A. Tuchkova et alii 2010, 9–11.
25 For instance in case of Hungarian mythology: A. Ipolyi 1854; L. Kálmány 1886; K.
Kandra 1897; S. Solymossy 1927; J. Berze-Nagy 1958; D. Pais 1975; M. Hoppál 1976;
L. Vargyas 1978; V. Voigt 2003; I. Fodor 2004.
26 V. E. Vladikina (red.) 2003.
27 T. Devyatkina 2004; N. F. Mokshin 2004; N. F. Mokshin – E. N. Mokshina 2005.
Mihály Hoppál
83
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ajkhenvald, A. – E. Helimski – V. Petrukhin
1989 On Earliest Finno-Ugrian Mythological Beliefs: Comparative and
Historical Considerations for Reconstruction. In: M. Hoppál – J.
Pentikäinen (eds.) Uralic Mythology and Folklore. 155–159. Budapest – Helsinki, Ethnographic Institutre – Finnish Literature
Society. (Ethnologica Uralica 1.)
Berezkin, Y.
2005 The Cosmic Hunt: Variants of a Siberian – North American Myth.
Folklore / Electronic Journal of Folklore 31. 79–100.
Berze-Nagy, J.
1958 Égigérő fa. Mitológiai tanulmányok. (The Tree Reaching the Sky:
Mythological Studies) Pécs, TIT Baranya Megyei Szervezete.
Büky, B.
1989 Hungarian Terminology for Soul and Related Concepts. In: M.
Hoppál – J. Pentikäinen (eds.) Uralic Mythology and Folklore.
129–134. Budapest – Helsinki, Ethnographic Institute – Finnish
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Magyar Vallástudományi Társaság.
A Calvinist peasant prophetess
in the 20th century
Imola Küllős
I.
It sounds a commonplace that women play a very important role in cultivating
religious tradition both in the family and in the congregation too, on the one
hand. On the other hand they may hold any post in the traditional Calvinist
Church. Usually in most Hungarian villages all the professional leaders
of a Calvinist congregation: the presbyters and the curators are men. It is
quite a new phenomenon that a village congregation accepts with pleasure
a female minister, although the church services are usually attended by the
women, mostly from the elder generation. One can say that women are the
prime movers of religious practice everywhere. We have only very limited
fieldwork or scholarly research in Hungary on gender roles in folklore1 and
folk religion. To fill this gap I want to present a short survey on the religious
work and pious life of a Hungarian Calvinist peasant prophetess, Mrs.
Mariska Borku. She lived between 1910–1978 in a small Sub-Carpathian
village, Tiszaágtelek, now in Ukraine, near the recent Eastern border of
Hungary. She had cared for her “flock” as a lay-leader from 1936 until a year
before her death.
In this study I would like to draw your attention to those particulars of Mrs.
Borku’s life-story and her 40 year-long religious activity which are clearly
related to the female nature of herself and her followers. I will not speak
neither about her life in detail, nor her important function in the community,
since I have already written about it in my earlier studies, and in 2009 I
managed to publish a monograph about her religious/prophetic activity,
1 See more details in I. Küllős (ed.) 1999.
88
A Calvinist peasant prophetess in the 20th century
influence and “Words” the so called “Lettszövetség” = “Third Testament”
(it’s a biblical paraphrase) as well.2
During the 1990s I had the opportunity to carry out fieldwork in the
Hungarian villages of Sub-Carpathia on four occasions. I met and interviewed
both Mrs. Mariska Borku’s followers, among others her elder daughter, and
her adversaries as well. (To tell the truth they were mostly the local Calvinist
ministers.) Although she died at the end of the ‘70s, her outstanding personality
and biblical Words are still vividly and deeply alive in the memory of her
devoted Calvinist followers. During the fieldwork I was surprised to see that socalled “notebooks of Words” have been preserved by a considerable number of
peasant families in manuscript versions of different lengths, and even recently
“Mariska’s Words” are read along with the Bible at private worship of the
followers’ prayer-groups or alone at home, mostly by the elder women.
The “Words” of Mariska Borku stress in a number of places that the Third
Testament and the Bible (Old and New Testaments) belong together, forming
a three-part whole. The following pronouncement is practically unassailable
theologically and a manifest truth in her folkloric culture which favoured the
trinity principle:
“God says: in the Old Testament: I am as the Father,
In the New Testament I appear as the Son,
And in the Third Testament I teach and speak
As the Saviour by the Holy Spirit.”
These “Words” were dictated to her usually at night by the Holy Spirit or
Jesus Christ himself. She emphasised repeatedly in the “Third Testament” and
my informants also confirmed that Mrs. Mariska Borku learned the “Words
received” from the Holy Spirit “the way a mother teaches an infant to pray.
Until she had learnt one Word, it did not speak another to her” (it being the
Holy Spirit). When she learned them, she wrote them down together with
her visions into a notebook and preached them from the Easter of 1937 until
October 1939 once a week on Friday at her home to a big crowd. The people
attending religious services noted down the succession of “Words” on scraps
of paper and later the followers of the prophetess numbered and copied the
“Words” into a separate “notebook of Words”.
2 See in the proceedings of the 3rd Symposium of the SIEF Commission on Folk Religion.
ed. by G. Barna 2001, 153–159. and the book was published in Fontes Ethnologicae
Hungaricae V. eds by I. Küllős – I. Sándor 2009.
Imola Küllős
89
Now I shall attempt to explain several parts of her biblical texts with the
help of my knowledge on the circumstances of her personal life and its local,
historical and social background. I learned about her life from the narratives
of her followers, including her elder daughter.
Before going into details I would like to remind you that Sub-Carpathia
where Mrs. Mariska Borku lived, came under the rule of five different states
during the past century. Originally this territory was an integral part of
historical Hungary before the Peace-Treaty of Trianon (1918). After World
War I around 155,000–160,000 Sub-Carpathian Hungarian inhabitants came
under Czech rule from May 1919 till October 1939, when the territory
was reoccupied by the Hungarians who lost it in 1944. Multi-ethnic SubCarpathia belonged to Ukraine for several months then became part of the
Soviet Union until December 1991, when it again became part of the newly
independent Ukraine. I must note that the Hungarian Calvinists, as the
biggest ethnic and denominational minority of Carpathian Ukraine, had lived
under constant political oppression, completely isolated from Hungary, and
Hungarian Calvinist Church and the national culture as well. This perceptibly
influenced their world view, upsetting the scale of values of their traditional
culture and ethnic identity, on the one hand. On the other hand it explains
the peculiar fact that in the late 1930s two peasant prophetesses there were
“called” by the Holy Spirit. Firstly Mrs. Mariska Borku was “called” in
October1936 in Tiszaágtelek, and two years later Mrs. Borbála Szanyi-Mikó
was “called” also in a neighbouring village, Nagydobrony. Although both of
them religious activity was similar in many respects, they were not in contact
with each other. Mrs. Szanyi-Mikó established only a small, closed, familiar
prayer-group, what was dissolved after her death in 1950.3
II.
The first question that arises in the researcher is: why was it women, simple
peasant women who were “called” by the Holy Spirit in these stormy decades
to spread the teachings of the Bible, encourage the practice of religious
devotion and strengthen people’s faith in their survival?
3 Her peculiar personality and religious activity was the subject of a PhD thesis by my ex-
student Mrs. Ildikó Sándor. See more details in I. Sándor 1999 and I. Küllős – I. Sándor
(eds.) 2009.
90
One possible answer is that it was always women who felt a stronger need
for the support of religion, the services of the church and an intimate religious
life. In keeping with the local puritan/pietist traditions of devotion, it was
mainly women who practised the latter too, within their own families.
The other obvious answer to the choice of the prophetesses and their
activity which still exercises an influence, is that there were no men. It is
now a known historical fact that the male Hungarian and German population
of Sub-Carpathia between the ages of 18 and 50 years was deported by the
Soviet authorities in October 1944 on the pretext of 3 days of labour (“malenki
robot”). Only half to two-thirds of the men returned years later from the work
camps, broken in body and spirit. Moreover, at the end of the 1940s the Soviet
authorities interned the priests of the different denominations, including the
Calvinist ministers, on trumped up charges. And for decades young men of
military age were sent to a distant region of the Soviet Union, to do forced
labour in the coal mines of the Donets Basin rather than military service.
Many of them stayed and married there. The women left behind had to cope
with all the men’s work, act as heads of their families, provide physical
and spiritual care for the elderly and children, and even act as lay-priests,
supporting each other with prayers and their unwavering faith in God.
The third, also important factor explaining the existence and influence of
the prophetesses was the power of their personalities. Both prophetesses in
Sub-Carpathia were deeply religious women, authentic personalities sensitive
to the problems of others, well known and respected by their communities.
It seems evident that the task of a prophet could hardly be compatible
with the everyday life and duty of an ordinary peasant woman. Mrs. Mariska
Borku lived together with her widowed mother, her husband – a farmer – and
their two daughters. She married very young, at the age of 16 and had already
been married for ten years when she received her first “call”. Her husband
and family members thought that the young woman, who was in poor health,
had lost her mind because of the family problems and financial difficulties.
They wanted to take her to a psychiatrist. As Mariska Borku’s followers told
me, it was only under the influence of two traumatic events that her husband
Ferenc Badó, a traditional Calvinist who did not follow devotional practices,
accepted his wife’s unusual calling. One day he was at home alone when a
golden-haired woman with a child in her arms (quite clearly the Virgin Mary
with the infant Jesus) entered the house and asked him to say the Lord’s
Prayer together with her. Mr. Badó was so alarmed that he was unable to say
a word. On the second occasion he was driving across a field in a cart when
Imola Küllős
91
an unknown (heavenly) voice warned him that if he continued to oppose his
wife’s behaviour, he would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only his wife
would be admitted.
It was only recently revealed by one of Mariska Borku’s confidential,
close disciplines that after her “calling” she ceased marital relations with
husband. Although she was a young woman 27 years old, she considered
the celibate life to be fitting to her new social status and task: to transmit the
divine manifestations.
It is strange, but not by chance that the lay congregation leader Miss. Ida
Balla (1930, Dercen), who following Mrs. Borku’s death “received the divine
grace” of being able to interpret and explain the meaning of the Words and
visions of the prophetess, also lived a “celibate” life since she had a crippled
leg as a result of a childhood illness and never married. In this way – although
they were Calvinists – they both unconsciously met the expectations for the
role of “saint” accepted in the Catholic religion.
Mrs. Borku’s eldest daughter (Mrs. Irén Badó) also told me that her mother
often told her daughters the story of her “calling”. at the age of 26, after
family problems and illnesses, in a vision accompanied by hallucinations, in
the same way as the biblical prophets.4 She thought these unusual phenomena
were a sign of her approaching death. On two successive occasions a shepherd
appeared to her in a dream, saying “Come with me and care for your sheep”.
Mariska Borku refused twice, saying: “I would go, but I have two children!”.
When the shepherd appeared a third time in a dream Mariska wept and said to
him that she could not leave her children. She only “accepted” the shepherd’s
call when he promised: “if we sit down to eat, we will give your two children
food to eat. Wherever our path goes, we will take your two children.”
Mariska Borku only gradually became aware that it was the will of God
and has written in her notebook of Words“…I was found to be faithful in
small things and so He entrusted a spiritual family to me. I tend the flock
under the guidance of the only shepherd.” (445)
This dream narrative and the other decisions made by the prophetess in
her private life (e.g. she regularly fasted on Fridays) can undoubtedly be
interpreted as meaning that among her obligations as a woman, marital
(sexual) life was not important for Mrs. Borku but she always placed great
4 G. André 1982; E. Drewermann 1985 (one chapter also appeared in Hungarian in 1991
under the title: “Jelenések, isteni elhívások, viziók és próféciák” [Apparitions, divine
callings, visions and prophets]. Egyház és Világ II. 13. 6–12.); F. Kiss 1942.
92
stress on her duty as a mother. Her husband was enlisted in 1940, was taken
prisoner and died relatively early. Only women (grandmother, mother and
two daughters) remained in the family of the prophetess.
Mrs. Mariska Borku never called herself a prophetess, the term was used
only by her followers. She used a biblical term, calling herself “the handmaiden
of the Lord” who had been chosen by the Holy Spirit for this special role
because of her faith and loyalty. We frequently find this opening formula in the
“Third Testament” “I, the handmaiden of the Lord”, or “Hear me, handmaiden
of the Lord …..” , For example, in her very first Words, which were biblical
paraphrases, she spoke about herself and her work as follows: (I quote)
1. Here is the pure gospel of the Lord,
that the Lord God gave into the mouth of his handmaiden
through Jesus Christ.
…….
21. God spoke through Jesus: “listen her
whose faith, charity and hope are great!
22. The handmaiden of the Lord is the one
the Lord Jesus chose for himself.
One of the central themes and main messages of the Third Testament is
to confirm that the teachings of Mariska Borku are not in contradiction with
the Bible; she is not the founder of a sect but an intermediary. She carries out
her activity under divine inspiration, with the help of the Holy Spirit, for the
good of her immediate community.
Both she and her followers emphasised many times that she was only a
mediator and not a commentator of the Lord’s messages. As time has passed,
the number of her active followers (what she used to call her “flock”) has
decreased, and recently only middle-aged and old women declared themselves
“the workers of the Third Testament”. However, when Mrs. Borku preached
publicly at her home, the first propagandists and disciples of her “teachings”
were respected male presbyters and congregation leaders of the neighbouring
Hungarian villages. After their deaths their wives and daughters inherited
both the manuscripts of the Third Testament and the spiritual heritage of
the prophetess: to endure with faith in God and hope and to support each
other in difficult times. It was sad to see in the ‘90s that her followers were
mostly widows or women who had suffered some kind of family tragedies
Imola Küllős
93
(suicide, alcoholism, sudden death, workplace accident of a husband or
son). The women grouped in these fraternal prayer communities (known as
peasant-ecclesiola) met two or three times a week in the home of one of the
members to read and explain the Bible and the Words of Mariska Borku,
then to improvise dazzlingly beautiful confessions of faith and prayers, and
to sing hymns, including songs of Mariska Borku “received from heaven”.
It was actually in these prayer communities that the women found the love,
emotional attention and security that they did not receive either at home from
their families or at church from the local minister. In those villages where
the Calvinist minister “sensed” that the women, the core of the congregation
were lacking a more intimate and emotionally rich religious practice, and
himself organised occasions for prayer, religious events, Bible circles, etc.,
the prayer communities comprising followers of Mariska Borku gradually
ceased to exist with the death of the elderly generation.
A number of women told me about their personal relationship with the
prophetess, about their experiences when they visited Mariska Borku in secret
with their personal problems (during the Soviet era it was not allowed to visit
her openly, in groups), and the prophetess read them a passage from the
Bible or gave them such advice that they “laid down their burdens with her”,
and “flew home like birds”. According to the folk narratives, Mariska Borku
was a person blessed with spiritual abilities and empathy, whose “Words”
resulted in veritable “miracles”. A middle-aged woman from Nagydobrony,
the neighbouring village of Tiszaágtelek told me how she had had a serious
operation and was hovering between life and death when her mother came
to the hospital bringing a message from the prophetess, written in verse on
a slip of paper; it could be sung to the melody of an old Calvinist hymn.5
Under the influence of the message in verse my informant’s condition began
to improve and to the doctors’ surprise she quickly recovered: (I cite a rough
prose translation of the hymn written by M. B.)
1. Sick soul, I come to you,
To ease your pains.
You are blessed if you see,
That salvation comes from me.
No other can give you
5 Ad notam: “Óh, Úrjézus, mennyi bánat” (Hymn for Good Friday, old Calvinist hymn book
No. 50.).
94
Peace of soul and happiness,
I stand at your door and knock,
Oh, open your heart to me!
2. The Lord Jesus called on me,
because you are his sheep, you must not be lost.
Praise be to the holy Father,
Because he raised Lazarus from the dead.
Let us give thanks to the Father,
To the entire Holy Trinity,
Let us proclaim his great love,
His grace that forgives all sins.
3. Love is seeking you,
Wounded heart, pained soul.
The Holy Spirit with heavenly fire
Has gathered a host of angels.
Awake Soul, Jesus loves,
Wounded heart, despair not!
The Holy Spirit with heavenly fire
Has gathered a host of angels.
Mrs. Borku’s nature as a woman, her roles as mother and pastor are
undeniably present also in her metaphorical, parable-like visionary narratives
in which she is always the central actor. Although she is generally given
masculine tasks, for example she helps to lay the foundations of the church
properly; she is the good farmer who ploughs, sows, harvests and picks fruit;
she most frequently mentions traditional women’s work in the household and
the fields: such as cleaning the house before a birth, whitewashing, baking
bread, cooking, weaving, sewing, planting seedlings, weeding, and caring for
the old, the sick and children. In one of her visions she is sitting at the table of
a wedding feast as a bride and together with the guests is waiting for Christ,
the bridegroom. In her visions, the heavenly beings (angels, the Holy Spirit,
the Lord Jesus) or occasionally an old man or a “gentle woman” endowed
with supernatural power and knowledge encourage her to bear witness to her
faith, to help the suffering, to be a good shepherd of the wandering flock, to
give her followers spiritual nourishment, and to act as messenger, writing
Imola Küllős
95
down what she sees and hears, even if she does not understand the meaning
of the visions or the messages entrusted to her.
I found it strange and unusual that the Virgin Mary appeared a number
of times in the early visions of Mariska Borku, a Calvinist. When I asked
her followers about this phenomenon reflecting an essentially Catholic
influence, they replied that they all venerate Mary, as the much suffering
mother of Jesus Christ, and feel that she is very close to them. (We should
not forget that these are women and mothers deprived of their husbands and
sons, who suffered a great deal under the Soviet regime, who heroically bore
the burdens of life in village families and farms after October 1944.) The
members of the Dercen prayer group explained to me that the role of the
Virgin Mary was not less than that of the biblical prophets or the apostles, so
she deserves at least as much respect as they do. They regard it as an error of
the Calvinist Church (and personally of Calvin) that it failed to recognise the
special role of the Virgin Mary.6
In the final analysis, they see it as confirmation of the knowledge received
by Mariska Borku from the Holy Spirit that today the different churches
are again drawing closer together, and Pope John Paul II is preaching
ecumenism, visiting the churches and receiving the representatives of other
denominations including Jews.
Two things could be emphasised on concern the explanations of the
appearance of the Virgin Mary in the “Third Testament” and folk-narratives
that are unusual among Calvinist. One is a certain theological openness found
in folk religiosity. I learned the borderlines between denominations based on
theological dogmas were never important for them, as simple people living in
a multicultural and multi-ethnic surroundings.7 The second is: Mrs. Mariska
Borku was a widow and mother. The veneration of Mary among elderly,
much suffering Calvinist Hungarian women in Sub-Carpathia also represents
the need for spiritual identification with the “suffering mother”, Jesus’ first
disciple.
6 Ida Balla (Dercen, 1993) “It was a mistake that Calvin left out of the doctrine he purified
that now in the last days, because we are living in the last days(!); (a woman interrupts:
“days of grace”) the time of grace is short. Well, now in the last days everything will
come to a common denominator, mankind must draw closer together. The great hatred that
existed between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants has faded.... That is what it (i.e.
the appearance of Mary in the Third Testament) means.”
7 They rejected only the Jehovah’s Witnesses (“millinistas”) who use forceful means to
convert people.
96
It seems to me that the very first vision of the prophetess, or more precisely,
its present interpretation, when a loud heavenly voice said to her: “If you are a
man, be a man now, before lunch, you will fare well after lunch” – reflects the
changing attitude towards gender roles in traditional religious life.
I have meditated a lot on the meaning of these words. Miss Balla, the layleader of “the workers of the Third Testament” in the congregation of Dercen
explained it me as follows: The time has come when women are equal to men
both socially – according to the secular laws – and spiritually as well. This
was the reason why a Calvinist peasant woman was called by the Holy Spirit
to prophesy. And nowadays, in keeping with her teachings about the spiritual
equality and the emancipation of women, ministers and presbyters permit, and
even support the efforts of girls to study theology even in Sub-Carpathia.
III.
I could quote more examples too, which show the complex feminine character
of the prophetess’sreligious activity but time and space does not permit. I
hope that even this short review has convinced you that Mrs. Borku’s Third
Testament and prophetic task were both personal and social at the same time.
The personal confessions, prayers and visions of prophetess reflect the state
of mind of the Hungarians of Sub-Carpathia who have lost their national
identity several times and been deprived of their spiritual leaders during
the years of Soviet oppression. In the light of historical events, one can
understand why so many people accepted her teachings at the beginning, and
why the majority of her followers nowadays are elder women. For them she
was an authentic blessed person, one of the true women, one of them. During
my fieldwork (in the ‘90s) the followers of prophetess emphasised many
times that their intimate worship at home, their small fraternities – formed
in the spirit of her Words – offered them sisterly love and helped them to
tolerate the persecution by the state power, to overcome all the afflictions
of their personal lives. And they, as the “workers of the Third Testament”
believed also, that the grace of the Almighty was spread among them by the
personality and Words of their prophetess.
I think the teachings of the Third Testament and Mrs. Borku’s religious
activity were integral part of the survival strategy of the Hungarians of SubCarpathia living for decades in minority satus and insecurity on one hand.
On the other hand the entire activity and personality of the prophetess of
Imola Küllős
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Tiszaágtelek and the narrative tradition that has grown up around her Words
all show what a wide gap there still is between the so-called elit and folk
culture, the Calvinist Church and folk religion. More precisely, these show
how the people attempt to reconcile the phenomena of reality with official
theology, how they reshape it according to their own laws and adapt it
into their own traditional ideology and folklore. Although Mrs. Borku, the
Calvinist peasant prophetess carried out individual religious activity in SubCarpathia, the influence of her extraordinary life-work was communal and
many of its characteristics are universal.8
Bibliography
André, Gunnel
1982 Ecstatic Prophecy in the Old Testament. In: N. G. Holm (ed. by)
Religious Ecstasy Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis XI. 187–
200.
Drewermann, Eugen
1985 Tiefenpsychologie und Exegese II. Wunder, Vision, Weissagung,
Apocalypse, Geschichte, Gleichnis. Olten, Walter Verlag.
Kiss, Ferenc
1942 Magyar parasztproféták. (Hungarian Peasant-prophets) Budapest.
Küllős, Imola
1993 A Peasant Woman Prophet’s Influence on Sub-Carpathian
Hungarians. Hungarologische Breitäge 1. 231–238. Universität
Jyväskylä.
1999 Hagyományos női szerepek. Nők a populáris kultúrában és a
folklórban. (Traditional women’s roles. Women in popular culture
and in folklore. Selected and edited by Imola Küllős.) Budapest,
Magyar Néprajzi Társaság.
2001 “We Were Led by the Lord in a Special Way...” Visions, Explications
and Reality in a Twentieth Century Calvinist Congregation. In:
Gábor Barna (ed.) Politics and Folk Religion. 153–159. Budapest,
Akadémiai Kiadó. (Bibliotheca Religionis Popularis Szegediensis 6.)
8 E. Drewermann 1985; A. Ljungdahl 1975.
98
Küllős, Imola – Ildikó Sándor (eds.)
2009 Két kárpátaljai parasztpróféta szent iratai. (Sacred “Writings” of
two Sub-Carpathian peasant prophetess.) Fontes Ethnologicae
Hungaricae V. Budapest – Pécs, L’Harmattan – PTE NéprajzKulturális Antropológiai Tanszék.
Ljungdahl, Axel
1975 What we can learn from non-Biblical Prophet Movements. In: H.
Biezais (ed.) New Religions. 84–91. Stockholm. (Scripta Instituti
Donneriani Aboensis VII.)
Sándor, Ildikó
1999 The Image of the Other World in a Peasant Bible Paraphrase (Borbála
Mikó’s “Eternal Gospel”). In: Gábor Barna (ed.) Religious
Movements and Communities in the 19th–20th Centuries. 43–53.
Szeged. (Bibliotheca Religionis Popularis Szegediensis 2.)
FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN
EUROPE
András Máté-Tóth
Introduction
With a wide circle of international scholars of theology, sociology, and history
we ran an international research called Aufbruch (New Departures) 10 years ago
about religion and values in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We researched
10 countries utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings of
this huge research project are published in German by Schwabenverlag in
13 volumes. For the repetition of this project we are actually getting support
from the European Union, for the project ‘REVACERN’ and at this time we
have finished data collection in 14 CEE countries.1 In the last decade these
European scholars took part in many other comparative researches, like EVS,
WVS, ISSP, and Eurobarometer. So we have a large amount of quantitative
and qualitative data available for analysis.
Based upon the experiences of these projects it has become more and more
clear that we have to reflect on the theoretical framework of our research
projects. The most important question can be formulated by giving attention
to the questions of Miklós Tomka, Irena Borowik and Sinisa Žrinšcak: 'Is it
appropriate to use Western European or American theories to interpret data
from CEE?' Probably partly yes and partly no.
In my paper I would like to begin by describing the Central Eastern European
cultural region, then I will introduce four special functions of religion.
1 The presentation of this paper was supported by the FP6 of the European Union
’REVACERN’. I have to thank to Aaron Gale (West Virginian University) for his kind
help in preparing of the written version of my presentation.
100
FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Basic theories
Central theories concerning our topic can in fact be introduced without
explanation. Region as a construct of social processes is based upon the well
known theory of Anssi Paasi.2 Cultural region in general as a basic notion in
cultural geography has been researched by J. M. Rubenstein and P. Jackson.
First, for processes about religion in CEE there are the theories of M. Tomka,
P. M. Zulehner and D. Pollak, but also the theories of Irena Borowik and Sinisa
Žrinšcak. The above- mentioned scholars of religion are members of one big
research community in CEE with more than 50 colleagues, including myself.
Special region CEE
In cultural geography „cultural region” is one of the most important notions. It
means a geographical unit, based upon characteristics and functions of culture.
Relevant scholars of cultural geography distinguish between three kinds of
cultural regions: formal, functional and vernacular.
The formal region is described through formal characteristics of one
geographically bordered unit, like common language, religion, political
structure or something else. The functional region has been organized to
function politically, socially or economically as one unit. It’s more close to
the everyday life of people and to institutions. Cultural homogeneity isn’t a
necessity for this kind of cultural region because the functional background is
fulfilled with very different populations. The third version of cultural region is
vernacular. It’s defined by a sense of belonging and doesn’t need a geographical
setting. People can have cultural contacts with other regions as well, but the
sense of place in the concrete region forms their identity.
In the case of the cultural region CEE in the last 2 centuries we had a
functional cultural region, because the diversity of societies had a common
history and common political unions, and in the last 15 years common
experiences with the transition to democracy and to market economy. However,
all separate states or societies of the region want to follow their own way - but
this way is functionally very collective.3
2 A. Paasi 1986, 1991.
3 E. Hankiss 2001.
101
From one geographical point of view CEE includes countries on the
eastern part of Europe from the Nordic Sea to the Adriatic Sea. It is the subregion of Europe, where East and West overlap with each other. From one
cultural-historical point of view it is the second historical region of Europe,
one paradoxical centre, influenced by western modernisation and eastern
traditions, but not fully belonging to each of them. Sociologists observed and
described many statistical differences between West and East Europe and
between CEE and the so called Orthodox part of Europe as well. Important
and perhaps also well known cities in this region include Warsaw, Prague,
Lvov, Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Zagreb and Sarajevo.
To round off the fine tuned description or definition of the cultural region
CEE, it seems important to reflect upon the process of the definition itself. Some
societies of the region define themselves as traditional parts of Western Europe,
because in the transition processes after communism they have found better
chances for a brighter future by forming close ties to the West, in particular to
the European Union. Also, former attempts to create one Republic of Danube
broke down due to hopelessness concerning the autonomy of this region.
Nevertheless the historical, cultural, and statistical data must be accepted as
a base for sociological discourse, and so it can be a challenge for us to create
additional analyses for any other dimensions of this cultural region, not just on
the special functions of religion.
Starting point
For our purposes it is very important to provide one set of well grounded data,
from which we can speak about the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Dan
Diner pointed out that one of the main characteristics of CEE is the special
gray zone between three different empires: the Orthodox, the Western and
the Ottoman. First, according to him, in CEE during this period, these three
influential empires clashed with each other precisely in this region. For him
the birth of the so called Eastern Question in 1774 along with the freedom
of Kuchuk Kainarji can be seen as the starting point of CEE.4 But CEE as a
cultural region was more founded by intellectuals in the 19th century as they
created one quite nostalgic myth about the history of this region in the interest
of rebuilding of national identities. Creating history in order to preserve
4 D. Diner 2007.
102
identity is one well known model utilized during the transition from the 19th to
the 20th centuries as an answer to the deep modernisation of many European
(and North American societies).
Basic national identities and basic human values needed new roots. History
as a new science in this area was born at this time and all social sciences such
as sociology, psychology or ethnography as well.
Theories of the differencies between regions in Europa
Important scholars – for example Jenő Szűcs5 and István Bibó6 – have
pointed out some historical variables for differentiating between aspects in
the development of European modern history. Both Szűcs and Bibó are of the
opinion that the development in CEE was different from the development in
Western Europe.
To test this understanding it seems to be useful to utilize some other variables.
In our thematical approaches we will concentrate on some turning points in the
relationship between church and state or to say more precisely in the process of
the growing up of a sovereign state in the church dominated societies in CEE.
We draw up five variables in this field: a) the concrete date of the separation
of church and state, b) the establishment of civil marriage, c) the recognition
of religious pluralism (Protestant churchies and the Jewish religion), d) the
secularisation of denominational schools, e) starting of daily presses.7
Some special functions of religion in CEE
If the thesis that the societies in CEE are quite different from Western European
countries – and from other cultural regions of the world as well – can be
validated, it is reasonable to assume the same differences exist in the case of
functions of religion. According to the thought of José Casanova the same
question resonates: the former split of Europe into two parts West and East
will play consequences for religion that have an effect also after the collapse
of the Soviet Empire.8
5 J. Szűcs 1983, 1988.
6 I. Bibó 1992.
7 A. Máté-Tóth 1991.
8 J. Cassanova 1996
103
Religion isn’t one independent entity in time and space. It must be discussed
always in the concrete context. Our question could be stated more precisely in
the following manner: what kind of functions has religion in the transitional
societies of CEE today, and are these functions significantly different from the
functions of other societies in other regions?
It’s a common opinion of scholars of scientific studies of religion that the
generic notion „religion” is one product of different circles and institutions
of societies, and so we always have to discuss religion in the plural form. In
regard to our premises we focus upon special characteristics and functions of
religion by asking in which way and which form they are significant in the era
of transition in CEE societies.
According to the framework and aims of this presentation it is only possible
to explain four special functions as examples and as tests of the hypothesis.
Rebuilding of national identity
The special cultural region CEE was formed in the past six to eight centuries
in the gray zone between big empires like the Mongolian, Ottoman, German,
Hapsburg, and Russian empires. In the period of building nation states in the
XVIII–XIX. centuries, the idea of the nation did mean something similar to
sacred, as a most important holy goal for the society, especially for intellectuals.
In the communist period after the Second World War nationalistic ideas,
interests, and feelings were oppressed with communistic internationalism.
The long tradition of missing national sovereignty and the high importance
or sacred place of the nation explain the need for clearance in the democratic
period after 1990 in all countries called societies in transition.
Based upon the strong correlations between nation and sacred and nation
and religion there are two possibilities for contextually thinking about religion
in CEE. The first can be formulated as follows: nation and religion are
interchangeable. The societal functions of both nation and religion are almost
the same. They ensure identity, historical continuity, ethical norms, and future
visions. The second can be described as: religion follows nation. It means
that all the functions that have been listed above, and were fulfilled by the
nation, will be fulfilled in the future by religion. In the case of Hungary, the
Slovak Republic or Slovenia we can observe that all cultural debates relating
to questions of nation or religion generate strong cleavages in the society.
104
This phenomenon also emphasizes the strong correlation between nation and
religion.9
In regard to the step by step enlargement of the European Union, where
the national interests will more or less become subordinate to the interests of
the whole Union, perhaps religion can have much more of a chance than the
nation to fulfill the societal integrative function in CEE.
Rebuilding of historical continuity
The modern history of societies in CEE can be characterised by a high level of
discontinuity. After the common shock of modernisation at the end of the XIX.
century, and after the common experience of the Second World War, the first
thing to occur in the period of communist oppression was all former cultural
and societal values and institutions were stopped and persecuted. Elemér
Hankiss aptly called this process a totalitarian mobilisation of societies. After
communism the new democratic and market-oriented system also needed
something like a total mobilisation in values and institutions too. In opposition
to discontinuity a historical continuum was presented broadly, represented only
by (Christian) churches and denominations. This role of churches can help us
interpret findings which indicate a high trust in churches just after the political
turning point of 1990, and the permanently high expectations for churches to
be active in solving societal problems. Concerning “social drama”, as in the
opinion of Wictor Turner10: religion has one special function not only in the
contemporary society of Turner’s time but also in the long time process of
rebuilding and saving continuity.
Saving relativity
One of the most important and very interesting functions of religion in CEE
is the saving of post-materialistic relativity. In the communistic epoch of the
so called east-block of Europe was prescribed one materialistic and atheistic
world-view. The main characteristic of this kind of prescription was the
absolute lack of alternatives. The power of the communist party guaranteed
9 A. Máté-Tóth 2006.
10 W. Turner 1957.
105
the total control of public life and of all public discourses the singularity and
exclusivity of the materialistic and atheistic ideology. In the late eighties the
precariousness of the integrity of this ideology was more and more evident,
but the structure of public sphere remained untouched.
For this period, a religious faith or a religious institution could be understood
as a structural opposition. This general assumption seems true apart from the
fact that the different institutions played a very complex and varied role in the
different societies. However, opposition was associated with active behavior.
But religious institutions and people weren’t regularly very active, because
of the oppression. Therefore it seems more appropriate to label this structural
opposition as saving relativity.
The tradition of this function of religion in CEE hasn’t ceased to exist after
the communist period. The change to a democratic and free market society
caused a rude awakening in the entire CEE region. In societies where the
transition from totalitarianism to democracy happened step by step in a longer
period (Poland, Hungary), the disillusionment was not so deep as in other
societies, where the turning point happened rapidly in a short period of time
(Romania, former GDR). Disillusionment both in private and public spheres
also revealed a sharp contrast between the ideal situation amd the real situation.
Religion is traditionally placed in this cleft between ideal and real. Religion
has the important function to fill up this cleft or to provide instruments to
manage the pressure it intends.11
The function of relativisation can be observed in people with the bricolagetype religiosity. The proportion of people with so called bricolage religiosity
constitute at least 50% in all CEE societies. Qualitative interviews with
representatives of different types of ‘bricolage – religious in their own way’
people (respective denomination, faith on God, age, sex) clearly showed a
relativisation of the facts and reality concerning knowledge about another
reality. „There must be something” – they said. The subjects of this religion
aren’t defined and the religious literacy and education of these people is very
poor. But religion plays an influential role in forming their everyday knowledge
and decisions and their behavior as well .
11 A. Máté-Tóth – P. Mikluščák 2000.
106
Coaching pluralism
One specific function of religion in CEE is what I would like to call „coaching
pluralism”. We borrowed the idea of „coaching“ from sport life. Coaches
have to motivate sport teams, make for them favourable circumstancies for
motivating and for making out all capacity of the theams. Cultural coaching
means quite the same as coaching in the sport. Cultural coachies have to make
free and well used fields for cultural capacities and they can work based on
motivations in the society. Coaching pluralism means managing synergical
cultural powers in the society. The idea of coaching is diametral up against to
the idea of comand based cultural systems, also of a dictatorical logic, they
we have experienced in societies of CEE during the totalitarian period of
communism. Pluralism can be coached, but can’t be commanded.
In this case we focus on religious institutions, primarily churches and
denominations with long traditions in the concrete countries. All countries
and societies in this specific cultural region CEE are historically and actually
deeply divided concerning points of culture, politics, and economy. Pluralism,
like the one actively managing diversity in addition to solving major problems
in the contemporary world, is needed. The constructive function of religious
traditions and institutions can be seen in the inclination towards tolerance and
thinking and working together for a better word.
Islam in Central and South-Eastern Europe
In Western Europe when we speak about religious pluralism or tolerance
between religions we speak at first about Islam. In Central Europe (mainly the
coutries of the former Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy) the presence of Islam
isn’t an issue because there aren’t many Muslim immigrants and there are very
few Islamic religious institutions with large memberships.
In our region, since 1922 Muslims live only in societies in the former parts
of the Ottoman Empire. According to the CIA World Factbook 2007, only in
Albania is the Muslim population in the majority with 70%. In Bosnia and
Macedonia one third of the whole country is Muslim. In Bulgaria the numbers
are 12,2%, and in Serbia 3,2% (mostly concentrated in Cosovo).
In the last 50 years immigrants from Islamic countries came mostly from
communistic Islamic countries, and they are already socialised in the freedom
of socialism through the exclusion of religious dimensions from the public
107
sphere. These people are mostly doctors and engineers and many of them have
married women from Central Europe. It can be said, then, that this group of
first wave immigrants is generally assimilated. Actually, CEE isn’t attractive
for new Muslim immigrants because of the low level of quality of life.
One fundamentally different situation we can observe is in the Balkans
(in particular in the countries of former Yugoslavia). In this paper it would
be riding the border to try to explain the problems of ethnical, political and
religious conflicts in the nineties along with two Balkan wars during the
Milosevic regime. But we can agree with the abstract of the analysis from
Powers12:
„Religion appears to have played a supporting role in perpetuating the
Balkan conflict and may also be able to help in facilitating an agreeable peace
process. The central factors in the conflict, including differing ideologies and
territorial issues, have become clouded by the lines drawn along cultural and
religious differences. Leaders of the six Balkan republics have frequently
manipulated the three major religions in the area, Catholicism, Orthodox, and
Muslim, to further their nationalistic agendas. A long- term reconciliation will
take cooperation by the political groups as well as the religious leaders.”
Rebuilding national identities, resolving historical injustices, and rethinking
the possible roles of religion in this special cultural region are all part of the
actual agenda.
Ethnic based religious pluralism
The CEE is characterised by one big plurality of ethnic minorities. Religious
pluralism is traditionally not anything other than one side of the pluralism of
ethnicities. On the more Western side of CEE, ethnic minorities are covered
by Protestantism and Catholicism, while on the Eastern side by Orthodoxism.
In the latter case we have national churches, like the Bulgarian, Romanian or
Russian Orthodox churches. Tensions between different religious traditions
were mostly tensions between ethnic minorities and between different national
interests. It’s very difficult to decide which motivation is responsible for these
tensions. Such conflicts require careful observations and analyses in order to
correctly call them religious or religion based conflicts.
12 G. F. Powers 1996.
108
The traditional maps of ethnicities in CEE are changing with the migrations
of the last decade. There is one notable population of incomers with religious
traditions not native to Europe – Chinese immigrants. Hundreds of thousands
of Chinese immigrants are now living in CEE and their culture and religious
tendencies aren’t well researched yet. It’s very difficult to propose one
appropiate matrix because questions remain concerning Chinese religiosity
in general. There are in Hungary, for example, one dozen registered religious
communities of Chinese immigrants. On the other hand, we haven’t yet
experienced any kind of religious conflicts with Chinese immigrants.
Pluralism discourse
One of the first cases of a discourse about religious pluralism in CEE is the
public discourse about the Jewish religion, or more precisely, about Jews
themselves. But this discourse can’t be seen as one discourse concerning
different religions in CEE. The dimensions of Jewish ethnicity are more near
to a „classical discourse” in Central and Eastern Europe. There is partly a
kind of Eastern anti-semitism, but more a kind of post-Holocaust cultural and
political touchiness. Authors familiar with this topic describe in general the
problems of anti-semitism in the context of rebuilding national identites and
working on cultural heritage in the societies of transition. Of course a better
managed Jewish-Christian dialogue based upon joint religious traditions and
moral values could and should contribute very much to solving high societal
tensions and conflicts in this sphere.
The second topic of religious pluralism is the new presence of small
religious entities, the incorrectly labeled so-called new sects. In CEE it is
possible to detect clear articulated and well led attempts of traditional churches
to acquire dominant social status comparable to the one held before the Second
World War. Such attempts often seek the legitimization from nationalism and
build upon widespread coherence of religious and national identity. On the
other hand, these societies are increasingly open to different New Religious
Movements (NRMs), which present a challenge to religious pluralism. NRMs
are often perceived as a threat to „traditional” religions, national identity, and
society as a whole.13 NRMs refer to religious traditions outside of Europe or
those in Europe with unknown new religious or semi-religious belief systems.
13 A. Crnic 2007.
109
The most discussed NRM’s in the region are ISKCON and Scientology. On
the level of legitimacy both of them ISKCON and Scientology are in many
states registered religious associations (in Hungary designated as „churches”).
In public discourses they receive in general negative connotations primarily
from insider members of traditional churches. On the other hand, left-oriented
political opinion makers view NRM’s as one example of existing religious
pluralism and wouldn’t be ready to discuss the quality of NRM’s.14
Traditional chruchies in transition
The question of religious pluralism is for the traditional churches one hard
nut to track, partly because of theological based (Christian or denominational)
exclusivism and partly because of a deep sense of societal insecurity. Both
aspects of the theological and the societal together explain how enormous
challenges are waiting for the traditional churches in particular in CEE, if they
are willing to play a role in managing creative pluralism.
Creative diversity management
I understand religious pluralism as an active collaboration with and between
any religion based culture and religious denominations and groups, but in one
critical way. Like Professor Mortensen pointed out: pluralism can’t be equated
with one critically void and absolute tolerance. Pluralism is not the most
important value of the culture, but rather it is the serving of human beings.
The first aim of managing pluralism by religious institutions is simply to
motivate their believers to work together for one better world.
Especially in CEE this management of religious pluralism can motivate us
to bridge deep differences between ethnic and political conflict and interests.
According to our experiences after the political turning point in 1990, in
the whole CEE religion and religious institutions are instrumentalised by
politicians and political parties. Rather, one of the most important aims should
be the forcing of autonomy of religion as a part of the culture and autonomy
of religious institutions as part of the society. Managing plurality and dialogue
between and within religions needs a well based and deeply grounded cultural
14 A. Máté-Tóth – V. Juhász 2007.
110
and religious identity. No dialogue can exist without persons or institutions
and no person or institution can exist without clear identity.
Creative managing of religious plurality isn’t one exclusive interest of
churches or denominations, but one responsability for all of society and for
the world as well.
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2007 New religions in “new Europe”. Journal of Church and State 3. 517–
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2007 Cataclysms: a history of the twentieth century from Europe’s edge.
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1991 Zeichen der Zeit und die katholische Kirche in Ungarn. Dissertation
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2006 Holy Nation. Nationalism as Civil Religion in Central and Eastern
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2000 Nicht wie Milch und Honig. Unterwegs zu einer Pastoraltheologie
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1996 Religion, conflict and prospects for reconciliation in Bosnia. Croatia
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1983 Vázlat Európa három történeti régiójáról. Budapest, Magvető
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Migrations of a goddess: Ereschigal
György Németh
Several magical papyri, lead tablets and gems in Greek language preserved the
name of the underworld goddess, Ereschigal who is associated with Hekate.1
However if we look at the commentaries of the editions and scientific books
about the names of demons, we see that not much attention is payed to the
goddess. Daniel and Maltomini give only a short explanation to her name:
„the Babylonian underworld goddess, very common in magical texts and
generally associated with Hekate.”2 Preisendanz says that Ereschigal is a
Sumerian (and not Babilonia) goddess of the underworld („queen of the big
Earth”).3 Most of the researchers content themselves with giving a reference
to the monumental work of Theodor Hopfner.4 Since this book is difficult
to access, let us see what the excellent author says: „All das bisherige ist
noch rein griechischer Synkretismus; nun lesen wir aber unter den ὀνόματα
auch die Zaubernamen Ερεσχιγαλ und Υεσσεμιγάδων; damit eröffnet
sich die Welt des orientalischen Synkretismus. Die Verbindung Ἑρμῆς–
Ερεσχιγαλ–Υεσσεμιγάδων steht keineswegs allein; denn auch im Papyrus
Paris l. 328 ss. 335 ss. heisst es: θεοῖς χθονίοις Υεσεμιγάδων καὶ Κούρῃ
Περσεφόνῃ Ερεσχιγαλ καὶ Ἀδώνιδι τῷ βαρβαραεθα Ἑρμῇ καταχθονίῳ. Das
passt vortrefflich zu einer alexandrinischen Inschrift: Ἑρμῇ χθονίε Πλούτων
1 First published by MHNH 10. 2010, 199–205: Ereschigal – Ereškigal. Migrations of a
goddess. I would like to express my gratitude to David Jordan, Roy Kotansky, Simone
Michel, Zsolt Simon and Judit Végh who helped me during the writing of this article. I am
entirely responsible for all possible errors. The study was made with the support of OTKA
[Hungarian Scientific Research Fund] programme no. K 81332 (Ancient magic, parallel
researches: Curse tablets and magic gems).
2 W. Daniel – F. Maltomini 1990, I. 148. Ereschigal occurs in six texts of the Suppl. Mag.
(42., 46., 47., 48., 49., 54.), as well as in the PGM six times 4., 7., 11., 14., 19., 70.),
once in the form Ereschigalch, PGM 5. 340. The form Phereschigal, which appears
once in a papyrus of London, is explained by Theodor Hopfner as an influence of the
name Phersephone. See also: T. Hopfner 1931, 3. 334., note 10. Interestingly, nor did W.
Brashear consider it worth of talking. Cf. W. Brashear 1995, 3425.
3 K. Preisendanz 1941, 219: „sumerische Unterweltsgöttin“.
4 Th. Hopfner 1921, 86–87. § 177.
György Németh
113
Υεσεμμιγάδων μαρχαμα καὶ Κόρη Ερεσχιγαλ Ζαβαρβαθουχ καὶ Φερσεφόνη.5
Der Υεσσεμιγάδων ist also genauso ein Totenseelenbeherrscher wie Pluto,
Hermes χθονίος, Persephone-Kore und Hekate (Lenormant, Rheinisches
Museum IX p. 370; Wachsmuth, I. c. xviii p. 563 E. Dietrich, Pap. mag. Abraxas
p. 203, Anm. zu Z. 185.) Genau das gleiche gilt auch von der Ερεσχιγαλ, denn
diese ist altbabylonische Unterwelts- und Totengöttin Eri-isch-ki-gal (so
phonetisch geschrieben Jastrow, Rel. II. 2 p. 712, 3), auch Allatu genannt, die
Gattin des Krankheiten, Pest und Tod herbeiführenden Unterweltsgebieters
Nergal, mit dem sie aber erst in der Spätezeit verbunden wurde, nachdem sie
schon seit jeher die Herrscherin in Avalû, dem Totengefilde war (Jastrow I.
p. 471. 356). Sie wird auch die Mutter der Daemonen genannt (Jastrow, Rel.
I. p. 360s. 301) und als Helferin gegen sie und die νεκυδαίμονες angerufen
(Jastrow I. p. 301).” As seen, the Mesopotamian origin of Ereschigal is
mentioned by every author, but – as far as I know – no one has ever tried to
detect when, how and from which direction it was borrowed.
The Akkadian epic with the title Nergal and Ereškigal, which was
preserved in a Neo-Assyrian library of the 8th century BC, is also available
in English.6 Thus there was no obstacle due to a temporal gap for the Greeks
to become acquainted with the figure of Ereškigal as early as in the Archaic
period.7 Walter Burkert supposes the effect of the small epic Nergal and
Ereškigal to Homer.8 Actually, the Greek poet did not preserve the name of the
underworld goddess. It is however surprising that no traces of her figure can
be found in Greek literature until the very time when magical papyri became
wide-spread, but then she was a permanent character of these text until the
5th century AD.9 There are 17 occurrences of it on 8 magical papyri10 and it
5 DT 38 = Suppl. Mag. 54.
6 In the entry of the Reallexikon der Assyriologie „Ereškigal“ only a reference can be read to
the underworld deities (Unterweltsgottheiten), but the „u“ volume of the lexicon has not
been published yet. However, D. O. Edzard 2001, 226–227.
7 F. Graf 1996, 155.: „Noch Aufschlußreicher ist, daß der Name der Ereškigal, der
sumerischen Unterweltskönigin, für etwa zwei Jahrtausende verschwindet, um dann
mehrfach etwa als Beiname der Persephone in den ägyptischen Zauberbüchern wieder
aufzutauchen.” As we can see, the temporal gap that had to be bridged was much smaller
or it did not exist at all. The emergence of Ereškigal on Greek papyri was a huge surprise.
Eg. W. Drexler stated that: „Die Namensähnlichkeit zwischen Ereškigal und Ereschigal
könnte allenfalls auf einem Zufall beruhen. Da aber auch das Wesen beider Göttinen
gleich ist, dürfte die Vermutung, dass sie identisch sind, wohl einen ziemlichen Grad von
Wahrscheinlichkeit haben.” W. Drexler 1890–1897, 1587.
8 W. Burkert 2003, 31., 140.
9 Cf. PGM XIXa.
10 PGM II. 33.; IV. 337., 1417., 2480., 2747., 2909.; V. 339., 425.; VII. 317., 897., 984.; XIII.
927.; XIV. 23.; XIXa. 7.; LXX. 5., 7., 10.
114
also occurs on at least 7 lead tablets.11 Identified with Hekate it also appears
on 3 uterus gems as a part of the so called „AKTIOPHI“ logos.12 It seems that
magicians gave the names of Ereschigal, Aktiophis and Nebutosualeth to the
three bodies/heads of the three-bodied and three-headed Hekate.13
Ereschigal’s figure could have been borrowed to Greek culture in the
Seleucid Empire, where Greek and Mesopotamian culture have lived next
to each other for centuries.14 There was enough time for the borrowing
since the last cuneiform tables were written in 75 AD in Babilon.15 This
direction seems supported by the fact that Ereschigal appears together with
the Mandaean creator deity, Phthael on a Parisian magical papyrus. The
Mandaeans conserved surprisingly much from the Mesopotamian pantheon,16
since the posteriors to the earlier Babilonian population continued to live and
practise a part of the ancestral cultures up to the 2nd century AD in Babilon, in
Borsippa and Kutha.17 It is striking however that the Greeks of Mesopotamia
showed themselves uninterested towards local culture and languages.18
The figure of Ereschigal appears not only with Hekate and Persephone,
but often together with Jewish magical elements (eg. Iao Sabaoth, Adonai,
etc.19 Considered that the cult of Nergal was known in Samaria (2 Kings 30)
due to the fact that the people of Kutha brought it along with themselves,
we could also assume that the figure of the goddess made its way on papyri
and lead tablets as a part of Jewish influence heavily affected by Greek
magic. Nevertheless in Kutha (or Cuthah/Cutha) the wife of Nergal was not
Ereškigal but Las.20 The direction of the borrowing and lending of motifs
in Aramaic-Egyptian-Greek-Jewish magical koine is almost untraceable.21
11 Suppl. Mag. 42., 46., 47., 48., 49., 54. (=DT 38.). This however does not contain a tablet of
Minor-Asia, cf. F. Becker-Bertau 1986.
12 S. Michel 2004, 192., 218.
13 Cf. eg. DT 242., 42.
14 We also know bilingual (cuneiform and Greek) tablets, that were used for the study of the
pronounciation of the Akkadian and the Sumerian language in Babilon between 50 BC and
50 AD, cf. A. Westenholz 2007, 262–313. esp. 274–280. I would like to thank Zsolt Simon
for drawing my attention to this particularly interesting and substantial study.
15 A. Westenhollz 2007, 294.
16 Th. Hopfner 1931, 358. Cf. to this W. Fauth 1993, 73.
17 A. Westenholz 2007, 306–307.
18 A. Westenholz 2007, 275. The author’s dismal notice is informative: „The Hellenistic
Greeks have been noted for their consistent lack of real interest in native languages and
cultures.” This means that local students of scribing used the Greek letters only to read out
the vowels of the cuneiform texts more easily and precisely.
19 Cf. PGM XIII. 927.
20 Lexikon der Assyriologie s. v. Kutha.
21 Certain Akkadian/Babilonian deities, like e.g. Nergal of Kutha got even into Mandaean
magical texts of the 3rd c. AD. Cf. A. Westenholz 2007, 306.
György Németh
115
Eg. Gideon Bohak analyzed a Jewish metal amulet of the 6th c. AD that was
found in the synagogue of Nirim in the Negev desert.22 He discovered a group
of letters, ‘RSKY’L on this, which he identifies as a Hebrewized form of the
angel name Ereschiel of the original Ereškigal version. This occurs together
with the formula HYESIMMIGADON, which appears close to the name
Ereschigal also in Greek magic. Bohak however stated clearly that it was the
Egyptian-Greek practise from which the name of the goddess was borrowed
and Hebrewized by Jewish magic.23 He does not look for an answer to the
question of when and from where the figure of Ereschigal was borrowed by
the Egyptians.24 Still, they borrowed it, for it occurs on a Demotic magical
text of the 2nd–3rd c. AD that is held both in London and Leiden and the aim
of which was to preserve youth.25 The figure of Ereschigal could have got to
Egypt even during the Assyrian conquest and later it could have been taken
over from Egyptian Demotic texts by Greek speaking Egyptian magicians.
However a Demotic next, which is of an earlier date than the appearance of
Ereschigal in the Greek culture, would be needed to prove this. Nevertheless,
there is another possible way. During the excavation of Tell el-Amarna the
fragments of the story of Nergal and Ereškigal of Akkadian origin (14th c. BC)
were discovered. These were obviously aimed for Egyptian scribes to practise
the reading of cuneiforms.26 Egyptologists usually presume that whatever of
Mesopotamian tradition got covered in with sand in Tell el-Amarna became
lost for ever for the Egyptian culture. However, the Egyptians were sensitive
towards the belief of afterlife to a greater extent, and even if only a few scribes
or priests became acquainted with an underworld goddess, it would have been
enough for her name and function to be preserved in the tradition of magic.27
According to Ritner, the magic of the New Kingdom was full of names of
22 G. Bohak 2008, 260–261.
23 G. Bohak 2008, 318.
24 It is certain that Betz is wrong when stating that her name occured as early as the 4th c. BC
on lead curse tablets, cf. H. D. Betz 1996, 334. In fact the earliest appearance of the name
is from the 2nd/3rd c. AD. (Suppl. Mag. 46., 47., 48., 49., 54., and PGM XIV.). I would like
to thank David Jordan who affirmed that the figure of Ereschigal does not occur on lead
tablets from the 4th c. BC.
25 F. L. Griffith – H. Thompson 1904–1921, 14. 7. col. 26. For the English translation see: H.
D. Betz 1996, 207. PGM 14 contains the Greek parts of the same papyrus. In line 24 of this
the trinity of Aktiophi, Ereschigal and Nebutosualeth appears.
26 Because of this, the name of the goddesss was not transcribed in the traditional way, instead
signs were inserted which aimed the facilitation of the reading, cf. A. Jeremias 1890–1897,
263.
27 The occurence of Demotic magical texts from the Pharaohnic is proven in: R. K. Ritner
1995, 3334–3335., 3354., 3371.
116
gods and elements of Eastern provenance, too.28 In spite of this, the number of
Demotic magical texts that survived is surprisingly low, thus we can be sure
that the number of lost and to us unfamiliar documents was a multiple of that.29
The experts of Egyptian magic in Greek language were mainly Egyptians who
also spoke Greek.30 The first appearance of Ereschigal in Greek culture that is
known to us can be found on a bilingual papyrus, the Demotic part of which
contains also the name of the goddess.31 Thus it is much more plausible to
suppose that Ereschigal’s figure made its way from Egyptian (and not directly
from Mesopotamian) tradition into the magical practise, which was intended
for the buyer who (also) spoke Greek, and not the other way around. This
means that we may hope that the name of Ereschigal will turn up in the future
on a Demotic papyrus composed much earlier than the 2nd c. AD.32
Bibliography
Audollent, A.
1904 Defixionum tabellae quotquot innotuerunt tam in Graecis Orientis,
quam in totius Occidentis partibus propter Atticas, in Corpore
Inscriptionum Atticarum editas. Fontemoing.
28 R. K. Ritner 1995, 3362.
29 R. K. Ritner lists only eight of these, but he refers to a find of the Ptolemaic age, which
contains 20 Demotic papyri (R. K. Ritner 1995, 3336–3345.).
30 The surviving pieces of an Egyptian magical library, the so-called Anastasi papyri indicate,
that the native language of the magician was probably Egyptian, but he also spoke Greek
well, indeed, he must have been a very learned person. cf. R. K. Ritner 1995, 3362. PGM
I., II., IV., V., Va., XII–XIV., LXI., P. Louvre E 3229, and two alchemist’s papryi (P. Leid. X.
and P. Holm) could have been part of the library. The magical papyri contained Demotic and
Hieratic texts, the understanding of which would mean great difficulty to a Greek person.
See R. L. Gordon 2002, 69. Cf. the lecture of Emilio Suárez de la Torre with the title „The
Library of the Magician“ which will be published in 2011 in the volume Contesti magici.
31 PGM XIV.; PDM XIV.
32 After closing the manuscript I discovered a valuable study of Sabino Perea Yébenes, who
collected and published ancient sources on Ereschigal in Spanish translation. The author
identified the goddess with Hecate and Persephone, Perea Yébenes 2002, 169. The figure
of Ereschigal found its way to “magical culture” through Persian transmission, yet he does
not refer to this in detail: “En la «cultura mágica» existía un conocimiento arcano, muy
antiguo, cristalizado, sobre la identidad de esta diosa, conocida a través de los escritos
persas.” Perez Yébenes 2002, 169. However, he remarks that the “magos caldeos” might
have also been the mediators who transmitted the figure of Ereschigal, Perea Yébenes
2002, 151.
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Becker-Bertau, F.
1986 Die Inschriften von Klaudiu Polis. Bonn, Habel. (Inschriften
griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien 31. Nr. 9.)
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1996 The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Chicago, University of
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2008 Ancient Jewish Magic. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
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und Niedergang der römischen Welt II. 18.5. 3380–3684. Berlin –
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1890–1897 Kure, Persephone, Ereschigal. In: W. H. Roscher: Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. II. 1.
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2001 Nergal und Ereškigal. Lexikon der Assyriologie IX. 226–227.
Fauth, W.
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1996 Gottesnahe und Schadenzauber. Die Magie in der griechischrömischen Antike. München.
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2002 Shaping the Text: Innovation and Authority in Graeco-Egyptian
Malign Magic. In: H. F. J. Horstmanshoff (ed.) Kykeon. 69–111.
Leiden. Brill.
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1904–1921 The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden I–III.
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Zauberpapyri Aegyptens. Archiv Orientálni 3. 327–358.
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1890–1897 Nergal. In: W. H. Roscher (ed.) Ausfürliches Lexikon der
Griechischen und römischen Mythologie. 250–271. Leipzig,
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2004 Die magischen Gemmen. Berlin, Akademie Verlag.
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2002 Una reminiscencia babilónica en época romana imperial: las
invocaciones a Ereschigal en documentos mágicos. In: S. Perez
Yébenes: El sello de Dios (2): Ceremonias de la Muerte. 141–170.
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1996 Papyri Demoticae Magicae. H. D. Betz: The Greek Magical Papyri
in Translation. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
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1941 Papyri Graecae Magicae. K. Preisendanz. Leipzig, Teubner.
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2007 The Graeco-Babyloniaca Once Again. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
97. 262–313.
Prehistoric sky lore and spirituality
Emília Pásztor
“The realm above the horizon is the domain of weather, time, source
of season, of energy in the form of light and warmth and a powerful
source of perceived cosmic order among cultures. We find human
concepts of the sky expressed in many forms: belief, ritual and
religion, symbolism, arts and crafts, mythology, lore and storytelling,
architecture of buildings and entire cities.”1
The application of celestial lore
It is characteristic of folk astronomy or rather traditional sky lore that it
does not separate meteorological phenomena from what is now nominated
as astronomy. The sky lore of traditional peoples can be classified into two
groups. There is some common, everyday knowledge which is shared by
everybody. All members of a community need some experience how to find
their way in difficult topographical conditions, how to organize daily and/
or seasonal work, how to guess weather changes in order to avoid damages.
Beside the regular, common necessities there are special occasions – hard
times for the community, fateful events, turning points in the personal or the
social life, regular rituals, etc. – which might require an expert specialized in
more sophisticated sky lore.
Sky lore – as spiritual and social power
In recent societies the desire to know and to explain is so ingrained we
take it for granted. Knowledge has a different status in other societies.
1 Von D. Chamberlain 2005, 5.
120
Among Australian Aborigines and American Indians, etc. knowledge is
not everyone’s right and there is no obligation to explain.2 On the base of
contemporary studies it has been argued that the distribution of knowledge
within prehistoric Sami society may also have been dependent upon age,
gender, social position and specialised role.3 Ethnographical research
among the Inuit people in the early 1950s and 90s proved that astronomical
knowledge meant great power to shamans or/and the leaders and their close
surround.4 Anthropological studies of North American Indians can also
mention numerous examples. The ‘priests’ of the Skidi Pawnee Indians, who
were cognizant of the fundamental observable properties of sky phenomena,
had the highest authority over the tribes.5 The Chumas “alchuklash” was
the skywatcher. He, not only observed the seasonal appearances of stars,
counted the cycles of the moon and established the times of the solstices but
participated in naming of newborn children and read their destinies in the
sky. In addition using the supernatural power the shamans coordinated most
aspects of village life.6 The Abkhazian shamaness, who was chosen to be
an acaaju by Afy the god of thunder and lightning, had a very strong social
position. Her opinion was counted in all public affairs. He was also responsible
for curing serious illnesses believed to be caused by the Rainbow.7
Studying the written sources backwards in the past, tremendous examples
can be also listed. Some of the early historical records:
In the 13th century shamanism was the dominant religion in Mongolia.
Its main ideology is revealed in the Secret History of Mongolia. Giliom de
Roubruc, the messenger of Louis IX wrote about the shamans of Genghis
Khan: “…among them a Zayran is the leader. He lives on the eastern side
of the palace, the others in a place to the north. …Some of them, especially
Zayran, have great grasp of astrology, and they are able to foretell such
phenomena as solar or lunar eclipses. …In general, the shamans foretell
auspicious and inauspicious days for carrying out any business.”8
Returning to the Carpathian Basin to the history of the Getae – Daco
(from 5th century BC to 2nd century AD) who lived in Transylvania, Zalmoxis
2 J. Clottes – D. Lewis-Williams 1998, 61.
3 I.-M. Mulk – T. Bayliss-Smith 2006, 38.
4 J. MacDonald 1998, 6., 32.
5 V. D. Chamberlain 1982, 43., 164–165.
6 E. C. Krupp 1997, 156.
7 A. Johansons 1972, 251., 255.
8 P. Otgony – P. Gurbadaryn 2007, 40.
Emília Pásztor
121
must be mentioned. He had been the slave of Pythagoras, from whom he
had learnt certain things about the heavenly bodies. Strabo wrote about him,
that although he was a priest after returning to his country, he became to be
considered a god himself. He persuaded the king to share the government
with him as the nobles and people believed he was able to predict the future
from celestial signs.9
All listed but certainly not complete examples argue that celestial
cognition was not shared among all members of a community and meant not
only sacral power to his or her possessors although in early times it cannot
have been strictly specialized knowledge.
Belief system in the Carpathian Basin in the Bronze
Age: prehistoric animism?
There are no remains of temples or special sacral buildings revealed until now
in the Carpathian Basin during the Bronze Age. Archaeological finds show
the presence of no hierarchical or organized religion and anthropomorphic
figurines or depictions representing possible divinities are also missing. The
world view, the belief system might have been similar to the traditional, folk
beliefs, which considered the surrounding world as the natural unification
of animate and inanimate nature.10 There is no dividing border between
them and their phenomena are correlated with each other for the myths and
mythical thinking.11
Brian Hayden argues that for all traditional religious people there is “a
vital force that imbues everything in creation. It is this vital force which
is responsible for creation, existence and life”. According to traditional
philosophy it is possible to be connected with this vital force and experience
it by using certain techniques.12
Animism itself is not a religion, but a basement for cosmologies of
traditional societies founding living mostly on nature. Each group of people
has their own cultural variations of belief with their own gods, spirits and
rituals. It is a type of cosmological belief, which might have been established
in prehistory. For describing the possible prehistoric animistic way of thinking
9 M. Eliade 1972, 287–288.
10 E. Pásztor 2011.
11 L. Szabó 1990, 726.
12 B. Hayden 2003, 52–53.
122
the Siberian animistic mythology can offer very good examples. The people,
who have a daily interaction with their natural environment, form a unique
world view, in which all animate and inanimate creatures of the world have
souls. In this way of thinking the environment, the surrounding nature is of
primary importance. The deepest meaning of Siberian animism is to balance
man and nature.13 “According to the beliefs of Southern Altaic peoples, every
mountain, every lake or river has its own spirit owner, which owns the place,
and is in command of the animals and birds living there. It can protect people
who live there or cross the area. Spirit owners have been believed to be
able to understand human speech, and the myths associated with them say
that, like people, they also have children, and one can obtain their goodwill
with prayers, supplications and sacrifices.”14 The cult of spirit owners is well
known in contemporary Mongolian folk religion.15 On the Uyghurs living
today in China, Zhong Jinwen, a researcher of shamanism argues “Sun and
fire are originally the one and the same god in the thinking of primeval man;
they become divided into two deities in a later stage of social development
only. The sun-god fosters and supports all beings, the fire-god, however,
exists for the benefit of man only.”16
Animistic ideas can also be found in Finno-Ugrian mythology. They
describe forest and water spirits, the spirits of the weather (sky and wind),
mother of fire, and the spirit places of plants and of the Earth.17
For the Sami, the elements of animate and inanimate nature such as
animals, particular stones, springs, lakes, the wind, the thunder, were thought
as manifestations of spirits or souls. They marked the “liminal” places
where access could be gained to supernatural world. For them “the powers
of nature were not considered evil, but could be dangerous if one did not
maintain a good relationship with them. This was achieved through a set of
sacrificial practices and through general rules of behaviour in relation to the
natural world. The rules were maintained and passed on by tales and oral
tradition”.18
Ethnographical researches on old traditional European belief system
argue the respects/worship of certain trees, stones, natural places, are very
13 M. Hoppál 1997.
14 N. A. Alekseev 1980, 63.; after M. Hoppál 1997.
15 Á. Birtalan 2004.
16 J. Zhong 1995.
17 U. Holmberg-Harva 1927, chapters XI–XV.
18 I.-M. Mulk – T. Bayliss-Smith 2006, 55.
Emília Pásztor
123
archaic elements.19 This “nature” worship still had some witnesses in Europe
even in the Medieval Age. In the 11th century the worship of certain stones
and trees was widely practised among the Germanic peoples, although they
were already nominally baptised. The bishop of Worms tried to prohibit this
pagan custom and had the stones dug up and the trees burnt. In England King
Canute of the 11th century prohibited building of sanctuaries around rocks,
trees and springs in a bull issued for his whole English realm.20
Although animism seems to be the ruling mythological background in the
Bronze Age, a different belief system, the Proto-Indo-European one, must
have also co-existed in the Carpathian Basin by then. There is no agreement
among the scholars on the time of their arrival or rather arrivals in prehistoric
Europe.21 Their possible presence in the central Danube area can be put in the
Bronze Age or rather earlier. Until we may say that the sky gods of the UraloAltaic tribes have kept their primordial characteristics better than others, this
is generally speaking not true for the Proto-Indo-European sky divinities.
In time many of these sky gods became “specialized”, turned into storm
or fertility gods. This process is largely explained by the passive nature of
the sky gods and their tendency to give place those who are more concrete
and more directly involved in the daily life of man.22 This fairly complex
evolution might have been in process during the Bronze Age as there are
artefacts, especially among the prestige ones, which might be connected with
the Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Mediator: priest-like or shaman-like?
To ensure that everything goes well, specialists are needed. Their tasks are to
heal sick community members, or animals, to solve the anxieties about the
future, to control the weather, to keep the calendar and organise activities
to take place at the correct time of the year in the appropriate manner with
the correct rituals and procedure for success. All these have to be done for
the welfare and happiness of the community. The question is whether in the
Carpathian Basin a priest-like or a shaman-like mediator acted as part of this
role during the Bronze Age.
19 Gy. Krohn 1908; A. Oişteanu 1999, 114–159.
20 R. Hutton 1996, 298.
21 J. Adams – M. Otte 1999; M. Gimbutas 1997; C. Renfrew 1987.
22 M. Eliade 1958, 66., 82.
124
Brian Hayden differentiate the two positions in following: “The shaman is
the person who must transcend the most powerful natural forces and emerge as
a new, more powerful, stronger person, one who demonstrated his/her ability
to control natural forces ... this is quite different from the priestly attempts to
control economics and politics that characterize hierarchical religions.”23
To expect a professional priesthood in a society some socioeconomic and
ideological conditions are needed, such as “a differentiated economy with a
settled way of life, including leisure for spiritual activities; the existence of
a production surplus; material foundation of rich sacrificial custom requiring
special ritual member; and the existence of cult centres requiring priest or
priestesses for daily worship or for conducting seasonal ceremonies”.24
The presence of such a specialization either in a structure of a community
or in a separated group of people should have impact in the archaeological
material. In the Carpathian Basin, however there are no significant traits of
professional priesthood in archaeological findings. The necessary rituals
might have been performed inside families or in case of necessity concerning
the whole community by a shaman-like mediator, who could also be the
chieftain or clan ruler. Trying to avoid applying the word “shaman” – except
in ethnographical analogies – as its existence in prehistory is hotly debated,
we rather use “spiritual mediator” instead. The existence of such a specialized
person with animistic mythological background in the Bronze Age Carpathian
Basin seems to be more plausible than a hierarchical priesthood.
Kenin-Lopsan, an ethnographer of Tuvan origin, differentiated five
categories of shamans among the Tuvian people:
1. Shamans who directly descend from previous shamans, or shaman
ancestors.
2. Shamans who originate themselves from earth and water spirits. The
members of this group have obtained their shamanic powers from the host
spirits of water and earth.
3. The members of the third group descend from the sky, their name was tengri
boo (sky shaman). They had a relationship with rainbow: it related powers to
them, or it gave a sign for them to perform their shamanic rituals. Shamans
in this category chanted in their songs about various natural phenomena –
storms, thunder and lightning; what is more, a man struck by lightning was to
become a really powerful shaman. We can suppose that through their animistic
23 B. Hayden 2003, 57.
24 J. Maringer 1977, 101.
Emília Pásztor
125
spirit helpers this group of Tuvian shamans was responsible for the weather.
(Italic is mine, emphasizing the necessity of specialized sky lore.)
1. Shamans originating from the evil spirit. This category contained some
very powerful shamans.
2. The last group also acquired abilities from evil spirits, from a devil-like
spirit25
E. A. Alekseenko distinguished shamans with deer head-dresses, with
symbols of lightning and birds, with bears and anthropomorphic symbols
among the Ket, a small Paleo-Siberian people.26 The Nenets and Enets shamans
are classified into three categories, one is for contacting spirits of heaven.27
In general it can be said that there is specialization between shamans:
weather sorcerer, healer, seer, sacrifice/ceremony governor, performer etc.28
It is also a general feature that the shamans (or a specialized person) must
have had significant sky lore. It seems to be reasonable to assume that a
prehistoric spiritual-mediator must also have had cognizance of celestial
phenomena in order to serve the wealth of his/her community effectively.
The final duty of the spiritual mediator, however in prehistory might not have
been different from the shamans of all over the world, to calm down of the
human soul to insure a spiritual as well as a physical-biological balance by
communicating with spirits.29
Weather magic
One of the shamans’ activities which has a clear relation to sky or rather
atmosphere, is the weather magic or weather sorcery, although rainmaking
was not exclusively their privilege. In the early (6th century AD) medieval
Japan, the Buddhist rainmaking practices played a prominent role not only
in the religious but in the political history as well.30 In ancient China, several
methods and techniques were applied. They made clay figurines of the dragon
god in order to strengthen the impact of the prayers for the rain.31
25 M. Kenin-Lopsan 1993, 1–5; after M. Hoppál 1997.
26 E. A. Alekseenko 1996.
27 L. V. Khomič 1996, 50.
28 M. Hoppál 2005, 25–53.
29 M. Hoppál 1997.
30 B. O. Ruppert 2002, 144.
31 A. P. Cohen 1978, G. Kósa 2006.
126
Ancient weather sorcery in Central Asia Turk peoples was performed by
not a shaman, not a priest but a specialized magician. They had different
methods, with water, with frogs and snakes, with black horses and with
pebbles. Use of small special stones for rainmaking is widely spread belief.32
Ethnographical research on Mongolian contemporary weather sorcery,
however proves that not only rainmaking was the shaman’s task but to control
the weather, to stop raging storm in case of necessity.33
In Europe the idea of rainmaking is already known from ancient Greece.
The first European records on magicians having a relation to storm demons
might also come from ancient Greece. They were called nephodióktai or
clouds drivers. They were the subjects of discussions by Christian authors of
5th and 7th centuries, whether they were really able to cause lightning or rain
with the help of their demons.34
Traditional weather magic ceremonies have also been known in the
Carpathian Basin.35 Beside rainmaking the Hungarian sorcerer called “táltos”
fought for his community’s harvest and weather against the demons and
witches stealing the crop and rain. This belief can be detected in the whole
Central and south-eastern Europe, including Balkan as well.36
Sky and the spirituality
“Even before any religious value has been set upon the sky it reveals its
transcendence, holiness and changelessness simply by being there. It exists
because it is high, infinite, immovable and powerful.” Merely contemplating
the vault of haven can produce a spiritual experience in primitive mind.
There is almost a universal belief in a celestial divine being, who created the
universe and guarantees the fecundity of the earth. “Contemplation of the
sky by its very nature enabled man to know not only his own precariousness
and transcendence of the divinity, but also the sacred value of knowledge, of
spiritual force” – wrote Mircae Eliade, the world famous historian of religion
in his book on patterns in comparative religion.37 This short extract from
32 Á. Molnár 1993, 125., 150–151.
33 Á. Birtalan 2006.
34 É. Pócs 2002, 52.
35 E. Kovács 1985; Á. Molnár 1993; F. Pozsony 1991.
36 A. Oişteanu 1999, 159–198.; É. Pócs 2002, 110.
37 M. Eliade 1958, 38–39., 57.
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127
his book, perfectly describes the spiritual relation of mankind to sky. The
prehistoric man’s attitude might have been very similar to it.
There are tremendous ethnographical examples of strong attachment to
sky.
“One fine warm day, the shaman went up on the hillside back of the village
and sat down. As night came on he fell asleep and he saw the air filled with
falling stars and then the sky was sinking toward him until it finally rested
upon the hilltop so close that he had barely enough room to move about
below it … Looking around he saw that every star was in reality a round
hole in the sky through which the light from above was shining … As he
looked the sky sank slowly down until he could put his head through one of
the star holes and saw another sky with other shining stars. This too, sank
slowly down and standing up he found himself breast high above the thirds
sky, and closely by was a kashim (men’s house) surrounded by a village like
the one in which he lived.” During the Doll Festival elements of this reverie
were enacted.38
In New Zealand and southern Australia where the aurora australis is
visible, the heavens are described as multi-layered by a flood of fire, and
containing a dark place resembling a mountain, to which the shaman of the
Wotjobaluk tribe ascended when making his journey into the sky to meet the
gods and the tribe’s ancestors.39
Many of the creation or genesis myths not only of the Native Americans
but the ancient Eurasians such as the Obi-Ugric’s40 account for the formation
of the stars. Mescalero Apache stars (Milky Way) are visual reminder to
them for moral values/behaviour.41 Stars were significantly important in
Skidi Pawnee Indian rituals as well.42
Cosmic symbolism in the world of objects belonging
to shamanhood
The spiritual-mediator’s task is to maintain the communication between the
human and the transcendent worlds, that is between the micro and macro
38 Origin of the Doll Festival among the Inuit: Nelson 1899 after J. MacDonald 1998.
39 B. Polttila 1992.
40 K. F. Karjalaien 1980, 353–356.; G. Lükő 2003, 29–141.
41 D. S. Miller 1997.
42 V. D. Chamberlain 1982.
128
cosmos. The archaic way of thinking might be characterized by the universal
dual oppositions such as left/right, day/night, light/dark or summer/winter, like
in traditional societies. The world of shamanic objects transmits a whole range
of meanings. Ethnographical researches prove the material culture is pervaded
by the world view conformed to the rules of mythopoetic cognition.43 From
ethno-archaeological point of view the investigation of the objects in relation
to animistic/shamanistic beliefs or activity can offer one of the best methods to
study the prehistoric spiritual thinking. The ritual paraphernalia of the shamans
perfectly harmonize with their world view. The Nenets shaman’s dress is some
sort of model of the universe. The head-dress symbolizes the upper world, the
cloak the middle world and the footwear stand for the lower one.44
The shaman’s garments
All the elements of the shaman’s costume either assist in making connections
to sacred forces or assist in controlling them and ensuring that they do not
harm the shaman. They are items with very strong symbolical associations.
Some of them are valid for specific cultures, but many are widespread and
may be considered archetypes.45 A shaman’s clothes differed from ordinary
clothes by their cut and adornments. The connection between a shaman
and his or her main protector spirit could be traced through clothing and
decorations. Fringe, wings, claws, and different images of birds were sewn on
clothes of those shamans whose main protector spirit was a bird. Clothes of
shamans whose main protector spirit was the reindeer (or some other animal)
had images of these animals or their parts. All images of birds, mammals,
and other spirit helpers and protectors were made according to the shaman’s
order from metal, bone, fabric, leather, or fur. On the back of the Nganasan
shaman-parka there can be iron pieces representing geese’s heads that help
the shamans to fly up to the gods.46 Metal discs as solar and lunar symbols on
the Yakut shaman’s coat serve light to the otherworld journey.47
The numbers of objects such as those of making tinkling noises, symbols
of ancestors’ shades, symbols of the soul escorting shaman’s bird, etc. were
often sacral, three, seven or nine.48
43 M. Hoppál 2007, 39.
44 L. A. Lar 1998, 30. after M. Hoppál 2007.
45 A. A. Znamenski 2007, 227.
46 B. O. Dolgikh 1996, 70.
47 M. Hoppál 2005, 200.
48 E. A. Alekseenko 1996; B. O. Dolgikh 1996; G. N. Gračeva 1996; B. Hayden 2003; M.
Hoppál 2002, 2007, 40.
Emília Pásztor
129
Colours also often have strong symbolical attachments. A member of the
Siberian Nganasan shaman clan had a cloak (parka) that is divided into two
sides (left and right). One was coloured black, the other red, as the symbols
of winter and darkness opposed to the sun, light and spring.49
The shaman’s head-dress
The Nenets, the Ket and the Evenki believed the cap is the most important
part as it hides the strength of the shamans. The Even shaman’s headgear
is constructed from a cross-shaped rosette – possible the symbol of the
universe –, a circle at its centre with an uprising small rod. The whole serves
the connection with the sky.50 The other function of the cap was to protect the
shaman’s head under the iron (antlered) crown or bands. The head-dress also
bears the attributes of spirit helpers. The horns symbolized the stag of the
sky, a mythical being of extraordinary power that helped the shamans fly the
sky and win in a battle against the rivals. The antlered headgear represents
the celestial origin of the shaman’s power.51 The bird was of outstanding
importance for Turkic peoples of the Altai. Eagle as the bird of shamans is
recognized in almost whole Siberia. In addition the feather headdress is also
associated with the symbolism of light. The feathers crown the head like a
halo and give the impression of communicating with the upper world.52 There
are often masks sometimes fixed to the headdress to prevent recognition by
enemy spirits or enemy shamans.
The shaman’s belt and footwear
Where there was no dress, “ritual nakedness” was widely practised in many
places. Ordinary clothes were not allowed to be used; at least a belt must be put
on. The symbols were fixed to it. The belt represented the borderline between
the upper and middle world. The footwear stood for the lower world.53
Other objects related to shamanhood
Metal mirrors have strong symbolical meanings thus are believed to originate
from the sky in Eurasian shamanism. They frighten away the evil spirits and
help to foretell the future.
49 G. N. Gračeva 1996.
50 M. Hoppál 2007, 41.
51 M. Hoppál 2005, 209.
52 M. Hoppál 2007, 43.
53 M. Hoppál 2007, 45–46.
130
Drums with protective and mighty symbols are considered the most
powerful but they are not universally used. “The drum is the key to the Saami
cosmology” and serves as a cognitive map for the shaman soul wandering
among the different worlds.54 Crosses painted on the drums signal the centre
of the world and mark the starting point for the celestial journey. The stars
and star groups help the shamans to find their ways during their trance
journeys. Sun is generally depicted on the left, the Moon on the right side of
the drum.55 Some Sami drums depict the starry sky around winter solstice or
the zodiacal constellations along the rims.56
Sometimes a sieve can have the same function as the drum. In Hungarian
magic and healing rituals the sieve often played the same role. They are
covered with leather and the small holes create a cosmologic pattern, a
particular cross shaped design.57 Bow, arrow, staff were also important parts
of the paraphernalia but with other organic material such as textiles, they
cannot stand the time.
Beside the personal belongings of the shaman there are many other objects
with cosmologic meaning, participating in invocation and offering ceremonies.
Unfortunately most of them are temporary used and of nature origin such as
green leafy branches or sapling for representing the multi-tiered sky (Figure
1), or others that cannot be differentiated from everyday objects.
Figure 1. Sacrifice offered to the sky by the Yakuts. The row of the young trees symbolizes
the multi-tiered sky. After Hoppál, 2005, 30.
54 J. Pentikäinen 1987, 139.
55 M. Hoppál 2005, 216–221.
56 B. Sommarström 1987, 237.; 1991, 161–165.
57 M. Hoppál 1984, 437–439., Figures 1., 2.
Emília Pásztor
131
Did shamanhood exist in prehistory?
Although this question was induced by Mircae Eliade’s famous book,58 it
is still under debates and there is hardly any hope to answer it explicitly
for Europe. The very term „shamanism” is considered ill-defined by
some scholars as it is culturally connected to Siberian shamanism and its
expanding to any healer from any traditional society produces a false unity
between these cultures. It may also create a false idea of an initial human
religion predating all others.59 Although Piers Vitebsky also mentions that
there is no unity in shamanism in spite of really astonishing similarities as
the various shamanistic practices and beliefs coexist with other beliefs in
many culture, he is sure that its existence in the far past cannot be excluded.60
Mihály Hoppál also discusses whether the term “shamanism” is appropriate.
He recommends the use of “shamanhood” or “shamanship”. These terms
express the diversity but also the specific features of cultures. At the same
they emphasize that shamanism is not a religion but rather cosmology and
spiritual attitude toward the surrounding world.61
One of the characteristic features of shaman ceremonies is the trance
state. The consciousness altering practices often use hallucinogens. Their
representations might be the visible sign of shamanistic activities. In the
New World some of the oldest archaeological evidences of early use of
hallucinogenic plants such as the so-called mescal bean, come from caves
and rock shelters in south-western Texas. Their radiocarbon dates prove
that the Paleo-Indian hunters were familiar with it and used it for more than
ten thousand years. The oldest remains of another plant, the peyote cactus,
are from a prehistoric rock shelter and dated to 7000 BC. Pictographic
representations of shamanic peyote ceremonies are assumed to be found
on rocks and ancient textile material as well.62 The quartz crystals have
well known shamanistic, transformational power in many cultures from
American Indians to Australian aborigines. Such stone material with other
artefacts dated to around 8000 BC, were discovered at archaeological sites
in California.63 In Europe, in Ireland quartz was used to decorate Neolithic
tombs, the best known among them is New Grange.
58 M. Eliade 1957.
59 A. Kehoe 2000; R. Hutton 2001.
60 P. Vitebsky 1995, 11.
61 M. Hoppál 2006, 14.
62 J. L. Pearson 2002, 140–141.
63 J. L. Pearson 2002, 142.
132
The question of possible existence of prehistoric shamanhood in
Europe, we may say, causes even sharper discussion. Many scholars say
shamanism had a strong tradition in Europe before the rise of monotheism,
which marginalized its practices. Greek paganism is supposed to have been
influenced by shamanism, as it is reflected in several stories as well as in
some mysteries.64 The Old Scandinavian mythology and historical records
on various Teutonic tribes also offer a pre-Germanic or co-existing shamanic
influence on sky-gods,65 although this picture is not clearly cut.66 In Europe,
from around 400 AD, the institutionalized Christianity became instrumental
in the collapse of the old pagan religions. Temples, sacral places were
systematically destroyed and key ceremonies were outlawed or appropriated.
The shamanistic practices might have survived in folk customs or special
activities such as witchcraft or possible rain making. Carlo Ginzburg argues
benandanti, witches’ Sabbath are typical shamanic rituals in a European
setting.67 The Hungarian táltos as well as the Romanian solomar are both
supposed to be the “late descendant” of early shamans.68
Shamanistic practices are sometimes claimed to predate all organized
religions and dating back to the Palaeolithic.69 Russian experts argued
already in the fifties that Siberian shamanism might have been born in very
early times and offered an ideological basement for rock art. This argument
is based on ethnographical data and the continuation of population.70 A.
P. Okladnikov, the prominent Russian expert on prehistory even puts the
origin into the Neolithic period, 4000–3000 BC.71 Relying upon religion
phenomenological data László Vajda however, argues it developed in the
Bronze Age.72 From the eighth century BC to 17th century AD, the bronze
casting of western Siberia, among Ob’-Ugrians, supports the assumption
of beliefs in ancestor-heroes’ spirits, who defined the nature of shamanism
itself.73 Idols from Achmylovo on the upper Volga, dated from the 8th to 6th
64 E. R. Dodds 1951.
65 M. Eliade 1958, 81.
66 S. Schnurbein 2003; A. A. Znamenski 2007, 310–313.
67 C. Ginzburg 1983; A. A. Znamenski 2007, 185–186.
68 A. Oiştenau 1999, 159–161.; É. Pócs 2002, 99.
69 M. Aldhouse-Green – S. Aldhouse-Green 2005, 19–65.; J. Clottes – D. Lewis-Williams
1998; J. D. Lewis-Williams 2002; J. Makkay 1961–1962.
70 Many references in M. Hoppál 2005, 57.
71 A. P. Okladnikov 1972, 56.
72 L. Vajda 1959 after M. Hoppál 2005, 61.
73 N. Fedorova 2001; V. Patrushev 2002, 124, 170.
Emília Pásztor
133
century BC, are assumed to serve as amulets or fetishes.74 They however, fit
perfectly the shamanistic beliefs in helper or domestic spirits, their spread
and their analogies in amulet tradition from the Neolithic to the present day,
also cover the areas of later shamanistic activities.
The roots of shamanism in ancient China might go back as far as the
Yangshao (5100–3000 BC) and Longshan (3000–2000 BC) cultures of the
Neolithic period according to some archaeological finds. The shamanism even
became the ruling worldview during the Shang age (18–12th century BC).75
Written sources on the existence of shamanism are already from the Shang Age.
Typical features are: shaman illness, special garment, bird-analogy, bow/arrow
use, and fight in bull shape.76 The people of the ancient state of Ch’u founded
around 1100 BC, were regarded by their contemporaries as being remarkable
religious and having a religion dominated by shamanism which was directly
related to the shamanic cultures of north and northeast Asia.77 Antler-bearing
cult images of Ch’u tombs have been associated with shamanism, quite like
the group of dancing figures on an i pouring vessels, some of them with antlers
and some of them with unbound and erect hair (sun-headed?).78
A distinctive class of anthropomorphic figurines engraved on rock in
Central Asia is characterized with heads surrounded by concentric circles,
dots or radiating short lines. These “sun-headed” petroglyphs can be dated to
the second millennium BC.79 Analyzing their two most densely represented
sites, Tamgaly in southeast Kasakhstan80 and Saymaly-Tash in Kirghizstan,81
Rozwadowsky argues they have many aspects which can be strongly
connected to shamanistic practices and ideology. This however, does not
exclude their association with Indo-Iranian tradition or mythology.82 Sunheaded figures can be found in the Italian rock art, possible from the Neolithic
to the Iron Age.83
Rock engravings dated around beginning of our era, between the rivers
Lena and Angara depict anthropomorphic figures with antler headgears, which
74 H. G. Schwerin von Krosigk 1992.
75 G. Kósa 2006, 302.
76 G. Kósa 2006.
77 S. J. Major 1977, 227., 231.
78 S. J. Major 1977, 236.
79 Z. Samashev 2001, 158–166.
80 A. N. Maryashev – A. A. Goryachev 2002.
81 K. Tashbayeva 2001, 34., Foto 1., 11.
82 A. Rozwadowski 2001, 77–83.
83 E. Anati 1994, Fig. 7., 47., 98.
134
are similar to Evenki and Buriat shamans’ antler-headdresses.84 Antlered
headpieces characterized some Selkup shamans’ paraphernalia.85 There are
anthropomorphic horn-headed images of Bronze Age, dressed in shamanic
garments in the Altai Mountains as well.86 Antler-crown depictions can also
be found in prehistoric Europe. The most well-known figure surrounded by
animals is on the Gundestrup cauldron dated to the 2nd–1st century BC and
served as a votive offering in a peat-bog in Jutland. The Bronze and Iron
Age rock carvings of Bohuslän in Sweden and Val Camonica in Italy, also
represent figures with horns or antlers.87 These Eurasian analogies suggest a
rather wide spread of shamanistic beliefs in prehistory.
The “neurological determinism” even claims the global impact of
shamanism on the base of the same neuropsychology of all human beings.
David Lewis-William and his colleagues argue that the trance states result
the range of same types of images seen in the “mind eyes” of the persons
concerned. The first stage is marked by abstract, geometric symbols,
whereas stage three is characterized by part human part animal creatures.
Such depictions can be identified in prehistoric cave art. Thus these entoptic
images can signal the altered conditions of consciousness that is the existence
of shamanism in Palaeolithic Age.88 This reasoning became favoured in
interpretation of European Bronze Age rock art as well.89 Although LewisWilliams and Dowson’s neuropsychological model drew the attention to
an important and previously neglected aspect of socioreligious life, Jeremy
Dronfield argues that their parallels are not reliable and they fail to include
any art which is known not to derive from endogenous visual experience.90
The evidences of existence of prehistoric shamanhood are not complete
and undoubtedly are not perfectly solid, but the cumulative – historical,
ethnographical, archaeological, neuropsychological – data make possible to
draw some conclusions about the cognitive approach with possible shamanic
interpretation of prehistoric art and some objects.
The picture of prehistoric shamanhood is virtually homogeneous and
seems to be true for the Palaeolithic Age, when hunting-gathering meant
84 M. Hoppál 2005, 57., 59.
85 A. J. Joki 1996, Fig. 5., 6., 7.
86 Z. Samashev 2001, Fig. 11.4.
87 A. S. Hygen – L. Bengtsson 2000, 52., 143–144.; E. Anati 1994, Fig. 132.
88 J. Dronfield 1996; J. D. Lewis-William – T. A. Dowson 1990.
89 M. Aldhouse-Green – S. Aldhouse-Green 2005, 89–106.
90 J. Dronfield 1996, 379.
Emília Pásztor
135
uniformly the living. Men had to ask the nature to provide with food and
clothes. In the later times from the Neolithic on, however the differentiating
ecological process, the interactions among cultures on different stage of
developments significantly re-colour this picture. The assumption of general
prehistoric European shamanism91 cannot identify the belief systems of one
archaeological culture with another, for example, of the Carpathian Basin
in the Bronze Age. All above mentioned data are just possible factors of an
ever – and-always changing complex, and the details cannot be killed by not
sufficiently cautious generalization.
Agreeing with Vitebsky one can say that the traits which underpin Siberian
shamanism occur naturally in individuals throughout humanity, although
they are given different cultural expression at particular times and places.92
This statement may also be valid for prehistoric Europe.
Archaeology of shamanhood in Europe and the
Carpathian Basin
If we accept that shamanhood, or the belief system which can be best
characterized by shamanic cosmology, might have been a general phenomenon
not only in traditional societies but in early times of the history of mankind,
such message should also be reflected archaeologically. It is however, very
difficult to use material remains to reconstruct beliefs. Jeremy Dronfield and
Ronald Hutton argue the problems are in the very nature of archaeological
investigation, ultimate proof will always be missing, it is equally impossible
to demonstrate conclusively that the art concerned is specifically the relic
of practices called shamanism.93 Criticizing the shamanic interpretation of
archaeological finds Ronald Hutton says “prehistoric burials excavated in
Western Europe, found to be associated with unusual ornaments or personal
possessions have been identified as those of shamans. The logic involved
is the shaky one that, if Siberian shamans were marked out by a special
costume or equipment, then any prehistoric person marked out in this way
would probably have been a shaman”.94 He is right in part as a single grave or
a single particular artefact, even if it is a prestige one, can hardly be enough
91 M. Aldhouse-Green – S. Aldhouse-Green 2005.
92 P. Vitebsky 1995.
93 J. Dronfield 1995, 539–549.; R. Hutton 2001, 133.
94 R. Hutton 2001, 133.
136
to reconstruct shamanistic belief system, but how else these finds can be
interpreted? Special paraphernalia with some common, typical significance
is a global feature of shamanhood. Many data to the belief system of an
archaeological culture, or a limited region can be obtained by complex
investigation of archaeological features. Although an archaeologist works
with material remains but the final aim is to know about the people who
used them. Sceptical views are always needed in science but without such
interpretive attempts, cognitive archaeology could give up its legitimacy for
existence.
The study of rock art in a broader interpretive framework resulted in its
recognition as the possible manifestation of ancient beliefs in supernatural
forces. Several analyses of rock art argue that this art might be the reflection
of shamanic experiences. The images perceived during altered state exert
a profound influence on the engraved iconography95 although not all
“simple” abstract symbols derive from subjective visual experience.96 In the
Carpathian Basin for the lack of rock art and the scarcity of figurative art on
archaeological objects, other kinds of investigations and methods are needed.
The artefacts decorated by mostly geometrical patterns which occasionally
contain special, abstract motifs including solar or astral symbols. These
are like entoptic images,97 but can be found in such art – ceramics, bronze
objects – which was not inspired by trance experience.
To reach the altered conscious state shamans often use hallucinogenic
plants. There are stones and ceramics with their representations.98 All over
Siberia the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) was used in shamanic rituals. This
fungus is found in the Carpathian Basin as well. Among the archaeological
finds it is difficult to identify them clearly. There are however, fungus-like
late Bronze Age clay artefacts considered magic objects almost exclusively
from the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe.99
The shamanic aspects should also be detected on other material remains
such as the well-known Olmec Indian figures of Man-Jaguar (c. 900–300
BC) believed to be ancient shamans.100 In the trance state the activities of the
„free-soul” of the shaman are made in accordance with the various animal
95 J. D. Lewis-Williams – T. A. Dowson 1990.
96 J. Dronfield 1996, 86–87.
97 J. Dronfield 1996, Fig. 13.
98 J. L. Pearson 2002, 115–135.
99 C. Metzner-Nebelsick 1997, Abb. 1. 4–5.; Abb. 2. 12., 14.; Abb. 4.
100 A. A. Znamenski 2007, 180–182.
Emília Pásztor
137
shapers of the spirit helpers. This means that during the trance, if the soul
flies as fish, it would swim to the underground waters, to the domain of the
dead; as birds it would soar to the sky gods of the Upper World, while in
the form of reindeer stags or bulls, it would fight with other shamans’spirit
helpers or evil spirits on the ground.101 The representations of these typical
animals in archaeological material might also be the informers of animistic
beliefs.
James Pearson also argues that wearing animal or bird masks is such a
shamanic custom whose roots go back to the ancient times. They belong to
the media whose purpose is to establish a bond with supernatural beings by
creating interchangeability between animal and human forms.102 Standing
figures with bird heads are engraved into rocks on the river bank of Tom,
in Siberia. They are assumed to be made around the turn of the second and
first millennia BC.103 In Europe the most well-known example is the group
of bird-headed people engraved and painted on the slab of the Kivik grave of
the early Scandinavian Bronze Age.104 A bronze adornment made in the shape
of a bird-headed anthropomorphic figure for a staff or a rod, might also have
belonged to a shamanistic mediator’s paraphernalia.105 Mythical bird, which
can obscure the whole sun and is the ancestor of all shamans, is among the
iron instruments of a shaman, reserved a special place for it.106 The shamans
have to wear pendants, breast-covers which represent the shamans’ assistants
on their costumes – birds, deer and bears. These animal attributes are on
drums and head-dresses as well.107
Bird bronze pendants are frequent in the Bronze Age hoards of the
Carpathian Basin such as Nagyhangos, Rozvágy, Zsadány-Orosi puszta, etc.
(Figures 2. and 3.) The bird with the sun is an essential symbol of the late
Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe including the Carpathian
Basin.108 The famous Middle Bronze Age Dupljaja (Serbia) find of the
Carpathian Basin contains two carts driven each by bird-headed females,
one is drawn by three birds, the other just without them. Although they
101 M. Hoppál 1997.
102 J. Pearson 2002, 138.
103 M. Hoppál 2005, 59.
104 K. Randsborg 1993, Fig. 4., 13.
105 K. Randsborg 1993, 133., Fig. 56.
106 E. A. Alekseenko 1996, 35.
107 E. A. Alekseenko 1996, 38.
108 J. Bouzek 1999.
138
Figure 2. Bird symbols in Bronze Age
hoard of Nagy-Hangos, Hungary.
After Hampel 1903, 427.
Figure 3. Bird symbol of the hoard of
Nagyrozvágy, Hungary.
After Koós 1988. 1. kép.
are considered sun-priestesses or rather the representation of the sun,109
they might be interpreted as shamanesses as well who fly up in the sky on
bird-drawn carts. Birds are significant symbols of Bronze Age Carpathian
Basin as well (especially in the second half). They might be associated more
closely with animistic beliefs than Proto-Indo-European one.110 They always
symbolize connection with the sky.
Several assemblages of unique finds were unearthed in a Late Bronze
Age urn cemetery of Urnfield culture at Békásmegyer, Hungary. Three urns
contained, one was almost full of, small, clearly recognizable astral symbols,
sun, moon, stars, etc.111 This cemetery also has some peculiar clay objects whose
shapes are like animals’ paws.112 Such artefacts were found at other sites in the
Carpathian Basin or its surroundings.113 Might they symbolize animal spirit
helpers? Figure 4. There are large decorated bronze and gold discs serving as
breast or back plates similar to those of some shamans’ garments.
109 K. Kristiansen – T. B. Larsson 2005, 150.
110 J. P. Mallory – D. Q. Adams 1997, birds, swan headwords.
111 C. Metzner-Nebelsick 1997, Abb. 2. 4., 9., 22.; L. Nagy 1979, 44–46. ábra, 66.
112 R. Kalicz-Schreiber 1991, Abb. 26. 196.
113 C. Metzner-Nebelsick 1997, Abb. 1. 2., Abb. 2. 8., Abb. 3.
Emília Pásztor
Figure 4. Peculiar clay objects whose shapes are like
animals’ paws. After Metzner-Nebelsick 1997, Abb. 2.
to discover their prehistoric
ancestors. Different kinds of
pendants perhaps serving similar
purpose are well-known among
late Bronze Age artefacts in the
Carpathian Basin. Figure 5.
Most of the shamanic
paraphernalia can never be
discovered as they are from
organic material. Thus drums
cannot be expected either but
the depictions of their typical
worldview are represented on
other artefacts. The famous early
Bronze Age Nebra disc is the
best example for it114 and the
tiny celestial clay figurines of
Békásmegyer cemetery might
also be significant symbols of
it.115
139
Ethnographers have
also observed that special
sounds seem to be
fundamental phenomena
in shamanistic rituals
as well. Beside drums,
mouth’s
harps,
and
whistles there are rattles
or other noise-making
hangings partly fastened
on the garments, partly
serving
as
separate
sound creators. If these
are from burnt clay or
metal,
archaeologists
have a good chance
Figure 5. Bronze pendants. After Kossack 1954.
Tafel 10.
114 E. Pásztor – C. Roslund 2007.
115 R. Kalicz-Schreiber 2010, Tafel 8–10., 39., 160., 178–179.; R. Kalicz-Schreiber 1991, Abb.
26., 196.; C. Metzner-Nebelsick 1997, Abb 2. 4., 9., 22; L. Nagy 1979, 44–46. ábra, 66.
140
Further problems are raised by the researches on folk astronomy. They
prove that the application of celestial knowledge cannot or can hardly be
connected with special artefacts. Most activities concerning the celestial
bodies or phenomena do not need any special objects, or tools. Among
Central Asian Turks pebbles, “rain stones” were used for rain-making or
controlling the weather,116 like at Reindeer people in northwest Mongolia
(personal experience). Although pebbles deposited intentionally in graves
have not often been reported among the archaeological finds in the Carpathian
Basin, the above mentioned Urnfield culture cemetery is an exception as the
excavator could not help noticing the pebbles put into urns or cups of the
graves.117 The ethnographical research mentions about the South Slavonic118
and the Saxon of Sonai119 that, water and green branches are the essential but
usual elements of their rain making rituals. Unfortunately these cannot be
traced down among the archaeological findings.
Conclusion
Interpreting certain archaeological finds or/and phenomena in the Carpathian
Basin during the Bronze Age one should take into account not only the impact
of East-Mediterranean high cultures but of the indigenous, possible animistic
believers. In the Carpathian Basin there are finds which might be connected to
animistic worldview and spiritual mediators. This belief system may be described
or characterized best by analogies with the historical and recent records of Eurasian
shamanistic worldview. Present study has focused on the possible sky lore and its
employment in the spiritual life of Bronze Age people. The comparative analyses
of the material culture of the Eurasian shamanism and the archaeological finds
support an argument on specialized sky lore in the prehistory as well. There are
finds which might have been involved in ceremonies/rituals in relation with the
sky/celestial bodies or phenomena, in vision journey to the Upper Worlds, in
weather sorcery and in future telling/magic (?).
The roots of shamanic/animistic beliefs might be earlier in the Carpathian
Basin than the Bronze Age. A deer-shape „totem” mask from the outer
enclosure ditch near the northern gate was unearthed at the Moravian
116 Á. Molnár 1993.
117 L. Nagy 1979, 41. ábra, 66.
118 OMM 1891, 644–646.; E. Kovács 1985.
119 F. Pozsony 1991.
Emília Pásztor
141
Mašovice – Pšeničné of the late Neolithic Lengyel culture.120 In shamanic
beliefs the symbolical role of the stag is to fight against devil spirits besides
as a mythical being helps the shaman fly up the sky. There are strange peculiar
objects used from the Neolithic to the Iron Age that must have had a magic
function because of the long existence without any alteration.121
The lack of remains of temples, sacral buildings or organized religion
in archaeological material, however does not mean that the shamanism was
the only worldview in the Carpathian Basin during the Bronze Age. As the
land was crossed by the mercantile roads between the North and the South,
the influence of Mediterranean and Near East high cultures can also be
detected in the archaeological finds. The worldview of the inhabitants of tell
settlements with strong southern roots must have been different from those
of leading pastoral life style.
Personal experience can help a lot to learn and understand a belief
system/spiritual life different from the researcher was educated, but in an
attempt to retrace and understand the distant past, one cannot treat modernday interpretations as absolute accurate statements about the past. However,
they might offer an image beginning to take shape.
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Spirit Invocation and Altered State of
Consciousness
Dávid Somfai Kara
Two phases of spirit invocation
The activity of Inner Asian/Siberian Shamans and their rituals are accompanied
by various sacred texts. These texts have strong connection with other
elements of the rituals: dance and movements, ritual dresses, sacrifice, sacred
space and altars. Sometimes it is difficult to describe these texts with Western
folklore terms because a shamanic song can contain several different genres:
1) Prayer to the spirits
2) Sacrificial song
3) Healing song
4) Spirit invocation
5) Chasing demons
Let us take for example the song of a Daur shaman (yadgan irō),1
Sečengua.2 In her shamanic song all these genres are attested. The first part
of the song can be interpreted as a prayer where the shaman introduces
her ancestor spirit and invokes it. This part can be further divided into two
segments:
1) The first phase is the mere invocation of the spirits (Buryat durdalga
‘remembering’).3 By saying the name of the spirit and mentioning its holy
places and attributes (thus verbalizing them) the spirit world becomes a
1 Similar Daur spirit invoking song can be found in Engkebatu 1985, 387–414.
2 About Sečengua Daur shaman see D. Somfai Kara – M. Hoppál 2009.
3 The Buryat durda- verb means ‘to commemorate, to mention’ because the shaman
mentions the names of the spirits during the invocation. This type of songs are usually
called durdalga, see V. Diószegi – N. Sharakshinova 1970, 103.; I. Manzhigeev 1978, 46.
and D. Somfai Kara 2009, 101.
Dávid Somfai Kara
151
reality for the community. That is the reason why mentioning these names
is taboo in profane situations. Prayers thus create a link towards the spirit
world. It is the verbal creation of the sacral space.
2) The second phase is the invocation of the ‘verbally created’ spirit to the
actual ritual (Buryat dūdalga ‘calling’).4 This part is not only the mere creation
of sacral space because the spirit is invoked for active participation. During
that phase the religious specialist – in our case the shaman incorporates the
spirit to her body.
Buryat shamans call their helping spirits onggon/onggod and its Daur
form is onggōr.5 This word really means ‘sacred’ or ‘holy’. The term used
for spirits that are sacred for the shaman and the community. It is not
applied to other spirits and it is not a spirit type as some scholarly literature
suggests.6 The shaman is only a medium or mean of communication for the
spirits. While the passive prayers can be performed by other members of
the community (elderly people), the active prayer (actual invocation) is the
shaman’s privilege. The shaman is chosen by the spirits themselves so when
the shaman removes the soul from the body (Buryat hünehen gar-)7 the spirits
take possession (Buryat onggon oro-).8 The spirits talk to the community
through the shaman’s voice. They actively take part in sacrifices and healings.
The spirits also chase away demons and give advice to people.
Sečengua’s shamanic ancestor (Daur ojōr barkan)9 is her great-grandfather
Laa Samaan from whom she inherited her shamanic ability (ojōr)10. This
ability enables her to make contact with the spirits. Whenever she prays to
the spirits she has to contact Laa Samaan’s spirit first and invoke him to
the ritual. Actually the incorporated spirit talks through her voice when she
falls into trance and starts to sing. Sometimes an interpreter explains her
song to the community. The participants feed the spirits through her body
4 This word derives from the Buryat verb dūd- ‘to call’. During the shamanic song the
shaman invokes the spirits as they posses the shaman’s body causing a state of trance. See
I. Manzhigeev 1978, 47. and V. Diószegi –N. Sharakshinova 1970, 103.
5 See N. Poppe 1930, 8–14. and D. Somfai Kara – M. Hoppál 2009, 149–150.
6 Á. Birtalan 2000, 1020. and C. Humphrey – U. Onon 1996, 185.
7 Mongol sünesün, Buryat hünehen is similar to Turkic qut ‘spirit or soul’. This ‘soul’ can
leave the body due to a shock or illness (Buryat hünehen gara- ‘the soul goes out’). In
that case shaman performs a spirit catching ritual (Buryat hünehe bari-), see I. Khangalov
1958, 59. and I. Manzhigeev 1978, 95.
8 This expression (literally ‘the sacred/spirit enters’) illustrates well that the helping spirit
enters the body of the shaman during trance, see I. Manzhigeev 1978, 64.
9 C. Humphrey – U. Onon 1996, 189.
10 See D. Somfai Kara – M. Hoppál 2009, 148. and D. Somfai Kara 2008a, 102.
152
thus making sacrifice to them. By this the spirits can communicate in an
interactive way with the people and they can ask questions and give answers
to their quarries, listen to their requests, prayers and give them advice.
1st part (passive introduction or commemoration, durdalga)
Dekoo dekoo dekoo yaa
Artii tenggrees ana-antii ireesen
Amban owoogoos amilaaltii le
Emiin golooroon tegeetii le
Kuku tenggrii guideltii le
Kudee taliin saudaltii le
Xailaar goliigoo umdii bariesan
Onon xal-iigaan ojoor deediigee
Ačikčaan jiltii Laa(xai) samaan xuu
Dekoo dekoo dekoo yaa.11
It arrived by the order of High Heaven.
It came alive at the Amban (Great) oboo.
It lives by the Emin River.
It runs in the blue skies.
It sits in the plateu.
It drinks from Hailar River.
The ancestor spirit of the Onon clan,
Laa samaan was born in the year of the Rat,
2nd part (active invocation, duudalga)
Taa(xan) yeeyeegee orij aaj aawei
Bod buyeeree boojirwudee
Bor-ii-Čooxor degii ille
Boojirwudee daatgaa jalj aawei
Juuruul moodii jurkuntii le
Isen keukrii maršalawtii le
arban irgen-gurgentii le
Xar(xan) čigaan xobilgaanaar yaugu
Jaran durwen tergultii l.
Gučin xoiroo juurentii l,
Os-ii josiin guičijie l,
Jawaa jaslaa emse-eč yawaasan
Onon xal-iigaa ojoor deediigee
Laa(xan) samaan Taa(xai) yeeyeegee
Orij-sorij daatgaa jalj aawai
Great grandfather, I am invoking you.
He arrives by his own will,
Turning into the Bor-Čooxor spirit-bird,
When he descends I incorporate him.
In the center there is a double tree (tooroo).
Nine boys are running after him.
He has ten students.
He walks with black and white spirits.
In sixty-four roads,
He has thirty-two helping spirits.12
He runs by the river.
He puts on his shamanic gown.
The ancestor spirit of the Onon clan
Laa samaan, my great grandfather,
I invoke and incorporate him.
11 Dekoo dekoo words have no specific meaning, this is the usual beginning of a spirit
invocation. It can be a Manchu influence, since the famous Manchu shaman Nišan also
starts her song in a similar way: deyangku, deyangku (M. Nowak – S. Durrant 1977,
129.).
12 A juuren is probably a Chinese loanword (主人 zhuren) which means ‘master’. Daurs also
call their helping spirits that way.
Dávid Somfai Kara
153
Analisys of the song
Passive phase (durdalga)
1) The origin of her Onon clan’s (xal) shamanic ability
(Artii Tenggerees anantii ‘received form High Heaven’).
2) Sacred site: Amban owoo
3) Sacred rivers: Emiin gol, Hailaar gol.
4) Her shamanic ancestor’s year of birth: year of the Rat (ačikčaan jiltii)
Active phase (duudalga)
Then she invokes the spirit (orij jalj aawei ‘I am calling you’).
In the second part we learn about the ritual attributes of her shamanic
ancestor:
1) Helping spirits descend in the form of Bor-Čooxor bird-spirit.13
2) He had a double shamanic tree (juuruu tooroo).14
3) Nine boys (isenči)15 took part in her initiation.
4) Probably he had ten disciples (irgen).
5) He had white and black (good and bad) helping spirits; all together 32.
6) With the help of the spirits he travelled 64 ‘spiritual journeys (tergul)’
along the rivers.16
7) He was wearing his shamanic dress (jawaa) during rituals
(invocations).
Various types of altered state of consciousness
(trance or ecstasy) and their role
As we have seen above the shaman incorporates the spirits to her body
only in the second phase of the invocation. This action is accompanied by
a sort of trance or ecstasy. One can observe various types of altered state of
13 Poppe writes that Bor-Čooxor is a powerful onggon. Humphrey writes that the most
powerful ancestor spirits appear in the form of birds (N. Poppe 1930, 14. and C. Humphrey –
U. Onon 1996, 187.).
14 See D. Dugarov 1991, 54. and C. Humphrey – U. Onon 1996, 239–242.
15 Aga Buryats practice the šanar shamanic initiation ritual where the shaman climbs a
shamanic tree. The shaman chooses nine helpers (Buryat yühenše) who run around the
shamanic tree. The shamanic tree symbolizes the shaman’s spiritual journey to the Upper
World, see V. Tkacz 2005, 62.
16 There are parallels among Tungusic peoples. Evenkis believe that their helping spirits live
by the head of the rivers (G. M. Vasilevich 1959).
154
consciousness among Inner Asian religious specialists (shamans). They serve
as means of communication towards the spirits. But how do they experience
the state of trance and what is the role of trance nowadays? In this article I
will rely on data collected during my fieldwork in Southern Siberia (Russia),
Mongolia and Inner Mongolia (China). The following questions also discussed
by other scholars can be relevant in solving the problem of shamanic trance.
1) What is shamanism?
2) Who is a shaman?
3) Is trance or ecstasy an integral part of shamanic traditions?
4) Are there shamanic traditions within a theoretic religion?
Gábor Vargyas discussed the question of shamanic trance in his article,17
where he cites several French ethnologists and reflects to their opinions by
analyzing a Bru shamanic song from Vietnam (although recorded in Thai/
Lao language). Roberte Hamayon in another article18 discusses whether
trance and ecstasy are relevant concepts in the study of shamanism as a
cultural phenomenon. She argues that the induction and credibility of trance
are irrelevant concepts in the study of shamanism. She also argues that
people with shamanic traditions have no ‘emic’ term for the state of trance.
Vargyas rightfully states that trance is not irrelevant in shamanic activity.
On the contrary it is one of its most important peculiarities and its various
forms are always present in shamanic traditions. In his article he analyzes
the song of the Bru shaman and demonstrates that there are emic terms
for trance. He describes the feelings of the shaman during the trance too.
Vargyas also reflects to another theory, which argues that shamanism and
possession trances are opposite religious notions.19 According to the theory20
possession trance is passive with spirits moving downward from above. The
incorporation of the spirits suggests an inferior position towards them. On the
contrary shamanism (shamanic journey) or shamanic trance is a movement
from below upward. It is an active experience as the shaman’s soul leaves
to influence the spirits and it suggests equality or superior position. In the
analysis by Vargyas we find out that the incorporation can suddenly turn
into a shamanic journey. The shaman’s passive role becomes active as he
17 G. Vargyas 2005, 376–381.
18 R. Hamayon 1993, 3–25.
19 G. Vargyas 2005, 391–392.
20 L. de Heusch 1971 and G. Condominas 1976.
Dávid Somfai Kara
155
begins to control the spirits. As Vargyas puts it “the two roles are present
simultaneously, it has a double identity”.21
Mircea Eliade22 did not consider possession trance relevant in shamanism.
Vilmos Diószegi on the contrary thinks that it is also an integral part of
shamanic traditions. It is just a different type of ecstasy existing besides
shamanic journey.23 The two religious experiences cannot be separated
and he mentions examples when the two are intermingling.24 Hamayon
argues about the irrelevant nature of trance (ecstasy) probably because
she did not encounter this phenomenon among Siberian Buryats in PostSoviet times (neo-shamanism). A reknown researcher of Nepali shamanism
Mastromattei does not consider Mongolian and Buryat neo-shamanism as a
continuation of shamanic traditions because he believes that shamanic trance
is not characteristic to them.25 This topic is also discussed by Ulla Johansen
German researcher.26 She considers shamanism (shamanic journey) as a form
of ecstasy and just like Diószegi argues that possession trance can be part
of shamanic traditions too.27 Johansen in her article maps the various trance
experiences of Siberian, Inner and Central Asian shamans. According to
her map shamanic journey can be observed only among a few indigenous
peoples of Siberia (Tungus, Yakut, Southern Siberian Turks, Samoyed and
Ob-Ugurians, Ket, Chukcha, Inuit), while Mongolian folk religion – also
described as shamanism – only has possession trance.
Recent research shows that possession trance is almost unknown among
Siberian Turks (Tuva, Altay and Abakan Turks/Khakas) nowadays. Their
shamans experience shamanic journey during trance. Their free souls (Altay
kut, süne, jula, Tuva sünezin, etc.) leave their body during trance and travel to
the spirits. They only have emic expression for that kind of experience (Tuva
sünezin ün-, Altay kut/jula čïk- ‘the soul departs’). Possession trance – where
21 G. Vargyas 2005, 392.
22 M. Eliade 1964.
23 V. Diószegi 1974, 638.
24 The spirit possesses the shaman then takes his soul to the spirit world, see V. Diószegi
1974, 640.
25 R. Mastromattei 2007.
26 U. Johansen 2003, 135–152.
27 By falling into ecstasy at will the shaman is believed to be able to communicate directly
with the spirits either his soul leaving the body to enter their realm or by acting as their
mouthpiece like a medium. Possession ecstasy in which the body of the shaman is
possessed by the spirit; Forms of ecstasy: wandering ecstasy in which his soul departs
into the realm of spirits; passive ecstasy; active ecstasy. Mircea Eliade does not consider
possession ecstasy to be essential to shamanism (V. Diószegi 1974, 638–640.).
156
the helping spirits (Altay tös, körmös, Tuva jayaan, dös, etc.) possesses the
shamans’ body – is traditionally unknown among them, so they do not have
an emic term for that either. Shamanic journey is well documented among
these peoples. The Telengit (Altay Turkic) shaman’s soul travels to Erlik
in the Lower World entering different gates.28 The Sakha (Yakut) used to
measure the shaman’s ability according to how many passes (Sakha aartïk)
of the spirit world his/her soul (kut-sür) can pass. Some shamans among the
Tuva could travel to the ninth heaven (Tuva tos deer) during their trances
according to legends.29
In Buryat and Daur shamanic tradition however the shaman’s soul
(Mongol sünesün, Buryat hünehen, Daur sums) usually do not travel. The
shaman’s helping spirits (Buryat onggon, plural onggod, Daur onggoor)
possess the shaman’s body and the shaman is only a medium. These people
have emic terms for that experience (Buryat onggo(n) oro- or Daur onggoor
uar- ‘the spirit/sacred enters’). We have ethnographic data about the classical
shamanic journey experience form Mongolic peoples too, but nowadays we
can only find its traces in shamanic rituals.30
I cannot agree with the opinion that only the trance of shamanic journey can be
considered as part of shamanism. In that case Buryat, Bargu and Daur religious
specialists are not shamans because their altered state of consciousness is limited
to possession trance. It would be important finally to give the precise definition
of shamanism. Scholars used to deal with Southern Siberian shamanism as a
uniform religious system but we find shamanic journey (shamanism) among the
Turkic peoples (including Mongolic Darkhats) and possession trance among
Mongolic peoples (including some Tungus). The shamanic traditions of these
two ethno-linguistic groups have a fundamental difference in their shamanic
trance (altered state of consciousness) experience.
A religious specialist, can be considered shaman (Buryat böö and
udgan, Daur yadgan vagy samaan) not because of the type or level of their
trance. What matters is the shamans’ religious experience and weather that
experience is accepted by the local community. The trance of the religious
specialist (shamanic journey or possession) triggers a religious experience
among the members of the community who participate in the rituals. In that
case we can rightfully consider this as shamanism or shamanic tradition.
28 A good example is the Kumandy shamanic song collected by V. Diószegi in 1964, see D.
Somfai Kara 2003, 300.
29 M. Kenin-Lopsan 1997, 118.
30 D. Somfai Kara 2009, 146. and M. Balogh 2007, 94.
Dávid Somfai Kara
157
A more relevant question is why trance experience disappears in certain
religious folk traditions even though we have data about intensive shamanic
journey and possession trance form earlier sources or these traditions are still
alive among other sub-ethnic groups of the same people. A good example is
the case of Buryat shamans in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia (China) and
their religious experiences. According to my fieldwork in Mongolia (2007)
Buryat shamans rarely experience intensive trance during rituals even though
shamans always indicate the incorporation (possession trance).
Buryat and Daur shamans in Inner Mongolia (Khölün-Buir) experience
very intensive possession trance with jumping and rolling on the ground,
shivering. At the end they
get stiffen and the possessing
spirit starts to talk to them
to the sound of a shamanic
device (shamanic drum or
staff with bells) and gives
orders to the community
through the shaman who is
a medium.31 We encounter
intensive
trance
very
rarely among Southern
Siberian shamans during
rituals nowadays. During
my fieldwork in Tuva
(1995, 1998) only singing,
dancing and some strange
movements indicated the
shaman’s spiritual journey.
A Telengit shaman from
the Altay Republic (Russia)
waved with his canvas drum
The Daur shaman incorporates the spirit who sings
(bös-tüngür) by the fire as in her body to the sound of the shaman staff (morin
sorbi), 2007, Khölün-Buir, Inner Mongolia, China
his soul travelled to Erlik in
the Lower World.
Muslim Turks (Kazak, Kirghiz, Uighur) in Inner Asia have religious
specialists called bakšï who usually experience very intensive trance. Their
31 D. Somfai Kara 2009, 156.
158
connection with the spiritual word is very different due to the influence of
Islam. The notion that the shaman has a free soul that can depart the body
and travel (shamanism) or it can be replaced by a helping spirit (possession)
is unknown. Muslim ‘shamans’ experience trance by seeing and feeling the
closeness of spirits and communicating with them (Kazak arwak or jïn šakïr‘to call the spirits/demons’).
Some western scholars disclose Muslim religious specialists from the
category of shamans32 and they prefer to use other terms (e.g. healer). From their
shamanic songs we can detect the coming of the spirits and their participation
to the ritual. A Kirghiz bakšï from Xinjiangban (China) sang that he could
The Kirghiz shaman falls into trance after six minutes singing and dancing around his
shamanic flag (tuu), 2004, Kyzyl-Suu, Xinjiang, China
feel the spirits in some parts of his body but he did not experience possession.
At the end of the ritual he swallowed magic candles to symbolically clear his
body from spirits.33 But the spirits did not possess his body and incorporation
was partial. The spirits helped the shaman to fight with the demons and they
increased his power. In the case of the Kirghiz shaman it is difficult to find
any transition between possession trance and shamanic journey. The Kirghiz
bakšï symbolically made a journey to the spirit world by climbing up on a
32 I. Bellér-Hann 2004 and K. Kehl-Bodrogi 2006.
33 D. Somfai Kara – M. Hoppál 2007, 61.
Dávid Somfai Kara
159
rope (‘shamanic flag’, Kirghiz tuu, Uighur tug) to the smoke circle at the top
of the felt house. Although we can interpret it as a shamanic journey, Muslim
Kirghiz see it merely as a way of communication with the spirits. In the same
time Buryat and Daur shamanic trees (Buryat exe-modon) or ladders (Daur
tooroo) are devices where the spirits (onggon or onggoor) actually descend
from the spirit world to the Middle World of human beings.
I observed another interesting phenomenon about the trance of Muslim
Turkic shamans. During the analysis of shamanic songs I have found out that
the state of trance was accompanied by some strange sounds or movements
or the shaman suddenly started to sing with a higher voice. When I measured
the time between the beginning of the song and the trance indicated by sound
effects, it turned out that it was always around six minutes.34 The accordance
can be a coincidence so it needs further research. In my opinion there are
still many questions to be solved about the altered state of consciousness
as an important aspect of shamanic traditions. Not only the biophysical
aspects of this psychological state are problematic but the description and
analysis of culturally determined behavior is also inadequate. Without
fully understanding these cultural phenomena we cannot even try to define
‘shamansim’. In scholarly literature there is still a debate on shamanism and
possession trance and their relevance in shamanic traditions.
I would approach the problem by analyzing the religious experience of
the community members who participate to the rituals. The shaman’s trance
experience is determined by the mythology and expectations of the community.
If the community believes that spirits possess the shaman’s body then shaman
would experience possession trance. On the other hand if the community believes
in shamanic journey we will find ‘classical shamanism’. The mixing of the two
phenomena and the disappearance of trance is also related to the changes in the
beliefs of the community and their religious experiences. The important thing is
that the religious specialist or shaman is chosen and initiated by the spirits. The
members of the community also believe in that thus legitimizing the shaman’s
ability. If the members of the society experience the communication with the
spirits through the shaman then we can rightfully call that ‘shamanic tradition’
regardless of the quality of altered state of consciousness.
34 I have analyzed four different cases because during my fieldwork I managed to record only
four spirit invoking songs (see D. Somfai Kara 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008b).
160
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Theory and Methodology in Hungarian
Catholic Philosopher Ottokár Prohászka’s
Work for Social Progress1
Péter S.Szabó
Introduction
Ottokár Prohászka (1858–1927), probably the most significant Catholic
philosopher of Hungary in the 20th century was born in Nyitra on 10 October
1858, and received his education in the schools of Rózsahegy, Losonc,
Nyitra, Kalocsa and Esztergom. Following his graduation from Esztergom,
he pursued theological studies in the Collegium Germanico-Hungaricum in
Rome, between 1875 and 1882. At the end of that period he became doctor
of philosophy as well as of theology. On 30 October 1881 he was ordained
in the church called Trinitá dei Monti of Rome. Having returned to his home
country he started to work in the seminary of Esztergom, where for several
years he was educating candidates for the priesthood and published widely
on a range of issues. Also engrossed in the study of the scientific findings
and political trends of his time, he reflected on them in his writings, which
provided the Hungarian public with a good deal of relevant information.
From 1905 to his death Prohászka functioned as the bishop of Székesfehérvár as well as fulfilled several important social duties including that of
member of parliament. As a writer, public figure and pastor, Prohászka’s
performance was outstanding. In 1911, however, the Index Congregation
(the Sancta Officium) of Rome chose to ban three of his works, which event
created considerable stir in contemporary Hungary. Prohászka took due
notice of the back-listing, but continued his mission with unflagging zeal.
Symbolically, death came for him while he was engaged in preaching, on
1 The writing of this paper was supported by a grant from the Pro Renovanda Cultura
Hungariae Fund, provided in 2003.
164
Theory and Methodology in Hungarian Catholic
2 April 1927. His work was published in an edition de luxe containing 25
volumes, edited by his colleague, the Piarist Antal Schütz during the years
1928–29. In Székesfehérvár a memorial church, a statue and an ornamented
sepulchre were erected to keep his memory. The sepulchre bears the
inscription „Apostolus et Praeceptor Hungáriae” (Apostle and Preceptor of
Hungary), underscoring Prohászka’s unique religious significance for the
country.
The Rationale of Prohászka’s Work in the Field of
Social Theory
The essential theological purpose of Prohászka’s work can be identified with
comparative ease, as various pieces of reference literature tend to agree on
this point. His goal can be summarised as making a kind of synthesis of the
Christian world view and the modern scientific results of his time by bringing
them into harmony with each other. Departing from this assumption, he
became immersed in studying a wide range of ideas and issues. His inquiry
covered especially those branches of the social sciences, namely geology
and paleontology, which provided essential data for the theory of evolution,
an important instrument in worldview formation. Thus he examined the
scientific facts relevant to the debate between two worldviews, the Christian
and the one turning away from it. He scrutinised facts in terms of their being
possible premises from which ideological conclusions can be drawn.
The intention of Prohászka to create a synthesis urged him to study other
aspects of the social sciences as well as social philosophies, ideologies
and social ideas. It was with considerable enthusiasm that he welcomed
the social ideas which stressed the offer of help for the poorer layers of the
society, especially working class people, since he discovered some echoes
of the teaching of the gospel in them. This kind of attitude, on the one hand,
made it possible for Prohászka to become a founding figure in the Hungarian
reception of the Christian socialist ideology and system of ideas. On the
other hand, it served apologetic purposes, and perhaps functioned as the
motivating force behind the above outlined basic intention, the making of a
synthesis, since Prohászka’s efforts concentrated on winning the people who
had lost religious belief back to the Catholic Church. His engagement can
be summarised as a new way of evangelising. By our time this programme
has regained a kind of topicality in our region, where, after the long rule of
Péter S. Szabó
165
socialist governements and the ideology of aetheism the necessity for a new
evangelisation is often mentioned in the documents of the Church.
To achieve his goals Prohászka devised a special method. Certain aspects
of the current scientific, cultural and artistic achievements as well as a range
of social philosophical, social and political ideas of his age he filtered through
his own particular worldview, value system and personality. As a result, certain
ideas were found worthy of being assimilated into the Christian worldview,
because of their potential to expand and enrich it. To quote Prohászka himself,
the consideration of scientific findings could become helpful in “rethinking
God’s eternal and loyal ideas.”2 He was determined to “sever” ideas which he
believed to be in harmony with the evangelical teaching from faithless social
democracy and “reserve” them for the renewed gospel. However, there were
ideas that he found both negative and unacceptable, and by rejecting them he
tried to demonstrate, as convincingly as possible, how unfit they were to the
Christian worldview. At times he even used a language of exaggeration and
intolerence, which can elicit sensitive reactions from people who represent
different views even today.
To highlight his methods, Prohászka is found to deploy a figurative
language. For instance, he refers to the act of making a synthesis by means of
the image of a cobweb and spinning: “I am trying to pull the golden threads of
the Christian worldview through the scientific data of geology, paleontology
and evolution, and tie up all the various parts in a superior whole that we are
so much in need of.”3 Another of the poetic similes in Prohászka’s writing
underlines further aspects of the nature and direction of his attempts to
achieve a synthesis. It is based on the example of the sensible gardener: “The
favourite idea of evoluion is also a shaping force: although it aspires too high,
it has been useful so far and will contribute to the creation of a more complete
and unified scientific system. As it may be suspected, the psychological
implications of such an idea will come close to exaggeration and unjustifiable
requirements. Yet these are like the disorderly branches on a lush tree, some of
which will go dry, some of which will be sawed off by the sensible gardener.
In the course of discussion I shall have ample opportunity to refer to the
thorny sprouts and priveted branches of the idea of evolution.”4
Considering the argumentation of his works, Prohászka seems to be very
active in the role of the “sensible gardener” since he often reaches for the
2 O Prohászka 1928–1929, 3. 18.
3 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 2.
4 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 27–28.
166
“saw.” He proves to be incapable of accepting ideas, philosophies, artistic and
literary products which, however profound they may be in terms of human
concern, do not bear the sign of “nihil obstat” in their ideological content and
style. Instead of Charles Baudelaire’s “styxian fileds,” he suggests we should
“lead the people” “to the paths of the beautiful and sublime.”5 He shows
no more tolerance towards the “mysticism of Tolstoy, and the darkness of
Ibsen,” and he calls Zola “a judge of the world who is raking the muck.”6
“Guy de Maupassant is a foul-mouthed writer”7 according to him, and more
names could be added to the list of his rejections. Philosophers like Kant,
Nietzsche and Schopenhauer receive no better treatment, they are all found
wanting for some reason.
One has the feeling that Prohászka cuts off too big and significant
“branches” from the tree of European and world culture so as to boost
his own position, the “triumphant worldview.” He seems to have rejected
a striking number of important authors. On closer inspection, this picture,
however, tends to become more varied, and his ideology-driven gardening
gradually loses much of its rigour. He himself may not have believed that
his “eradicating campaign” would ever have definitive results, since his own
work itself proves the opposite. Strangely, the “branches cut off” are grafted
back on the tree of his thoughts in time. Prohászka gives a final summary of
the Christian morality by using the terminology of Kant, whom he repeatedly
condemned earlier. Drawing on Nietzsche, he created the concept of the
“master’s moral” in opposition to that of the servant, and calls the community
of Christians an “aristocratic clan.” Schopenhauer’s images and ideas also
tend to crop up in his writings. He even changes his contemptuous earlier
view of Asia, claiming that “there is depth in Asia” and “Tolstoy represents
a modern profoundness”.8
Many further examples for Prohászka’s acts of adjustment could be cited.
Interestingly, some self-correcting mechanism starts to operate in his thinking,
which has the power to blur the edge of prejudices. This ideological contest
seems to have too levels. From the height of the “pulpit” he “declares” an
“official verdict” on certain authors and goes as far as rejecting them, whereas
in his quiet, meditative solitude, in the atmosphere of relaxing wisdom he is
willing to “shake hands” and have a peaceful conversation with them. In a
5 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 8.
6 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 8., 12.
7 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 6.
8 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 20. 14.
Péter S. Szabó
167
way, they have a shared destiny: his frequent and firm rejection of modern
and contemporary authors on religious and ideological grounds becomes his
own lot in an even more tragic form when his works are banned. Like theirs
in his eyes, Prohászka’s thoughts are regarded dangerous and forbidden.
This way he had to share the fate of those he condemned as harmful to the
Christian worldview.
Social Teaching
Prohászka’s approach to the conception of social development is
comprehensive, encompassing both nature and society on the basis of the
theory of evolution. What he states about nature and the development of the
whole world is applicable to the society as well: “Does anything give a more
spirited picture of the unified, all-embracing, supportive act of the creative
power on earth and in heaven than the thesis of evolution which, beginning
with the primaeval haze, throws light on the world and all its creatures and
forms through their successive stages of development and interconnected
changes? A sole idea of God contained the potential of the whole world, and
what was comprised in the divine folded and curled up in a tiny space like the
tree, leaves and blossom in the seed, is now unfolding in actions.”9
The argument that society has the fundamental duty “to reveal God’s
ideas” seems to have lasting relevance in the social teaching of Catholicism.
It is the point of departure in Prohászka’s social theoretical conception
concerning “social development”, the first and highest level of a complex
mental construction, which has its social theoretical relevance at the same
time. It refers to the process which is also the goal and motive of all kinds
of development and evolution, and is equal with the creative power of God:
his plan, purpose and ideas being present as potential in the inferior, lower
levels. In the world the evolution of God’s ideas becomes manifest in natural
processes. Characteristically, Prohászka perceives the development in society
as a natural, nature-based process, which is influenced by the conservative
organic conception of society; the development of mankind “is given in
our nature”… “If we judge the social movements from this standpoint, we
see the development of living organisms in them. And development is an
9 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 182.
168
undeniable feature of all the living”10… “labour is the natural function of
man.”11 He who denies development “has no sense of life, and does not
regard the society as a living organism”12; “Christian society develops in the
way like any other organic being.”13 Furthermore, Prohászka’s description of
development conceptualised along these lines uses the imagery of the stages
of childhood, boyhood and manhood.14 Discussing the natural, organic
conception of society, probably influenced by “Rerum novarum”, he even
adopts the idea of the equation of society and the human body, comparably to
the way Menenius Agrippa did it in ancient time: “The social idea that we all
constitute one body and work in common happiness will become powerful
and irresistible.”15
Prohászka offered a thorough analysis and criticism of the social
philosophy of Karl Marx, which appeared as a politically influential force in
the ideology of social democracy. Although he discovered a good number of
progressive considerations in the Marxian system of ideas, but felt compelled
to reject its overall atheistic character.
Genre and Method
It would be fairly difficult to define the genre that Prohászka developed as the
vehicle of his ideas. Following the logic of the various disciplines including
philosophy, history and politology, the scholar is confronted with the need
to find a perspective comprehesive enough. To identify the genre and its
particularities which articulate the complexity of Prohászka’s thought, first
we should examine the frame of mind which is behind the social teaching
of the Catholic Church as well as Prohászka’s ideas concerning the issues
of social life. It may be assumed that the social teaching of the Church has
developed its own genre, for which the same name, social teaching, could
be used. The first and perhaps most striking and unique feature of this range
of ideas is that it embraces all levels of human thought, and it cannot be
identified with any level of mental generalisation. God’s word, the revelation,
10 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 243.
11 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 243.
12 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 239.
13 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 249.
14 Cf. O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 249.
15 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 4. 253.
Péter S. Szabó
169
the citations from the Old and New Testaments and their interpretation seem
to form the highest, for the most part theological and religio-philosophical
level, though this is not an absolute rule.
From the beginning, Christian teaching has been characterised by a closeness
to life and people. Its sensitivity to social issues shapes the manner it deals
with social life by transcendening the general level of philosophy and theology,
and embracing the concrete problems of humankind. It shares a good deal
with the Old Testament, the word and advice of the gospel and the prophetic
admonitions, which all address people who have got into trouble, who suffer
and experience deprivation and misery. We must bear in mind that this teaching
looks back to a history of two thousand years, and has been evolving from the
duality of the perennial law and its actual realisation in the different historical
periods. Therefore its essential feature has been a meeting of levels of time and
mental activities, and it can be described through the interaction of intellectual
processes. The Scriptural Congregation which works affiliated to the Pope
issued a document titled “Teaching about Christian Freedom and Liberation” in
1986, where the above quality is summarised as follows: “The social teaching
of the Church, on the one hand, comprises the evangelical message, its order
that humans love God and their fellow men, as well as its requirement of
righteousness. On the other hand, it is motivated by the encounter between
the latter and the problems originating in social life.”16 The encyclical letter of
John Paul II beginning with “Centessimus annus” uses the expression “point of
impact” to describe the process: “This teaching is located at the point of impact
of Christian life and conscience, and the given earthly situation.”17
Therefore, viewing the perennial norms and the concrete social situation
in relation to each other qualifies as a crucial feature of the social teaching of
the Church. Pope Leo XIII published an encyclical letter beginning with the
words “Rerum novarum”, which means “new things” and refers to the issues
of labour and social problems primarily. The expression “new things” does
not only serve as the differentiating mark of an encyclical letter, but implies
what has become a characteristic of encyclical letters in general, namely the
discussion of newly emerging issues. “This teaching,” as the already cited
document of the Scriptural Congregation contends, “is action-oriented, and
it has been developing in accordance with the varying conditions of history.
16 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5.138.
17 Hittani Kongregáció 1986, 10. 27.
170
Therefore, while it is inspired and underpinned by perennial maxims, the
teaching itself contains hypothetical judgements as well.”18
Considering the levels of time and the question of actualisation, another
essential aspect of the characteristic methodology of the social teaching
needs to be clarified. Since the ever valid principles are to be adapted to
ever changing situations, the teaching can never become a closed system:
“It is by no means a closed system, it is always open to new issues that keep
cropping up, requiring the involvement of authority, experience as well as
expertise.”19 Consequently, the encyclical letters have a multidisciplinary
quality: “In addition, social teaching establishes a link between various
disciplines”, as John Paul II writes, “therefore, to have the human embedded
in the ever-changing social, economic and political environment as effectively
as possible, this teaching enters into dialogue with the various branches of
science which have a human focus. It appropriates their results and urges
them to widen their perspectives so as to serve the human being known and
loved in the exercise of his/her duties.”20
Like the papal encyclical letters which contain the social teaching of the
Church, Prohászka’s ideas are also constantly shifting between the levels
of timelessness and the concrete historical situation; between the sphere of
annunciation along with the theological and philosophical norms deriving
from it and the actualities influenced by them. Prohászka is concerned
with the eternal as related to the timely, his works discuss philosophical
and scientific issues, survey ideological trends and inquire into the causes
of social wrongs. To emphasise the essential spiritual kinship between
Prohászka’s social theoretical and political ideas and the social teaching of
the Church it is worth referring to the similar concepts manifest in the modern
papal encyclical letters by way of comparison. Not because we would like
to present proofs for Prohászka’s brilliant anticipation of later ideas, but to
broaden the range of perspectives which can be applied when approaching
the subject. Undoubtedly, certain concerns and tendencies could be identified
even in the age of Prohászka, but his intellectual achievement, based on the
social and scientific knowledge he had been accumulating through half a
century of creative work, was remarkable for its coherence and analytical
precision. Its anticipation of later ideas can but justify its lasting relevance.
18 John Paul II. 1994, 580.
Péter S. Szabó
171
The Potential of Christian Social Theory
Regarding his faith in the equality of people, the teaching of the gospel
must have had a definitive influence on Prohászka’s views when he writes:
“[t]he gospel has declared the moral equality of people”. Parallel with the
demands for social quality as expressed by other ideological movements,
his own attitude is reflected in the following: “in the eyes of God there is no
difference between Greek and Barbarian, master and servant, but is human
dignity duly appreciated in social life?”21 The statement and the inherent
claim are still very relevant, as it is evidenced by the theological elaboration
and wording of the subject area in “Gaudium et spes”: “Since all people have
a soul and they are created in the image of God, all share the essential human
nature and origin; all are redeemed by Christ and God intends them to fulfill
the same mission. Therefore, it is necessary to acknowledge the essential
equality of all people.”22
The fact that Prohászka had believed in the righteousness of the social
claims made in the above citation from the Second Council of Vatican
half a century later, is convincingly justified by his episcopal missive from
1919, which remained unpublished because of censorship. Written during
the days of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, whose events he witnessed and
was personally and rather unpleasantly affected by, Prohászka explained and
commented on what happened to his subordinate priests in terms of social
development and its consequences, contending that “divine ideas reveal
themselves to us” through the events. Transcending his own personal wounds,
he says: “Considering the development of the world and the divine thought
manifesting itself in it, we should not be antagonistic to socialisation, as
long as it is in harmony with the social conditions and the demands of social
education. We cannot afford to turn against the upward mobility of the lower
strata, and we would be no pastors and interpreters of God’s words if we
did not recognise the right of the world for that new and better system.”23
These two sentences offer a telling summary of Prohászka’s perspective on
contemporary social development and progress.
In addition, Prohászka’s writings discuss several other aspects of social
development. He approves of the Marxian thesis concerning the basic
21 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 251.
22 “Gaudium et spes.” 1986, 217–218.
23 O. Prohászka1928–1929, 20. 231.
172
question of a social period: “the central social question of a period is always
constituted by the potential new arrangement of the social strata. This question
becomes acute every time there arises the need for a new arrangement in the
interest of development. Rearrangement does have to take place, it must not
be arrested.”24 In the following, Prohászka presents a description, an anatomy
of social development: “In the succession of events we can attribute only a
temporary value to each stage; rights, laws or, most of all, privileges can be
in force only as long as they are purposeful and serve progress; when they are
outdated they are thrown away like old pieces of iron or the yellowing pages
of codices.”25 He calls this aspect of social development “rational”, which
evokes the Hegelian pairing of the categories of “real” and “rational” as well
as its interpretation by Marx. In his seminal work of social theory, titled
The Triumphant World View, Prohászka illustrates the recognition of social
transformation and the irresistibility of evolutionary or revolutionary changes
by inserting short historical surveys in the individual chapters. In addition to
describing the global anatomy of the developmental process, he refers to its
pace and rhythm, and discusses them in relation to the peciuliarities of his
own age: “This movement is slowing down at times, then it speeds up at
other times … at present development is extremely fast and we are justified
in saying that ours is a social age.”26
Prohászka continues the discussion of his social theoretical conception,
with social development as its central category, by elaborating on the crucial
issues of purpose and criterion. Significantly, here he considers freedom as
that of the individual first of all, and the degree of development in a society he
thinks to be measurable by how much space and potential for the unfolding of
abilities are offered to man who “has dominion” over both natrure and himself.
“The independent-minded, emancipated individual, the protagonist of the
modern social movement follows his own right to improve his personality
freely, in all directions.”27 In the following section of Prohászka’s work one
can detect the synthesis of the new, Marxist-based concept of modern social
movements and social development, and the social-theological aspects of
the Christian world view: “Man, the individual is free, according to God’s
view; consequently, nobody can deny that freedom, responsibility and selfdetermination belong to the ideal character of man; what is more, we must
24 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 243.
25 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 243.
26 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 240.
27 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 254.
Péter S. Szabó
173
acknowledge that arriving at the stage of freedom has been the greatest step
mankind made during the centuries of its long development.”28
Confirming the high standard of Prohászka’s intellectual approach, his
discussion of the relations between Christian social theory, social theology,
social teaching and social programme is preceded by raising the question of
what can or cannot be expected of this kind of teaching. Later the same is
reconsidered by Paul VI, among others, in a systematic discussion provided by
his 1971 apostolic letter beginning with “Octogesima adveniens” and subtitled
“What is the social teaching of the Church capable of achieving?” It claims
that “although the Church does not use its authority to support certain social
systems or suggest the use of some kind of ready-made models, it does not
content itself with merely calling attention to general principles …”.29 The
document of the 2nd Council of Vatican beginning with “Gaudium et spes”
contains a similar line of argument: “The specific mission the Church was
assigned by Christ has no political, economic or social implications, because
its originally defined goal was religious. However, this religious mission
involves the duty to organise and cement the community of people according
to the divine law.”30
Prohászka’s writing displays the same considerations half a centruy
earlier, and arrives at comparable conclusions: “The gospel did not identify
itself with either the classical or the medieval world … what is right is to
remain God’s children under any social conditions and despite any social
changes …”31 He declares that Christ’s teaching refers to the country of God,
therefore “we should not expect that it contains a detailed social programme
… at no point does the gospel call for rebellion … neither does it construct
a new social organisation.”32 To summarise his discussion of the mutual
influence and interdependence of social development and Christian social
theory Prohászka says: “Those who think that the gospel renders social
change unnecessary, or that it creates a social system which stays in place for
all times, have no idea of what God’s country is, and have no understanding
of what the society of humans embodies. It is equally misguided to think
that the gospel or the Church itself is able to solve social problems. What
the gospel is capable of is providing moral ideals which need to be made
28 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 254.
29 John Paul II. 1994, 580.
30 Paul VI. 1994, 338.
31 “Gaudium et spes.” 1986, 227.
32 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 241.
174
influential in the occassional solution of actual social problems.”33 Thus the
moral and spiritual principles worded in the teaching of Christ, which can be
equated with the “divine law” as used in “Gaudium et spes” are of utmost
importance, and the expression “occassional solution” seems to anticipate
the warning of the 2nd Council of Vatican not to overlook the “signs of the
time.”
Conclusion
The ideas concerned with the nature of social development are elaborated in
Prohászka’s journal as well: “A new, better world comes into being through
a reasonable, therefore more God-like arrangement of its elements; it is not
ready-made for us, it is the result of a long development. We have no idea
how to create a better world and what it is like; there is no final state of
affairs. The purpose of social reforms is to achieve continual improvement.
The gospel and the Holy Spirit can hardly alter anything, but enable us to
perceive the needs and duties which emerge in the course of time. What the
Holy Spirit suggests is not that we should defend the old ways and deem
progress and changes evil or godless. We must maintain and cultivate selfrestraint, altruism, clarity of purpose and dignity to be able to implement
world reform, which we can develop in ourselves nowhere else but here.”34
In summary, it is well justifiable to ascertain that the intention underlying
Prohászka’s work, understood in theological and philosophical terms, was
to modernise the Christian worldview. He wanted to re-evangelise, which
demanded that he create a synthesis of the ideas of modern science and
the Christian worldview. The covert but inevitable political aspects of this
programme served as the theoretical basis for a Hungarian version Christian
socialism. The intellectual synthesis Prohászka achieved and disseminated
with such suggestive power in his pastoral work dedicated him to become a
highly venerated prelate and apostle of our country.
33 O. Prohászka 1928–1929, 5. 250.
34 O. Prohászka 1997, 2. 149.
Péter S. Szabó
175
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Gaudium et spes.”
1986 A II. vatikáni zsinat tanítása (The Teaching of the 2nd Council of
Vatican). Budapest, Szent István-Társulat.
Hittani Kongregáció
1986 Hittani Kongregáció 10. (Scriptural Congregation) Tanítás a keresztény szabadságról és felszabadításról. (Teaching about Christian
Freedom and Liberation). MTI Elméleti cikkek (MTI Theoretical
Articles). Budapest.
John Paul II.
1994 Centesimus annus. Az egyház társadalmi tanítása. (The Social
Teaching of the Church). Dokumentumok (Documents). Budapest,
Szent István-Társulat.
Paul VI.
1994 Octogesima adveniens. Az egyház társadalmi tanítása. Budapest,
Szent István-Társulat.
Prohászka, Ottokár
1997 Naplójegyzetek. 2. (Journals. Volume 2). Szeged – Székesfehérvár,
Agapé-Távlatok Kiadó.
1928–1929 Föld és ég 1. (Earth and Heaven 1.) Összegyűjtött munkái 3.
(Collected Works 3.) Budapest, Szent István-Társulat.
1928–1929 Föld és ég 2. (Earth and Heaven 2.) Összegyűjtött munkái 4.
(Collected Works 4.) Budapest, Szent István-Társulat.
1928–1929 A diadalmas világnézet (The Triumphant Worldview). Összegyűjtött munkái. 5. (Collected Works 5.) Budapest, Szent IstvánTársulat.
1928–1929 Az Úr házáért (For the House of the Lord). Összegyűjtött munkái 20. (Collected Works 20.) Budapest, Szent István-Társulat.
INTERETHNICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SMALL
PROTESTANT CHURCHES DURING THE AUSTRO/
HUNGARIAN MONARCHY
Jenő Szigeti
Religious history will diminish into institutional history if we forget about the
basic question: How did people live, what and how did they believe during
certain eras of religious history? Moreover, it is important besides giving
answers to many questions, which seem to be incapable with traditional
methods at research of church history, to try to clear up the relations between
the official religiousness and folk religiousness and piety. These aspects
unfortunately are not drawing the attention of the church historians, with the
exceptions I’d like to mention here, the work of Endre Illyés1 and essay by
Imre Révész.2
It can be started, that Joseph II. and his edict of tolerance (1781) that was
the beginning of a new era in the sight of both the Protestant and Catholic
piety. According to my opinion for underlining my point it is enough to think
of the starting rationalism and for its preaching literature that yet has been
not adequately analysed. Out of the rich written preaching we can read today,
the reader can see a silhouette of a crisis of faith that can be recognised in
different ways in many of the churches of the Carpathian Basin. Based on a
few indications it seems as if this conflict went beyond the East-West border
of Christianity, and to the whole Christian culture. This comprehensive
church historical process brought together the minorities for searching their
own identity in the nation. And this is what makes our topic so interesting.
The borderline between the two main trends of Christianity – Rome and
Byzantine – is found in the Carpathian Basin.3 Until today the so called
„border conflicts” have caused tensions in regards to this question. The biggest
stronghold for the historical Protestantism in the east was Transylvania and
Hungary.
1 A. Molnár 1985, 218–229.
2 I. Révész 1924, 2. 73.; 1943.
3 G. Moravcsik 1938, 171–211.; E. Ivánka 1949; J. Petrus 1897.
Jenő Szigeti
177
Strong and lasting ”free church” congregations could not be formed
although the southern Slavs, the Russians and the Romanians during the 16th
Century made some occasional efforts.4
In Hungary, the name „free churches” is applied to the small Protestant
denominations which – on the basis of their Biblical understanding –
insisted on the voluntary and active membership in their congregation based
on a conscious decision of faith. Churches of this type maintained their
congregations as well as their national origins by the voluntary contributions
of their church members.
Hungarian free churches are the descendants of the late Puritan
communities. According to many of the elements of the practice of their faith
they turned against the liberal Protestantism and turned back to the practice of
the puritan faith. These new denominations reached significant success with
their mission-work, by their strict and old-fashioned Puritan morals. They
formed an updated piety that originated in the ancient times, but responded
the challenges of their days. There are communities; however, among them
for example the Nazarene (Apostolic Christian Church) that insisted on the
stiff traditions and their members were against any changes, although the
people around them want to accept the newer and newer challenges of the
fast-changing life by being accustomed to those. The Hungarian free churches
looked like more flexible and successful than the historical churches that can
hardly get used to such changes because of their vast number of members
and strict adhering to traditions.5
The Nazarene Church was formed at the end of the 1830s. The first Baptist
believers appeared in Hungary in the middle of the 1840s. Both believers
were from the lower-middle class of the society.
These denominations were linked to the late Puritan Protestant ecclesiae
which had to be closed down by the historical churches. The way how these
church members thought was a more liberal way of thinking, fought for
political grounds, and against? The weakening morals. I have examined that
in many of my studies. The members of these ecclesiae found shelter among
the groups of Nazarenes and Baptists where they could follow their faith that
was enriched by new elements. That is the reason why the majority of these
free churches spread into the villages during the 19th century: their pious
morals, honoring the other person’s possession, the purity of the spoken
words and the practicing of love for each other were the bases of their piety.
4 E. Tarczai 1930; I. Juhász 1940.
5 J. Szigeti 1998, 43. 1–2. 134–142.
178
Interethnical Relations Between the Small Protestant...
However, during the middle of the 19th century the newly formed free
churches were able to pass across this religious border. The free churches
(the new protestant, or neo-protestant churches) had firm basis among
their neighbours. This was reflected by the state of the Baptist, Adventist,
Methodist and Pentecostal Congregations. These small, minor churches in
the Carpathian Basin not only gained converts in the Hungarian villages, but
tried to step over the ethnical and national tensions by trying to solve these
tensions within the church.
The oldest Free Church congregations – the Nazarenes,6 the Baptists,7
the Adventists,8 and the Methodists9 – started out with a variety of ethnical
backgrounds in our country. The forming members were not only Germans
or Hungarians, but those ethnical minorities who had to make a stand
during the pressures of society, became followers of the churches. The new
congregations tried not only found peace with God, but among the different
nationalities. It was discovered in the 19th century that the secret of their
missionary work lied in the ethnical openness.
In 1888, Lajos Zsigmond Szeberényi wrote this about the Nazarenes:
“Nationalism, which erupted now and then in the multilingual Bácska after
the revolution, lost all its strength among the Nazarenes. Whoever associated
whit them and became baptized, became a ‘brother’ for sure without regard of
differences in tongue.”10 In the beginning, the Nazarenes were multinational.
Through the missionary work of István Kalmár,11 the Nazarene faith not only
spread among Hungarians but also among the Serbs. This was the reason
why the population of the Nazarenes was the highest rate of population in
area of Bácska and Szerémség located in former Yugoslavia by the end of the
1860’s. In also interesting to note, that there were songs that were translated
in the 19th century by the famous poet, Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj (1833–1904)
from the Hungarian text.12 The songbook also was published in Croatian in
1881, in Újvidék (Novi-Sad).
Through the work of Joseph Bela, the Nazarene mission was also spread
among the Slovaks. During the years of the turn of the century, the Nazarene
6 L. Kardos – J. Szigeti 1988.
7 L. Bereczki (szerk.) 1996.
8 J. Szigeti 1985.
9 J. Lakatos (szerk.) 2005.
10 L. Zs. Szeberényi 1888.
11 J. Szigeti 1987a, 178–193.
12 J. Szigeti 1981, 41–58.
Jenő Szigeti
179
mission strengthened among the Romanians too, mainly in the villages
around Arad, Temesvár, Nagyvárad and Dicsőszentmárton. Their songbook
was also translated to Romanian language. During the turn of the century
the Nazarene mission reached the Russians too especially in the area if
Csernovic. At this time, we knew of 10 churches in Sub-Carpathian.13
The starter Baptist missionaries, like the Nazarenes, worked among
the ethnical minorities. Very quickly they appeared among the Slovaks.14
Under the work of Mihály Kornya, the gospel spread not only among the
Hungarians, but he worked among the Serbs as a Baptist missionary.15 This
way the question of nationalism appeared in the Hungarian Baptist ministry
quite soon. This was one of the main topics at a conference of the Baptist
ministers of the Monarchy in May 5, 1892. A minister from Prague, Franz
Novotny was glad to see, that the ethnical confartelicts to decrease in the
church. According to the reports, Rudolph Masser who worked as a minister
among the Polish people, stated: “We hate sin, not a person from a different
nation, for then we would hate our own body and blood”.16
The era of urbanization was getting closer in the 19–20th centuries. The
closed, strong denominations in the villages get weakened. Young people
moved to town. This process that generated tensions in the society affected
certainly the free churches too. The close-knit, small denominations were
fixed points concerning the difficulties caused by the changed lifestyle. The
Puritan morals of a closed community did not work in the communities of
the cities. So the people from the closed community did not feel comfortable
in the city churches. “Shall we keep the ancient lifestyle or just apply and
practice the Puritan morals by accepting the changes of modern life?” – The
conservative asked at the turn of the century, but they were not split from
the society unlike the extreme piety groups (like the Amish). The Baptist,
however, preferred the second option.
At the start of the 20th century the rate of the national origins among the
Baptist churches in Hungary was the following: In 1910 there were 17 200
active adult members of the Baptist church. From this there were 8900
Hungarians, 6750 Romanians, 900 Germans, 6500 Slovaks native speakers.17
The Baptist Church in 1895 applied for the government recognition. This
13 S. Palotay – J. Szigeti 1969, 38–44.
14 ��
O. Szebeni 1981, 420.; P. Kondacs 1996, 358–366.
15 K. Mészáros 1985, 32–33.
16 K. Mészáros 1985, 42–44.
17 J. Baranyai 1910; K. Mészáros 1985, 87.
180
situation divided the membership. Henrik Meyer was against this effort
because he wanted to Germanize the Hungarian Baptist mission.18
Contrary to a few conservative groups the free church members adopted
to the new challenges. New free churches were founded following the
appearance of new claims. The teetotal, anti-alcoholic program of the
Methodist mission, the reformed lifestyle of the same-age Adventist mission
and their prophetic historical view gave answers to the men-in-the-street
who set out on the way of becoming criticized. These missions applied
Puritan reasoning in a modern form for the people who lived in crisis.19 The
intellectuals of simple origin wanted to live the life of the close-knit, free
and democratic denominations (Church of the Brethren, etc.). Jenő Henrik
Schmidt’s followers propagated the idea of God’s Kingdom on Earth. It had
an effect on the Marxist and socialist movements at the beginning of the
Great World War. These movements produced socially effective plans and
periodicals, books, distributed them and made social services, too.20
The Adventist mission accepted the ethnical minorities as fellow ethnical
groups. Fredrick J. Huenergardt21 aspired to spread the teachings of the
Adventist Church in the German, Hungarian, Romanian and later in the SerbCroatian and Slovak regions.22 The beginning phase of the Methodist ministry
was among the Germans in Bácska.23 The main mission of the free churches
was the multi-ethnic and multinational regions. This is the reason as to why
Mihály Kornya, a Baptist peasant preacher was so successful in the villages
of Bihar where the population was a mixture of Hungarians and Romanians.
Needs to be answered the question, what is the explanation of that a
preacher who speaks a different language than the people understand and
by his ministry an active church is found, and this congregation is living
according to the puritan ethical standards. This newly formed congregation
is able to keep connection with the urbanised community and its members.
Different answers to the question can be attained through the study if different
free churches movements in the 19th century.
Those who started the Nazarene and Baptist ministry were craftsman
had travelled abroad. Only few were originally Hungarians. These people
18 G. Kovács 1963, 24. 14–16.; J. Bányai 1968, 15–16. 132–133.
19 J. Szigeti 1994. 1–2. 277–295.
20 J. Szigeti 1987b, 188–262.
21 Z. Rajki 2004.
22 J. Szigeti 2001, II. 1–2. 9–18.; J. Szigeti 2002, III. 1. 43–52.
23 L. A. Khaled 2005, 27–114.
Jenő Szigeti
181
came from the communities of the villages and cities. These people left their
own churches but kept their faith and puritan ethics. These men accused the
secularised communities with leaving the faith of their fathers. This attitude
was found among the Protestants and Catholics equally. They were the base
fellowship in the 19th century. Therefore, the first answer to the question
mentioned at the beginning of this writings is that the secret of growth of
the free churches was the following: Readiness for finding the new ways for
the new challenges. The Catholic Church failed to provide this. This way the
free churches helped to adopted of those people who suffered of ethnical,
economical and cultural problems of identity.
The crisis of the Hungarian religious community outside the church
started to develop in the 1880’s. This crisis was stronger within the Protestant
Churches yet was also present in the history of the Catholic Churches. The
intention of the official church was to systemize strict control over religion.
In the sight of the official church the naturally organised small folk religious
groups were considered as such as something against the culture and as a
primitive in its nature. The reason for the rapid growth of the free churches or
new Protestant Churches was that they found the link with these folk religious
groups. The new protestant churches followed the more developed western
idea in their organisation, teaching, ethics, as the followers of the puritanism.
The modern civilian societies are coming from this background.
Those believers who were driven out of the ecclesiastical churches
received answer to their prevalent questions from the foreign travelling
preachers or from the so called peasant preachers. As a result of the free
churches mission a new believing church come to be confronting the over
institutionalized church. As retaliation towards the new religious groups,
the church entwined with the Government and used the same brute force as
used against the starting agro proletarians. It is hard to understand today the
accusations of them being secret or illegal communists.
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The Political Role of Mongolian Buddhism
after the Transition1
Zsolt Szilágyi
Two decades after the political transformation in Mongolia, the social and
political role of the Mongolian Buddhist Church has become well decisive.
Though Buddhism is not the only religion in Mongolia, other proselytizer
religions are also observable, and the shamanistic belief system lives its
renaissance at least to a degree similarly to Buddhism, nowadays the main
part of the cultural identity is the recognition of Buddhism as the state religion
in Mongolia.
It can be declared, that in countries undergoing a political transition in
1989–1990 there was a similar process, concerning the role of the historical
or dominant church. I experienced the same process in Hungary as well,
where the role of historical churches (catholic, protestant, etc.) became
important in the new political setting.
In Mongolia there have appeared other proselytizer religions, but these
haven’t caused any political dispute. It might be because of the historical
tradition, as religious tolerance was characteristic of the Mongolian
administration even in the Yuan-period. In the Great Mongolian Empire there
could be found Buddhists, but Nestorian Christians, Muslims and people
with shamanic beliefs as well.
At the end of the twentieth century the political turns had more or less
the same scenario in the East European region. It happened in the same way
in Mongolia, too, with the difference, that the transition has generated much
greater social and economical changes than in Eastern Europe. Buddhism,
1 A part of this article has been alredy published in Mongolian Studies in Europe. Ed. by
Ágnes Birtalan. Department of Inner Asian Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
2010, pp. 117–127. The research work of the author was supported by the Bolyai János
scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian Scientific Research
Fund (OTKA 68673).
Zsolt Szilágyi
185
the Buddhist Church, the native belief systems like shamanism had a special
role in it. In the new social setting the Buddhist Church had to adapt to the
new challenges.
Political transition in Mongolia
Similarly to Eastern European examples of the post-communist transition,
the Mongolian political and economic transformation was closely tied in
with the democratisation process which began in the Soviet Union around
the middle of the 1980s. The essential difference is that Mongolia was
incomparably more exposed to the COMECON and the Soviet Union than
any other state belonging to the Soviet sphere of influence. Curiously, the
Mongolian democratization process was also related to Eastern European
political changes. This is not merely a case of simultaneity where changes
following the events in the Soviet Union took place at the same time in
Mongolia as they did in Eastern Europe. A far more direct connection arises
from the fact that in the processes of change in Mongolia the leading role was
often played by young Mongolian intellectuals who had themselves studied
in Hungary, Poland or Czechoslovakia, meaning that they probably followed
patterns and models that they had become acquainted with in these countries.
We must emphasize the Romanian events of December 1989 which acted
as a catalyst and represented a new source of inspiration for the Mongolian
opposition.
In the second half of the 1980s, the Mongolian transformation process
which modelled itself on the Russian perestroika found its way into the public
consciousness along concepts of «rčlön baigūlalt2 meaning “transformation”
and il tod3 meaning “opening up, openness”. The aim was mostly to adopt
the changes that had begun to take place in the Soviet Union, mostly
the transformation of the economy. Changing the social or the political
environment was not conceived even as a distant objective. However, after
the new political tendency was launched, there also evolved various forums
of public life where previously latent social tensions grew increasingly
manifest. These tensions came to play an ever more significant role in the
2 Khalkha «rčlön baigūlalt “transformation”.
3 Khalkha il tod “opening, openness”. These concepts were first referred to at the 19th
congress of the MPRP. (May 29th, 1986). A. E. Kovács 2001b, 3. 1–2. 49.
186
The Status of Mongolian Buddhism...
life of the country which, along with the effect of changes in foreign policy,
caused the country to drift toward political changes.
With the changing Asia-policy of the Soviet Union and the gradual
consolidation of Soviet-Chinese relations Mongolia experienced more
freedom of movement. However, new measures in economic policy failed
to deliver the results that had been hoped for, and thus the growing of social
tensions rendered significant political change inevitable. Mass movements
against the system began in the autumn of 1989 and became generally
widespread in early 1990. The organizers were mostly representatives of
the young urban intelligentsia. In the early period the followers also mostly
came from this stratum but the social base of these movements soon grew far
wider, even though the actions were mostly restricted to the capital and only
very gradually spread to the countryside (naturally, by this we again mean the
minor provincial towns, but not the nomadic areas). At this point it became
particularly significant that the transformation started in the Soviet era with
the intention of eradicating nomadic conditions and developing a ‘modern’
society in harmony with the expectations of the ruling ideology contributed
massively to creating the politically active group which later served as the
basis of a social movement criticizing the system.
The ruling governing party, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary
Party (MPRP, Khalkha Mongol Ardīn Xu’wsgalt Nam) suffered from being
internally divided which is best characterised by the fact that until April 1990
they did not clearly go into action against the opposition. Even in January
there were two groups with sharply opposed values existing side by side in
the Central Committee of the MRPP. The group of hardliners in the party
urged firm and possibly even violent action against the opposition. They
were opposed by a more moderate layer, headed by Batmönkh (Khalkha
Batmönx)4 who sought peaceful solutions and supported even minor reforms.
Rivalry between the two groups can be traced back as far as the retirement
of the former head of state and party chief Tsedenbal (Khalkha Cedenbal).5
4 £ambīn Batmönx (1926–1997) became a member of the MPRP in 1948. He was admitted
into the top echelon of the state leadership in the early 1970s. After 1973 he was Minister
of Science, from 1974 onwards a member of the Political Committee. Between 1974–1984
he was Prime Minister of Mongolia and then gained control over political power when in
1984 he replaced Cedenbal at the head of the Mongolian party and state leadership.
5 Yum¤āgīn Cedenbal (1916–1991) Prime Minister, secretary general of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. He grabbed power after the death of Čoibalsan in 1952 by
sidelining his political rival and practically remained the single person political leader of
Mongolia until Batmönx came into power in 1984.
Zsolt Szilágyi
187
In the struggle for power, Batmönkh’s supporters gradually gained priority
in the Central Committee, but, as we could see, they did not manage to
crumble the resistance of the hardliners even by late 1989. This situation
explains why the democratic transformation took place without a single gun
being fired, which can be seen as the most important characteristic of the
Mongolian transition process. The inside opposition of the state party was
powerful enough to keep the hardliners in check and contribute to a peaceful
political transition in co-operation with the democratic opposition. This was
also more in harmony with the long term political aims of the Party.
Besides spontaneous social action, after the end of 1989 organized
opposition groups also appeared in growing numbers. The first one was
the Mongolian Democratic Association (MDA, Khalkha Mongol Ardčilsan
Xolbō)6 which was founded in October 1989, at the Second National
Congress of Young Creative Artists.7 Along with MDA other new groups also
emerged like the Social Democratic Movement founded in December 1989
or the New Progress Movement launched in the February of the coming year.
These, however, did not diminish the significance of MDA. The Democratic
Association was also in the forefront of organizing political parties. In
February 1990 it transformed into the Mongolian Democratic Party, while
the other group only followed MDA along this path several months later.
On 7th March ten members of MDS began a hunger strike which was
successful in forcing representatives of MRPP CC to start negotiations.
The result was that the party backed down and the inside opposition gained
space. Members of the Central Committee resigned as a group, and the party
accepted a resolution which created the political conditions for transforming
the system.
1. Article 82 of the Constitution declaring the leading role of MPRP has
to be deleted.
2. Tsedenbal who was the first secretary of MPRP after 1940 and the
holder of total political power after Choibalsan’s death in 1952 must be
excluded from the party.
3. Political prisoners must be rehabilitated.
4. The Extraordinary Congress of the Party must convene on April 9th
1990.8
6 Originally the name of the organisation was Mongol Jalūčūdīn Ardčilsan Xolbō, the Dem-
ocratic Association of Mongolian Young People. Later the phrase jalūčūdīn (“of young
people”) was omitted.
7 A. E. Kovács 2001a, 99.
8 A. E. Kovács 2001a, 99.
188
The leadership of the MPRP mainly tried to curb opposition movements
through administrative measures. The first and practically only significant
occasion when armed force was used against the demonstrators was in April
1990, more than six months after the opposition movements had ceased to be
illegal. At this time, after a major opposition demonstration was prevented,
the police was ordered to protect the government building. This step provoked
passionate emotions. Outrage was so widespread as to create a national base
for the opposition. The state party was forced to surrender and elections were
called for June 22nd.
There were six political parties competing at the elections. Just how
deeply embedded the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party was shown
clearly by the fact that it gained 86% of the votes and won the elections
without difficulty. Although there is no evidence of any fraudulent dealing
taking place at the elections, administrative measures which intended to
place the opposition in a difficult position were mostly successful. Most
important of them was that MPRP managed to achieve that the size of
electoral districts should not be regulated on a unified basis according to
the election legislation. This partly followed from the unique distribution
of the population of Mongolia. As a result, in certain districts an electoral
post could be attained with a sheer 2000 votes while in the cities at least ten
thousand votes were required for victory. Since the urban population was
practically the basis of the opposition, it was easy for representatives of the
state party to get elected into the Mongolian Great Khural of 430 members
through the rural districts.9
The Parliament which was thus re-elected functioned for two years. In
January 1992, the Khural10 accepted the new constitution which changed the
name of the Mongolian People’s Republic to Mongolia, established a single
chamber parliament of 76 members, and introduced a two-step election
process and direct presidential elections.
New elections were held in June 1992 where 95.6% of voters participated.
MPRP acquired 71 places. This practically meant the end of the first phase of
the democratic transformation of Mongolia.
Contemporary Mongolia owes its independence in many respects to
support from its northern neighbour. For this very reason, Mongolians have
9 The Mongolian Parliament. The MPRP acquired 60% of the votes but this secured them
86% of the seats, altogether 343 seats for the representatives of the party. The 40% acquired by the opposition only secured them 14% of the seats.
10 Khalkha Ulsīn Ix Xural, “Great National Council” (Great Assembly).
Zsolt Szilágyi
189
a curious attitude to the period before the political transformation. Common
parlance tends to be rather deprecating when talking of the period between
1921 and 1989, but the historian finds the unfolding picture far more
nuanced.
Historical writing before the political transition took it for granted that
relying on support from the Soviet Union and joining its federal system were
the only viable and blissful paths for Mongolia and that socialism was the
only desirable social and political system, since the political leaders of the
country had committed themselves as early as 1921 to a non-capitalist path
of political development. The current political environment did not permit
the discussion of politically sensitive issues such as genuine independence
or sovereignty. Mongolia was, in her own eyes, an independent country, but
the outside world, and in this sense even the Soviet Union, looked on it
as practically a part of the Soviet Union. Kurica, eto ne ptica, Mongolija
ne zagranica. – “A chicken is not a bird, Mongolia is not abroad.” As the
Russian saying goes. The political transition brought about the re-evaluation
of the events of the 20th century; scholarly works aiming to explore the
precise facts are coming out in rapid succession. To be sure, there has not
been enough time to reach a consensus in the re-evaluation of the past, but
there is one clear tendency. After the political transition the emphasis was
shifted to disclosing previously confidential documents, re-evaluating the
historical events, the significance of different periods. After the publication
of relevant source material, only in the past years have we begun to see a
truly scholarly discourse about the past period. In this context the 70 years
directly preceding the post-communist transition were usually criticized, as
were the leaders of the Mongolian party state. However, even today, few
people touch on controversial issues such as the role that Soviet support has
played in the emergence of contemporary Mongolia or how the founder of
Stalinist type personality cult Choibalsan11 managed to avoid the merging of
his country with the Soviet Union while he was working on creating closer
ties and establishing a Soviet type state in Mongolia.
11 Xorlōgīn Čoibalsan (1895–1952). One of the leading figures of the Mongolian revolution
of 1921. After 1929 he was head of state for a year and then, after his political rivals were
liquidated, he remained Prime Minister until his death in 1939, the depository of genuine
political power.
190
Mongolian democracy after 1992
What the state party could not achieve at the beginning of the democratisation
process, namely to divide the opposition, was done by the changed
circumstances themselves. The opposition clearly did not have a unified
concept for governing the country which they could offer for the society to
accept. The consequences showed not merely in the defeat at both elections.
After the elections the opposition disintegrated, several of the parties split
up and the process was only further exacerbated by worsening economic
difficulties.
The economy, which had previously functioned almost exclusively through
Soviet relations and the COMECON, practically collapsed after the pull-out
of the Russians. In 1992 cities were devastated by food shortage, electricity
and fuel supplies were intermittent.12 However, economic difficulties failed
to shake the popularity of the MRP, thus the summer elections only served
to conserve the power of the previous state party. Thus a genuine transfer
of power did not take place, and at the same time the opposition also failed
to offer an alternative which would have secured the transfer of power.
Although the 1996 elections were won by the opposition coalition, they
failed to conquer economic difficulties and soon lost much of their influence.
In 2000 MRPP again won with a landslide victory, acquiring 72 of the 76
places in Parliament.
The failure of the opposition coalition to capitalise on its 1996 victory13
goes back to a number of reasons. Being divided is only one of these. Of the
opposition groups and parties mentioned earlier, the Mongolian Democratic
Party was beyond doubt the most significant force, but this did more harm
than good to the opposition coalition which acquired the majority of places in
Parliament. The MDO could not have come into power without the support
of the smaller opposition parties, but as the leading force of the coalition it
12 The author can only confirm this based on personal experience. In 1992 the shops of the
Mongolian capital were practically empty. Food-supply was intermittent to say the least
and the government was forced to introduce rationing. The population of the city had to
fend for themselves through private channels, e.g. by staking advantage of ties with relatives. They frequently travelled to the country in order to buy meat or sometimes even
live animals from relatives who were local shepherds and thus to secure their family’s
sustenance for a while.
13 For the 1996 elections the Mongolian Democratic Union Coalition was created with the
Democratic Party as the leading force. It gained a total of 48 seats while the MRPP could
only acquire 23. (The remaining five seats went to independent representatives.)
Zsolt Szilágyi
191
tried to force its plans and ideas on its supporters instead of striving for a
consensus. Internal conflicts, of a political rather than an economic nature,
soon led to the disintegration of this alliance.
Social transformation in Mongolia
Quite naturally, the Soviet type of economic transformation also demanded
social sacrifices. A distinctive characteristic of Mongolian society is that in
the second half of the 20th century the majority of the population still lived
their everyday life as nomadic farmers herding their animal stocks. The
theocratic state of the second decade of the century shows more affinity with
the Manchu empire which existed for almost two centuries beforehand than
with the times after the revolution of 1921. The only truly significant change
in a feudalistic society headed by the Buddhist clerical leader was in the
structure of the subordinate strata and, within that, in the number of various
groups. After the revolution of 1921, however, forced collectivization, partial
modernization and the forced relocation of people into urban and industrial
centres were used in an effort to create the idealized society of socialism.
In the early period this process entailed considerable traumas but gradually
it led to the emergence of an urban population which adapted successfully
to its new environment, partly gave up its nomadic traditions and began to
function as a separate group of the society. The transformation, although
it took several decades, can still be considered quite rapid on a historical
scale, which also means that this is where we find the roots of many of the
later problems. The political and social changes resulting from the political
transition offered opportunities to handle some of these problems but the
most crucial ones remain unresolved to this day.
Shepherds pursuing their traditional lifestyle in the open country only
indirectly sensed the changes and in many ways retained the traditional
frames of their life. Today they still constitute the most conservative part of
the society which shows least sensitivity to the political environment.
The urban population have a different basic attitude. At the time of the
political transformation, the majority consisted of first, second and even third
generation urban dwellers who varied in the extent to which they adapted to
the circumstances of their new environment. At the same time they played a
basic role in the transformation of the system, since they characteristically
constituted the social base of the democratization process. Even today they
192
are far more interested in political events than other groups. At the same
time, as their lifestyle and thinking patterns change, they increasingly loose
connection with their earlier roots. In this sense Mongolian society is breaking
into two clearly outlined groups with the distance growing solidly between
them. This transformation grew noticeably faster after the changes, largely
owing to a basic transformation of the political and also of the economic
environment.
The role of the Mongolian Buddhist Church
The role of the Buddhist Church in the Mongolian history was interpreted
in many ways by many authors. A general point of view is that the Manchus
wanted the Mongols to become pacifistic (one lama = minus one armed
man). There were some authors who considered the spreading of Tibetan
Buddhism harmful and destructive.14
I have a different point of view. It is well known that Mongolians got
acquainted with Buddhism of Tibetan origin even during the 13th century. In
the Yuan-era the Buddhist religion reached the highest level, but in spite of
this, it still had no political role. The acceptance of Buddhism was because
of the tolerance with religions of the Empire. At the same time it is worth
mentioning that Phagspa had an important role in the court as the leader of
the Sakyapa order which had obtained control over Tibet.
Buddhism didn’t disappear even in the dark period after the collapse of
the Yuan dynasty, but at the time of the second conversion Altan khan entered
into an alliance with the Gelugpa Church with a definite aim. He wanted
to legitimize his rule over all Mongols. So, Buddhism was imposed on the
Mongols by their own leaders. They deliberately chose Tibetan Buddhism;
because it was especially not Chinese and the Tibetan monks could help
them in the administration of the government.
The Manchu period resulted in the set up of the Buddhist Church. The
system of Mongolian monasteries worked as a Mongolian government in
spite of the Manchu state in this period, and the head lamas of the Mongolian
Buddhist Church – mainly the first and the second – played a very important
role in the Khalkha Mongolian society. After the collapse of the Manchu
dynasty the head lama of the Church became the khan of the Mongolian
14 Cf. also: N. von Prschewalski 1877.
Zsolt Szilágyi
193
State. Nowadays some historians are considering him as the leader of the last
independent Mongolian state.
The first head lama of the Mongolian Church was just as important a person
of Mongolian history, as was Genghis. After the political transformation, with
the flourishing of Buddhism his role became very important again. It can be
declared that he laid the foundations for the authority of the Mongolian heads
of Church and the survival of traditional Mongolian culture in the Manchu
period.
Öndör Gegeen Janabajar (1635–1723), who is known as the founder of
the Mongol Buddhist Church, was an active participant of the events in the
early Manchu era. Besides spreading Buddhism, he made indisputable steps
in order to conserve the Mongol traditions and with their help protect the
cultural and social integrity. From the second part of the 17th century, the
foundation of the Church gave an opportunity for the Mongols to preserve
their cultural identity even during the Manchu occupation despite the unifying
efforts of the Empire, and later it was an indispensable condition of their
political independence, too. His innovations played an important role in the
everyday life of the Mongols which can be seen nowadays as tradition in the
resurrection of Mongolian Buddhism.
While Öndör Gegeen was working and living in Töwkhön (Khalkha
Töwxön) monastery, he created a new script, the Soyombo in 1686. He made
up that alphabet so that the holy languages of Buddhism, Sanskrit, Tibetan and
Mongolian could be equally recorded. However, the first mark of the alphabet
the Soyombo had a route of its own. The first letter has become a component
of the Mongolian State seal, and today is also the State Emblem. When
independent Mongolia was declared, Soyombo became the symbol of the
Mongol State and independence. The first three components of the soyombo
are the symbols of fire, the Sun and the Moon. The triangles turned down are
symbolizing the protector of the buddhist religion, called choi¤ing.15 The yinyang symbol can be seen in the middle. The horizontal parallels’ meaning is
sum16 (arrow), the vertical parallels’ meaning is xos šad17 (conjugate line).
The Soyombo is the symbol of peace and freedom in the macro- as well
as the micro cosmic space of the Mongols, and the Mongolian State in it.
It was used as an Emblem of the Theocratic Mongolian State in 1911, the
15 Mong. čoyi¤ung, Khalkha čoi¤in.
16 Mong. sumun, Khalkha sum.
17 Mong. qoos šad, Khalkha xos šad (Tib. shad).
194
Mongolian People’s State in 1921, the Mongolian People’s Republic State
in 1924, and was recognized as the State Emblem by Constitutions of 1940,
1960 and 1992.
The national idea and the new role of the church
One cause for the spectacular victory of the MRPP in 2000 was that the
coalition winning the 1996 elections proved unable to consolidate its power
and to stabilise the economy. Apart from the reasons already mentioned,
such as the government lacking a unified concept, a line of various confused
measures, the worsening general situation in the economy, raging corruption
and the murder of a leading opposition politician,18 one more crucial factor
played a part. The Mongolian political transition, but even more the twenty
year period that has gone by since then, have this curious trait that the
symbols of the Mongolian nationalist sentiment that found its way to the
surface at the time of the transition were adopted, on the level of rhetoric, by
the former communist party instead of the earlier opposition. This granted the
successor party an advantage in communication which they have capitalised
on most successfully to this day. According to the ideology of the Soviet
era, it was not permitted to represent the great Mongolian empire and its
founder, Chinggis Khan, as symbols of independent Mongolian statehood,
independence and power in any emphatic political context. Censorship did
all in its power to eradicate the undesirable political echoes of these symbols
and ideas. After the transition, Chinggis Khan came to occupy the place he
deserved in the country’s political pantheon as founder of the country and the
empire, head of the Mongolians who ruled the world. His person was given a
special role in nationalist rhetoric, too, and has become an important symbol
of Mongolian national identity – a symbol which, incidentally, functions
as a clear trademark of considerable marketing value all over the world.
Impersonating the great state founding khan and the symbols of the great
Mongolian Empire has secured an unbeatable communicational asset for
the Mongolian successor party which not long since was still championing
18 On 2nd October 1998 S. Jorig one of the leading figures of the democratic opposition of the
transition period was murdered. The perpetrators and causes are still unknown, to this very
day. There is no evidence of a political motive but this death clearly did not help build trust
in the government.
Zsolt Szilágyi
195
the idea of internationalism. The question of religion, an issue of massive
significance in the eyes of the society, has led to a similar result.
In the early years of the democratic transition the position of the Buddhist
Church and the freedom of religion were cardinal components in the
communication of the opposition. The darkest period of the socialist era was
the time of religious persecution carried out in order to establish and stabilise
the power of the communist party. The anti-clerical and anti-religious
measures of the second half of the 1930s culminated in the pogroms of
1937 when monasteries were destroyed and thousands of lamas were killed.
Posterity might feel easier if they could blame these monstrosities on the
Russian Bolsheviks but it is a fact that the “courageous deeds of Mongolian
patriots” were only assisted by guidance and advice by the Soviet friends.
In the era of the single party system they successfully kept the church in
a near-dead condition but the political transition was followed by a period
of explosive change. Old monasteries opened one after the other, and the
number of lamas is still on the increase.19
The majority of Mongolia’s population still consider themselves
Buddhists; this may be considered the state religion of this country and one
of the central elements of Mongolian identity. The Mongolian successor
state managed to create a harmonious relationship with the church and it has
definitely escaped the stamp of being anti-clerical.20
Status of Mongolian Buddhism nowadays
Though Gelugpa’s hegemony is typical, there are several working monasteries
that are connected to the old order, like Sakya Erdene dsuu (Khalkha Erdene
jū), the Nyigmapa Narkhajid khiid (Khalka Narxa¤id xīd) in the capital city,
or the newly rebuilt Khamriin khiid (Khalkha Xamrīn xīd) in the Gobi.
At the same time there emerged some other institutions that were not
characteristic of Mongolian Buddhism, for example meditation centres,
organized on the model of western civilizations. In our days most of the
foreign relationship of the Mongolian Buddhist Church is with western
Buddhist centres, like centres are in Europe, USA, and Canada.
19 This obviously goes back to Mongolian traditions as well as historical causes. In today’s
Mongolia young people often choose the life of a lama only to secure a living, as a kind
of “job”.
20 On the situation of the Mongolian Buddhist church, see Zs. Szilágyi 2008, 60–73.
196
Through these collaborations the Buddhist Church has not only financial
support, but they gain knowledge about the institutional system organized
around Buddhism in the Western part of the world. In the present days
the foreign connections are getting more and more important. There are
well known examples of Japanese, South-Korean, and western (mainly
North American, but also European) communities supporting some of the
Mongolian Buddhist monasteries or communities. In this sense we can talk
about cultural interaction.
The number of monasteries using the Mongolian language is small. We
can hardy find monasteries in the capital city or in the countryside where
Mongolian manuscripts or Xylographs are kept at all. The lamas are usually
not using, but only guarding them. There’s only one khüree (Khalkha xürē)
“temple” in the capital city which uses Mongolian language texts. Usually,
when we’re asking about the reason the common answer is that the lamas are
studying in Tibetan schools nowadays.
The Ecclesiastic Education
At the beginning of the ‘90s lamas who had not fallen victim to the
bloodshed were still alive. But in our days there are just a few well-trained
lamas and even they haven’t learned in Mongolian schools either.
There was no optimal educational system before, so most of the monasteries
are led by lamas who haven’t got eligible qualifications to a position like this.
This situation is characteristic mostly in the countryside and is part of the
cause for the desolation of monasteries. The young lamas usually go to study
to the capital city but they’re often not returning back to the countryside.
After the transition the ecclesiastic education had to be reorganized. In
our days there are two systems at work in Mongolia.
The western model
Centre of the system is the College of Religious Sciences, founded in 1970
at the Gandan monastery in Ulaanbaatar. It gives a BA (bachelor) degree for
the students. It is typical that to get a higher degree students travel to foreign
Buddhist centres, usually to India, Dharamsala, or go to the Mongolian State
University to get a MA degree, and some to have PhD. So after an ecclesiastic
education they usually get a higher degree in a secular institution.
Zsolt Szilágyi
197
The Mongolian model
The emphasis is shifting toward the traditional learning process, taking 15
years. The lamas we asked usually consider this process normative, though
nowadays there are still few lamas who can take part in education like this.
This form of education was initiated only a few years ago and the centres of
these educational units are the dacans. In Gandan monastery there are three
monastery-schools.
1. Idgachoijinling dacan (Khalkha Itgačoi¤inling dacan). It was founded
in 1911, when the Theocratic Mongolian State was formed. The founder
of the dacan was the 8th Bogdo Gegeen. This is a Buddhist logical school,
which concentrates exclusively on this discipline. After finishing this school
the students are usually continuing their study at Sera monastery.
2. Gungachoiling dacan (Khalkha Gungāčoiling dacan). It was founded
in 1809. In the present days the head of the monastery is Master Gunsambū
who learned in Dharamsala. He and the dacan have important connections
with the centre of Tibetan emigrants.
3. Dashchoimpel dacan (Khalkha Daščoimpel dacan). Foundation year
is 1736. It was refounded in the year of the transition, in 1990. It is led by
masters studied in the South-Indian Gomang dacan. After the transition the
opportunity for the candidates to get a gaw¤ (Mong. γab¤u, γab¤i, Tib. dka’
bcu) degree was introduced here.
Besides these, at the Gandan there can be found the Chenresig (Khalkha
£anraiseg, Skt. Avalokiteçvara), Dechingalba (Khalkha Dečengalba),
Badmayoga, Dsüd (Khalkha £üd) and Kalachakra (Khalkha: Cogt cagīn
xürden) tantric school and medical centre (dacan).
In the capital city there are traditional schools where education starts at
age 5. This kind of school was founded for example in monastery Dsüün
khüree Dashinchoiling (Khalkha Jǖn xürē Daščoilin dacan), which is the
second biggest institution of the Mongolian capital city after the Gandan.
From 2008 a new main change was generated by Gandan monastery. This
is the Nalandariin University supported by the 14th Dalai lama.
Nowadays 250 Mongolian lamas are studying in India, mainly in the
centres of the emigrant Tibetans. One of the most important relationships
of the Mongolians is the Namgyal logical school working next to the Dalai
Lama. The students from the Kalachakra dacan are studying in the educational
centre in Dharamsala. While the other main school of the Mongolian lamas is
the Drepung Gomang monastery in Mundgod South India.
198
In my opinion besides the Tibetan based education there is another reason
why the Mongolian lamas are not using Mongolian texts in the sacral rites.
One of the bases of tantric Buddhism is initiation. By using the Tibetan
language the lamas (the initiates) are trying to keep away the believers from
the knowledge. Nowadays the reading of classical Mongolian texts is not
a problem for the believers, but it was in the 16–17th centuries when the
translation of the most sacred texts happened. At that time the aim was to
spread the religion, while in the present days it is more important that the
uninitiated people should not be able to use these texts. By using the Tibetan
language it can be achieved that only the lamas be the ones who know the
exact order of the rites, and the believers could take part a rites just as much
as is necessary.
Nowadays the state’s role in the life of the church has totally changed. The
Buddhist Church hasn’t got any financial support from the government, but
moreover, the government taxes the monasteries and even the benefactions
offered for the church, too. In present days a monastery usually works as a
concern. The state considers the benefactions as an income. The Khamba
lama (Khalkha xamb lam) “head lama” of the monastery has to give a
payment to the lamas, for which they have to pay tax.
On the other hand Erdene dsuu (founded by Abadai khan in 1585), which
was the first among the Mongolian big monasteries is not the church’s
property. In our days there works a small Sakya temple, but there are not
even ten lamas. The partly rebuilt monastery nowadays works as a museum.
This applies to the rebuilt Amarbayasgalant monastery, which is also a
beloved target of the tourists, and also one of the most important shrines of
pilgrimage for the Mongolian Buddhists.
Bakula rinpoche who was the Indian ambassador to Mongolia from
1989 to 2000 was one of the spearheads of the resuscitation of the Gelugpa
tradition. The monastery founded by him is one of the important centres of
the religious life of the capital city and the base of the foreign connections of
the Mongolian Buddhist Church.
There is another important question which is connected to the head of
the church. The 9th Bogdo Gegeen is alive and active nowadays, but his
person divides the Mongolian society. In 1991 upon the request of the new
Mongolian government the Dalai Lama issued a petition that he recognized
the new incarnation of the Mongolian head lama. He is a Tibetan lama who
was born in Tibet in 1932. He lived in the court of the Dalai Lama and left
Tibet in 1959 with him. Since then he lives in India and gives teachings
Zsolt Szilágyi
199
around the world. But nowadays some of the Mongols are querying his
authenticity. He visited Mongolia only once in 1999 for three months with a
tourist visa and when it became invalid he had to leave the country and his
return was forbidden. In 2010 he returned to Mongolia.
Buddhism in the contemporary Mongolian society
The effect of religiosity can be seen in everyday life even if someone does
not live totally according to the order of the religion. The lay people interpret
the rules of Buddhism and its philosophical interpretations in the simplest
ways which means that the traditional rules are getting to decline.
The Tibetan-origin Mongol Buddhism is following the traditions of
Mahayana Buddhism’s tantric branch. The believers usually offer donations,
good works and a virtuous way of life. Donations were general in Mongolian
Buddhism and are even nowadays. Believers usually give donations to
rebuild monasteries, temples, and to provide for lamas.
Nowadays people from the richer strata of society are donating great
amounts of money and assume the role that administration had in the earlier
centuries. One sign of it is the renewed fashion of building stūpas. There are
special enterprises organized for this purpose, for the great amount of orders
ensure a safe living.
The traditional practice of lamas like forecasting has appeared again.
Prophesying became generally accepted and it can be practiced without main
restrictions, so a lot of lamas have a good livelihood. It has become a part of
the urban people’s life. In Ulaanbaatar around the monasteries there can be
found lamas, sitting in small boxes and telling the future to anyone who pays
for it. So it is a little bit like a mini market.
This obviously goes back to Mongolian traditions as well as historical
causes. In today’s Mongolia young people often choose the life of a lama
only to secure a living, as a kind of “job”.
It is a definitely new development that the believers are founding social
organizations. These organizations accept the church but in cooperation
with it they are doing a great amount of work. They are having excellent
foreign connections; their aim is the spreading and acquainting of Mongolian
Buddhism. A good example was the building of the Jebtsundampa Centre
(Khalkha £awjandamba töw) in 2004 supported by His Majesty the 9th Bogdo
Gegeen.
200
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Hungarian Glances to Hagiography and the
Cult of Saints in Scandinavia and in England1
Vilmos Voigt
In European history it is a well known fact that the first king of Hungary,
István (Stephen) was crowned by Christmas 1000 A.D. He became
canonized (together with four other persons from Hungary) in August 1083,
on the request of the then Hungarian King László (Ladislas), who, again,
became later another famous Saint King of Hungary. The first Hungarian
royal dinasty, the Árpáds (between 1000 and 1301) could boast of three other
famous saints: Princess Erzsébet (Elizabeth of Thuringia, as she is used to
be referred to in German tradition) – daughter of King Andrew II., Princess
Margit (Margaret) – daughter of King Béla IV., and Prince Imre (Emeric) –
the son of King Stephen – were canonized too.
The dinasty of the Árpáds has had close and standing contacts with most of
the contemporary royal families in Europe: from England and France to Kiev
and Poland, and, of course with Germany, Italy and Byzantium. Although
Hungary was an undisputable part of Roman Catholic Europe, her contacts
with Byzantine and Russian Church were close and long lasting ones too.
Historians, searching a comparative interpretation of royal hagiography
and of cult of saints in medieval Hungary, have tried to refer (among other
comparative studies) to some parallels in medieval Scandinavian history,
especially to the canonization of the „first national” kings in Norway, Danmark
and Sweden. It is another well known fact that other East-Central European
kingdoms (as Bohemia, Poland, etc., and, to some extent, Kiev/an/ Rus/sia/
too) have introduced the similar technique to stress the strength of their
Christian monarchy. The first generation of modern, professional historians
1 Published in slightly different and not carefully corrected form: Scandinavia and
Christian Europe in the Middle Ages. Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference,
Bonn/ Germany, 28th July–2nd August 2003. Edited by Rudolf Simek and Judith Meurer.
Hausdruckerei der Universität Bonn, 2003, 515–523. I did not update my paper.
204
Hungarian Glances to Hagiography...
in Hungary, from the second half of the 18th century, have already made
remarks about medieval Hungarian hagiography, trying to find in them traces
of mirroring the actual social stratification, referring to several medieval
sources, including even some texts from Scandinavia or from England.
However, only just recently, Gábor Klaniczay, in a monograph on dynastic
cults in medieval Hungary,2 could make a profound comparative analysis
of the topic. Although he does not enter directly into detailed Scandinavian
studies, his argumentation is elucidating also culture history in North
Europe. Klaniczay, having followed the well known works of European
medievalists, as Kern, Bloch, Graus, Hoffmann, Folz, Vauchez, etc., and
similarly those of the most excellent Hungarian historians, was making a
comparative historical analysis of key topics, e.g. „from god-king to sacral
kinship”, martyr kings and blessed queens of the Early Middle Ages, on the
appearance of rex iustus: the saintly institutor of Christian kingship, and of
the cult of dynastic saints as propaganda, etc. Being a historian, and not a
scholar of religion, his interest was to show the political motivation behind
comparative hagiography in medieval Europe. His text criticism is primarily
not of philological character, and it does not go beyond the mainstream of
social and ecclesiastic history.
It is interesting for Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon studies how Klaniczay
is describing the hagiography of St. Canute (Canute III of Danmark). When
he is showing the very complex background of the canonisation of the two
Kievan princes, St. Boris and St. Gleb, he mentions the Viking origins and
Scandinavian contacts of eleventh century Kievan Rus. He is characterizing
the events in Kiev as typical to the „periphery of Western Christendom”.
The same label was used in his chapter on Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian
dynastic cults. Summing up the general conclusions, he writes:3
„The most significant of these, perhaps, is the fact that the cult of royal
saints was able to grow into a popular cult form in societies newly converted
to Christianity, those whose very newcomer status meant that they – unlike
the European core – were unencumbered by paradigms of sainthood inherited
from late antiquity. The new saint type that evolved in these regions was
neither the adversary of secular power, nor its counterweight; he was, rather
at once the manifestation of the alliance between the Church and the new
Christian kingships, and the token of this alliance.”
2 G. Klaniczay 2000. The updated English version 2002.
3 G. Klaniczay 2002, 99.
Vilmos Voigt
205
In description of the cult of the Saint Kings Klaniczay’s scrutiny is
concentrated on the events (practically in all cases: martyrdom), then the
first historical data of a genuine cult, and the actual political–ideological
background of the canonisation. He is stressing the importance of
„accumulating ideological capital” for a dynasty, or for a country, when
creating a Saint Ruler.
If we sum up his interpretation of St. Olaf’s case, it will be the
following.
For data and their interpretation Klaniczay used the recent monographs
by Erich Hoffmann.4 „Olaf consolidated his power in Norway at a time
when Canute the Great was occupied with England. To do so, he relied
on the Christian Church, continuing the work of conversion begun by his
predecessor, Olaf Tryggvesson…”5 His refuge in Kiev in the court of his
brother-in-law, Yaroslav the Wise, made him known the similar hagiographic,
or, better to say, hagiopolitic tendencies there. Klaniczay, while analyzing
hagiographies in medieval Europe, is usually trying to find direct familial or
local contacts between the persons involved. According to him from the 10th
century it was a powerful „new weapon” to create a Saint King both for a
country and for a dynasty, and the rulers in different countries have learned
its use pretty soon.
„It did not take long after Olaf’s death for him to be associated with all
the topoi … /of/ the Anglo-Saxon royal saints. His body, like Christ’s, was
pierced with a lance; his blood worked miracles of healing even as his life
ebbed away; wonders, an eclipse of the sun, sought and famine followed
upon his death, his nails and hair, like St. Edmund’s continued to grow; the
location of Olaf’s body, like St. Oswald’s, was marked with a shaft of light;
and he was canonised a year and five days to the day of his death.”6 Klaniczay
could even find a candidate for taking over directly the Anglo-Saxon signs
of saints to King Olav: „More than likely, the source of all these borrowings
was bishop Grimkel, one of the English churchmen Olaf had invited over to
Norway.”7
Later Scandinavian historical and literary events will equally follow the
same Anglo-Saxon parallels. Archbishop Epstein of Trondheim tells about
his visit in England at the Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds. Canute’s powerful
4 E. Hoffmann 1975, 1976.
206
statesmen fostered the cult of Olaf (like Canute himself did it with Edmund’s
cult in England). They picked up Olaf’s son, Magnus (the Good) as King
of Norway. The first legends of Olaf were composed by Canute’s court
scalds. Finally Harald Hardrada (a half-brother of St. Olaf’s) established the
hereditary kingship in Norway, within the framework of the same ideology.
St. Olaf became Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae, and the rulers of Norway would
succeed to their royal dignity as St. Olaf’s vassals.
Klaniczay does not follow up the later development of St. Olaf’s cult
including its ramification in Norwegian folklore.8 He is not drawing any direct
comparison with the cult of St. Stephen in Hungary either. But, just by the first
glance, the similarities are striking. Even today, in the Hungarian Republic, the
cult of our first king, the cult of his „Holy Right Hand”, as being the venerated
relic in Hungary, and the cult of the Holy /Hungarian/ Crown (attributed to him,
but in fact being one of the hundred years later royal insignia), symbolizing
the unity of the Hungarian history are manifest in everday life and in political
ideology as well. The few Hungarian scholars, who have learned about St.
Olaf’s cult in Norway, made only some short, „comparative” remarks on these
similarities, often with reference to Eric the Saint King of Sweden (who died
in 1160). But today, after the analysis of the topic by Klaniczay, the similarities
seem to be more far and more indirect. St. Olaf was a contemporary to St.
Stephen of Hungary. Olaf’s canonisation belongs to the mid of the 11th century,
following immediately his death. But Stephen’s canonisation started by a
generation later, and Eric’s even later canonisation belongs to the next century.
Hungarian Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret fall into another hagiographic
category: the cult of „Saintly princesses” was an innovation only after the
twelfth century. It seems to me, the more close we study the 11th century
hagiographies in Europe, the similarities between Norway and Hungary will be
the more general and less specific.
But, from a different angle, in hagiographic narratives there are other,
interesting cases of contacts between Medieval Scandinavia, England and
Hungary. In my paper I shall only refer to some of the most striking ones. In
order to make my arguments clear, first I have to tell of some of basic facts
of Hungarian culture history.
Hungarian historiography was started by the late 12th century, in Latin.
The Chronicles were written by clergymen, and they clearly reflect the
actual social and political motivation. They try to describe the origins of the
8 See: O. Bø 1955.
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207
Hungarians, the events before and after the „conquest” (A.D. 896, when the
Hungarians occupied the central parts of the Carpathian basin). The current
Hungarian name for the event is honfoglalás ’homeland-taking’, a semantic
parallel to landnám. But in Hungarian it is a relatively new word, a 19th
century revilatalization of the word hon ’homeland’, which can be dated
back in Hungarian written documents from the 13–14th centuries.
Hungarian chronicles deal with the assigned Hun(nian)–Hungarian
affinities, and from time to time refer to the events of Ancient and Biblical
history – but they do not pay much attention to contemporary European
history. They do not attempt to describe the world history (as Scandinavian
and English historians do). They are silent about Scandinavia too, as if there
were no contacts between North and West Europe and Hungary. On the other
hand, there had regularly been such contacts. „Hungarian” coins were found
in Viking treasures, Viking swords were found in Hungarian cemeteries.9
During the 11th century an (ethnic) component of the Hungarian bordersoldiers was called in documents as kulpingoi (i.e. Scandinavian kylving/ar,
which is comparable with Old Russian kolbyag). Place names, as Kilbing in
Lower Austria, Kolbin (today Kubin in West Upper Slovakia), Kölpény in
Transylvania and in the Banat, fortress Kölpény (today Kulpinovo) at river
Danube in Serbo-Croatia – i.e. just at the borders of the early Hungarian
kingdom – support the assumption that they have served the Hungarian
rulers as special border-guarding troops. In a document by 958, the
Hungarian prince Botond’s father was called as „kölpény”. (I have to tell that
Hungarian linguists, dealing with actual (!) place names in Hungary, suggest
other onomastic etymology – from a Turkish person’s name – of Kölpény in
Hungary, but do not speak about the similar medieval place names, around
the then Hungarian borders.)
Another place name in Hungary, Várong, in documents from 1138 on
(see varyag/vareg/ varang in Old Russian and Byzantine sources), refers
to a different population of Scandinavian origin in medieval Hungary.
They were most probably warriors in Hungarian service too, perhaps not
specialized only in border control duties. Prince Imre, King Stephen’s only
son was (according to the Hildesheim annals about 1030) dux Ruizorum
’the leader of the Russians’, i.e. the head of the royal soldiers (exercitus
regis). Orosz- (’Russian’, in the Kievan/Byzantine meaning of the word) is
common place name along the borderlines of early Hungary. So, there were
9 See N. N.: Hungary and Sweden 1975. Especially Gy. Székely 1975, 9–36.
208
at least three different Hungarian labels – kölpény, várong and orosz – for
groups of originally Scandinavian soldiers. It is important to notice, that
within a century (from 950 to 1050) several generations of „Varangian”
soldiers were present in Hungary. We do not know about neither their actual
language, nor about their ethnic/religious traditions. But a „Viking by origin”
presence in the early years of the Hungarian kingdom is beyond doubt.
See, in a summarizing form the references in György Györffy’s magistral
work on King Stephen.10 In some later medieval Hungarian diploms the
curious phrase terra Brittannorum occurs. Its proper meaning was often
discussed, and the majority of contemporary historians consider it either as
a fake (dated back to 1235), or a corrupt spelling, and, hence, not as a valid
document of any English (British) settlement in early medieval Hungary.
Furthermore, it has been published five documents from 1315 to about 1385
already by 19th century historians, which mention a „possessio Brythonia”
or „Brittonia/Britonya” in the vicinity of Hátszeg/Haţeg, County Hunyad,
Transylvania. In any case, those references are from a hundred years later
time, and there is no evidence of living „English” persons there. The recent,
magnificent summary of historical geography of medieval Hungary11 is
dating six documents from 1315 until 1417, where the place name occurs
in forms of Brethonia, Brythonia, Britonya, Brittonia, Brytonia. The later
texts add the then new name „Várhely” ’place of fortress’ too, which is a
good correspondence to the actual Roumanian name Grădişte, originally a
Slavic word. According to Györffy the original form of the place name was
„Bertonia”, from an old Slavic word bъrten ’bee-keeper’, and the settlement
was a Hungarian (and not a Roumanian) village in the middle age. Also we
can not find Englishmen there.
On the other hand we do not know of Hungarians staying in Medieval
Scandinavia. To England from Hungary university students came first.
Direct dynastic contacts did not exist between Danmark, Norway or
Sweden and Hungary. But there had been close ties between England and
Hungary. The veritable contacts could be extended by imaginative ones. This
is the reason why even in our days it is difficult to say, to what extent there
are truthworthy moments in some old narratives?
One of the most complicated stories is about the sons of the Anglo-Saxon
king Edmund Ironside, and on the Hungarian (?) origin of St. Margaret of
Scotland.
10 Gy. Györffy 1977.
11 Gy. Györffy 1987.
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209
According to old sources from England, when Edmund Ironside died
(1016), his vidow, with her two small sons, E(a)dmund and Edward, were
sent by Canute, King of Danmark first to Sweden, and from there to the East.
They arrived to Kievan Rus in 1016–17. For about forty years we do not
have precise data upon their lives. Edmund died young. Edward married to a
certain Agatha, who bore him three children: Margaret, Christine and Edgar.
They returned to England in 1057, but Prince Edward died there soon, before
he was able to see his uncle, King Edward the Confessor. According to some
assumptions Edward and his family lived for many years in Hungary, and the
children got their education there.
When, after the battle of Hastings (1066) Agatha’s family was again
forced to flee, first they wanted to return to Hungary. But a storm drove
their ship back to the coast of Scotland. Then King Malcolm III of Scotland
fell in love with the beautiful Margaret, who became his wife, and then St.
Margaret of Scotland.
Hungarian historians (already in the 18th century) have tried to fill in
the years of the English royal family „in Hungary” with events. Some of
them assumed that Agatha was the daughter of St. Stephen. The trouble
of that identification is the fact that no historical document mentions that
the Hungarian King ever had a daughter. The topic of „Hungarian origin
of St. Margaret of Scotland” was raised again and again by Hungarian
philologists.12
It was connected with another story, according to which after the battle
of Hastings a group of noblemen from England (multi nobilium Anglorum
regis) fled to Byzantium (Miklagardr), and as solders to the Byzantine
empire they there have founded their own territory, called „East England”,
which they have labeled with English place names: (… „incolis universam
incoluisse, Angliamque appellasse; similiter urbibus, quas occupabant, & iis,
quas ipsi statuebant, nomina urbium Anglicarum aptasse. Ibi Londinum, ibi
Eboracum, aliorumque principalium oppidorum nomina resuscitata. Quod
vero codicem Pauli, qui Constantinopoli in usu, fastidiverint, accersitos ex
Hungaria viros ecclesiasticos, qui sacra obirent; eorum posteros ibi deinde
habitasse. Haec quamvis fabulosa, originem tamen ex vero habent).”13 Once
they have sent their envoys to the king of Hungary, asking him to make
possible the consacration the „East English” bishops there. “Angli orientales
12 L. Kropf 1887; S. Fest 1940 etc.
13 Quoted after J. Laszlovszky 1991, 247. For further comments see below.
210
nolentes Grecorum patriarche subesse miserunt clericos suos ad Hungariam
in episcopos consecrandos, qui sunt sub iurisdicione Romani pontificis, que
res multum displicuit imperatori et Grecis”.14 Their perfectly understandable
wish, after the schism between Rome and Byzantium, gave to the Hungarian
historians another argument of stressing the existence of „several generations
long ties between Hungary and England”.
But there are difficulties in building up such a historical hypothesis. The
primary sources are old and not always very accurate. Adam Bremensis and
Flateyjarbók (on „East England”) leave much room for fantasy. There is no
evidence that the children of Edmund Ironside have ever lived in Hungary.
They could have spend all the time of their exile in Kiev or elsewhere. When
there were organized the negotiations concerning their return to England, it
was not the King of Hungary, but the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, to
whom the King of England had to send his emissaries. Agatha could have
been a German woman too. There are hints that in fact she was a daughter of
the Emperor. (Or, perhaps she was even not of a high rank family, and this
might be the reason, why we do not know more about her ancestors.) There is
no historical trace of any daughter of St. Stephen of Hungary. There is no real
indication either that Agatha’s family wanted to go back indeed to Hungary.
The English noblemen in „East England” could not have much other choice
in finding in their vicinity „Roman Catholic” bishops than in Hungary (or
perhaps in Poland). Hungary, exactly at the time of (St.) Ladislas, was an
important local power northwest from Byzantium and west from Kiev. So,
there is no need to suppose the impact of „long Anglo-Hungarian contacts”
in choosing Hungary for ecclesiastic help to the „East English” noblemen.
A more complicated issue is the Englishmen’s protest against the „Paulian”
way of church in Byzantium, and therefore their search for bishops from
Hungary (… þeir vildu ekki hafa Páls-bók, som gengr i Mikligardi, ok sóttu
biskupa i Ungaria ok adra kemmimenn…) and the last Latin sentences, quoted
above.15 We know that Bogumilism in Bulgaria – then more or less a vassal
state to the Byzantine Empire – can be dated back (around 930) to bishop
Theophilos/Bogumil. Bogumilism was understood in the Byzantine Church
as a continuation of the earlier Dualistic heresy. When (between 933 and 956)
Peter, Tzar of Bulgaria, was interrogating the theologians in Byzantium, how
to deal with the „new heretics” in Bulgaria, in the answer they have equating
14 J. Laszlovszky 1991, 63.
15 J. Laszlovszky 1991, 246–247.
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the Bogumils with Paulicanians, adherents of an earlier heretic movement in
Asia Minor. In the 10th century both Bulgaria and Byzantium were fighting
the dualistic heretics, whom they have associated with „devil-worshipers”.
However, their influence was significant, and in the 11th century we find
Bogumils in various territories of the Balkans. The church was against them,
so we could not await a positive „Paulian” trend in Byzantium during the
11th century either. Hungary organized wars against Balkan Bogumils too,
but it happened only from the 12th century. Thus the „anti-Paulian” clame
from „East England”, soon after the battle of Hastings (1066), seems simply
not to be understandable. Perhaps, it is just a reference to the complicated
theological debates in Byzantium, or an excuse for prefering Roman and
not Byzantine religious trend. See Dimitri Obolensky16 which is still one
of the best introductions, with further references on the very complicated
ethnic history of the region, including Vikings/Varangians, Kievan Rus,
Hungarians, and even the Englishmen as warriors there.
But, with all the doubts concerning the continuous and direct contacts
between English and Hungarian medieval hagiography, there are still in the
texts some motives, which deserve further consideration.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (started to compile before 890) about the
year 1057 writes on Edward and his family: „Her com Eadward Atheling to
Englelende. Se waes Eadwerdes brothor sunu Kynges. Eadmund cing Irensid
waes geclypod. For his snellscipe. Thisne aetheling Cnut haefde forsend on
Ungerland to beswicane. Ac he thaer getheh to godan man swa him God
udhe & him well gebyrede, swa he begeat thaes caseres maga to wife &e bi
thaere faegerne bearnteam gestrynde. Se waes Agathas gehaten…” (AngloSaxon Chronicle. Text D, which was closed in 1079 = Tiberius. B. IV.)17 The
original paper of Fest, The Sons of Eadmund Ironside Anglo-Saxon King at
the Court of St. Stephen. St. Margaret of Scotland was written in 1938. Thus
Fest was not able to use the new or revised translations of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle by G. N. Garmonsway (1953) or by Dorothy Whitelock (1962).
(Fest’s rendering of the Old English text is simplyfied too.) Two phrases are
important in the text: they were sent to “Ungerland”, where Edward grew up
(„he thaer getheh to godan man”) and Agatha was „caseres maga”, i.e. from
the Emperor’s kin/family/relation. Hungary explicitly occurs in the text, but
there is no direct reference to Hungarian origin of Agatha.
16 D. Obolensky 1974.
17 Quoted from S. Fest 2000, 517.
212
Another important source, Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence of
Worcester (he died in 1118) tells the story that King Canute was sending
the sons of Edmund to the king of „Suuavorum” in oder to kill them there –
a well-known motif in the history and in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. „Dedit
etiam consilium Edricus ut clitunculos Eadwardum et Eadmundum, regis
Eadmundi filios necaret. Sed quia magnum dedecus sibi videbatur ut in Anglia
perimerentur parvo elapso tempore ad regem Suuavorum occidendos misit.
Qui licet foedus esset inter eos, precibus illius nullatenus voluit acquiescere;
sed illos ad regem Hungarorum, Salomonem nomine, misit nutriendos,
vitaeque reservandos. Quorum unus, scilicet Eadmundus, processu temporis
ibidem vitam finivit: Eadwardus vero Agatham, filiam germani imperatoris
Henrici, in matrimoniam accepit; ex qua Margaretam Scotorum reginam et
Christinam sanctimonialem virginem, et clotonem Eadgarum suscepit.”18
The two important motives here are the following ones. With the precise
name of the Hungarian king, Solomon, we can date the presence of the princes
in Hungary, as for 1058 or between 1063–74. On the other hand, Agatha occurs
here as „filia germani imperatoris Henrici”. But, as Fest argues, „German”
(more correctly Holy Roman) Emperor Henry II lived in saintly matrimony,
and thus he had no children. Hence the Latin word germanus might mean
here ’brother, close relation, brother-in-law’, and not ’German’, as it was used
indeed in Latin texts of 11th–12th centuries. We know from other documents
that the word germanus was known in that „familial” meaning in Medieval
England too. According to Fest the reference fits to St. Stephen of Hungary,
who, in fact, was brother-in-law of Henry II. According to my opinion, we can
accept that Agatha was not the daughter of Emperor Henry II, but only a close
relative to him, and this reference must not involve King St. Stephen at all.
The text of Florence of Worcester reflects the common knowledge in England
on Hungary by about 1118, i.e. one or two generations later than the events
mentioned in the chronicle. Thus, even if by about 1057–58 Agatha could not
be the daughter of the Hungarian king, however by 1118 the intellectuals in
England could know that Solomon was in fact a king in that far away country.
Fest, who was puzzled by the fact that Florence of Worcester knew about King
Solomon, but did not mention King Stephen, tried to find another reasoning,
but his construction was neither simple, nor convincing.
If we are not blindfolded by the „excellence and importance” of Hungarians
always and all the time, we could find in some of the „false” references more
18 S. Fest 2000, 518–519.
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213
value, than in some of the „word-by-word” correct informations. Fest and
other Hungarian historians blamed even William of Malmesbury (he died
in 1143), who in his Gesta Regum wrote a „confused” version of the same
story. The most interesting part of his text is the following: „Filii ejus /i.e.
of Eadmund Ironside/ Edwinus et Edwardus missi ad regem Swevorum ut
perimentur sed miseratione ejus conservati, Hunorum regem petierunt; ubi
dum benigne aliquo tempore habiti essent, major diem obiit minor Agatham
reginae sororem in matrimonium accepit.”19 Fest is bluntly listing the errors
in the text. William of Malmesbury was naming the first Prince as Edwin (and
not Edmund). He speaks only about the two princes going into exile, but in
fact, they were babies, who could not travel alone. Agatha was not a younger
sister of the Queen in the country, because Gisela, the wife of St. Stephen
has not had any sister. Of course, the equation „Hunni – Hungarici” was a
common place in Medieval Europe. But I find it more important that even the
erroneous sentences of William of Malmesbury testify some acquaintence
with Hungary in the generally well informed English historical knowledge.
In later works, as e.g. in Historica Ecclesiastica by Ordericus Vitalis
(between 1124 and 1142), in the Chronicle of North England written in
Old French (L’Estoire des Engles) by Geoffrey Gaimar (about 1140) and
among the references on Genealogia Regum by Ethelred or Ailred, Abbot of
Rievaulx (from 1147 on) the staying of the princes in Hungary and Agatha’s
Hungarian origin is repeated as an evidence. In the texts we find curious
additions: persons and place names, as it is usual in medieval narratives. It
would be in vain to try to identify all the details. We could only say again:
at least until the second half of 12th century chronicle compilers in England
knew about Hungary by the time of „King Stephen and King Solomon”.
Fest’s interpretation was sharply criticized in Hungary in 1939 by József
Herzog, director of the Hungarian Archives, who refuted the reference to
Emperor Henry II, and maintained the old equation with Henry III, displacing
thus the story of the Anglo-Saxon princes and of Agatha’s marriage from the
time of St. Stephen. Fest wrote 1940 a long reply.20 He did not revoke any
of his ideas, and could find even more supporting references. Nevertheless,
majority of Hungarian historians until now remained sceptical about Agatha
as the daughter of King Stephen. The actual, „academic” history of Hungary
mentions the princes Edward and Edmund only in one half sentence, placing
19 S. Fest 2000, 521.
20 J. Herzog 1939, see S. Fest 2000, 537–590.
214
their staying in Hungary to the time of King Endre (Andrew) I, i.e. between
1046–1060, which might be acurate.21 The chapter was written by the best
expert of the history of early Hungarian kings, György Györffy, who in the
references was speaking about „two opposite views” as regards the truth
behind the story. He was mentioning the „critical” study by Szabolcs de
Vajay (1962) and the „believer” study by Kázmér Nagy (1971). It seems to
me, the princes in fact could stay in Hungary for a while, and Agatha was a
living person. But who? We do not know.
As regards the ecclesiastic contacts between „East England” and Hungary,
it was again Sándor Fest, who has first noticed the curious story, mentioned
already above. In his short article22 combined with further assumptions in
his last published paper from 1944,23 he was using E. A. Freeman’s classical
books on the history of Norman conquest. As for the text itself, he refers to
the Iátvardar saga in the edition of Vigfusson, i.e. to its old publication, and,
of course, Fest could not see the new edition (1950, by Jón Helgason), nor the
current English edition (1972, by Christina Fell). As for general information
concerning the English varriors in Byzantine Empire (by about 1075 on) he
refers to the then good summarizing paper by A. A. Vasiliev24 which serves
as the major summary, even in Obolensky’s monograph, mentioned above.
Since then relevant new publications appeared. R. M. Dawkins, Ad.
Stender-Petersen and others gave a more detailed description of the
„Varangian” soldiers in Byzantium. Dawkins made also direct reference to
the problem of „Roman versus Byzantian” priests for the Varangians. (His
first paper on the topic, „Greeks and Norsemen”, was published in 1936, in
the Festschrift for R. R. Marett.) It is a well known fact that Flateyjarbók is a
13th century compilation, in which the final part of the Játvarđar saga helga
contains the narrative on the „East England” warriors. Since the saga mentions
Gizurr Hallson (who died in 1206), his contribution to the compilation might
be placed before that time. After some preliminary remarks in 1954 K. N.
Ciggaar has published an other Latin text on the same topic. (In fact, it was
a part of his unpublished dissertation.) The manuscript (existing in two
versions) Chronicon Universale Anonymi Laudunensi, dated to the beginning
of the 13th century and was written in Laon. The described events could
happened after 1072 and before 1075. The Latin version tells more or less the
21 Gy. Székely – A. Bartha 1984, 863. The references on p. 1665.
22 S. Fest 2000, 101–102. and 96–100.
23 S. Fest 2000, 96–100. especially 99.
24 A. A. Vasiliev 1937.
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215
same as the Old Icelandic story does, obviously with differences in names
(Miklagard – Constantinople, Kirjalax – Alexis etc.). There is an important
sentence about Hungary, missing from the Old Icelandic saga: „Hungari regem
suum Salomonem regno deturbatum sub custodia excruciant et imperatori
rebellant”, i.e. about Hungarians revolting against King Solomon. (Solomon
was King of Hungary between 1064 and 1074, but he was playing a very
complicated political activity until his death, in 1087. Thus, the „revolts”
against him could be placed into different years.) The English historian,
Jonathan Shepard (1974) tried to identify more precisely the place, where
„East English” soldiers could have been settled down. If fact, there are several
candidate territories: from Azovian Sea and Crimea to the Delta of Danube
or even to the Bulgarian part of today’s Dobrudja, etc. A noted Roumanian
historian, Razvan Theodorescu (1981) tried to compile the more recent data
on Englishmen in early medieval East Europe. Unfortunately, he was not
aware of the critical voices against the straightforward statements by Sándor
Fest, who, among others, took as for granted the validity of the medieval
Hungarian place name terra Brittanorum. Theodorescu’s attempt to map
and to interpret the position of the Englishmen on the today’s Roumanian
territories was serving the actual Roumanian historical trend concerning the
history of Transylvania in the 10th–12th centuries. Of course, the Brythonia
place names in County Hunyad, between 1315 and 1385, can not be connected
with „East English” settlements from a hundred years earlier time.
A Hungarian historian, József Laszlovszky, in his (unpublished)
dissertation (1991) gave a detailed evaluation of the publications by Ciggaar,
Shepard and Theodorescu. According to his opinion, the Anglo-Saxons in fact
have visited the then new Hungarian bishopric of Gyulafehérvár/Alba Iulia in
Transylvania. The founding might be dated back to the very beginning of 11th
century, and its first bishop, whose name we know (from 1075, i.e. just at the
time of the request of the Englishmen), was Franco, a Wallonian person, who
was born in Liège. The phrases on the difference between Roman and Greek
church, or upon the revolt against King Solomon, can easily be understood
from the Anglo-Saxon contacts with the diocese of Gyulafehérvár, where the
actual political events in all Hungary must have been well observed.
Laszlovszky’s two key remarks are of great importance. He says25 that
the World Chronicle of Laon supports so much the text of the Old Icelandic
Saga, that today we can understand both texts as reliable ones about historical
25 J. Laszlovszky 1991, 73.
216
facts and not only as fabulous stories. According to his second remark
(ibidem) hitherto the detailed references to Byzantine religious practice, e.g.
in the text of the Breviarium Nidrosiense, could be understood only in a
roundabout way. E.g. when the Norwegian source speaks about the prayer of
the Byzantine Emperor „to the Virgin and to St. Olaf”, and the latter appears
thereupon riding on his horse and with the crown upon his head, the striking
vision can be the result of the presence of Norseman in Byzantium. Here
Laszlovszky mentions the publications by Hungarian Byzantinologists,
György Sántha and Mátyás Gyóni. They supposed an influence of the cult
of Byzantine „Saints-Warriors” upon old Icelandic literature.26 In important
works of the old Icelandic saga literature, St. Olaf is helping the Kirjalax, i.e.
the Byzantine emperor in his wars against the heathen.
Laszlovszky deals also with the questions of Viking or Anglo-Saxon
coins in Hungary, respectively Hungarian coins in West and North Europe
too, but it is a topic outside of the frames of my paper. In the Appendix to his
dissertation he quotes the involved text references too, and we can agree with
his evaluation of the „East England” story variants, as historically reliable
ones. Still I do not see any reason of ascribing the Byzantine topics in Snorri
or in the Heimskringla to the Anglo-Saxons, who fled after Hastings to the
Black Sea! The numerous Byzantine motifs in Old Icelandic literature have
already been interpreted in a convincing way within the general European
frames of Old Norse culture and literary history.27
To sum up the aforesaid: Hungarian data concerning Medieval European
hagiography are not any more surprizing, and they give further details to
common understanding the common European forms of cults of saints.
When discussing the debates among Hungarian historians concerning the
„Hungarian” data, we learn more on the then actual uses of hagiography
in medieval Europe. My brief account is the first attempt to single out the
facts concerning Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon and Hungarian comparative
hagiography. I hope, I could show that while dealing with some Scandinavian
or Anglo-Saxon source material, it is adviseble to notice, what had to say
Hungarian historians and philologists on the themes in question. Hungarian
scholars might not know all the details of Old Icelandic or Old English
philology, but they know about the Hungarian circumstances, which appear
26 See the summarizing paper by M. Gyóni 1956, 293–312.
27 See the already „legendary” summary by O. Widding – H. Bekker-Nielsen – L. K. Shook
1963, 294–337.
Vilmos Voigt
217
in those texts. To combine North and West European medieval studies with
Hungarian ones, is a nice topic, which deserves further, detailed researches.
Literature
In my text I have indicated the most recent secondary sources, where we
can find the references both to older literature and to the primary sources.
In quotations I kept the orthography of publications I was actually referring
too. I think, it was not necessary to mention here all the general bibliography
on Old Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, Hungarian or Byzantine hagiographic
narratives.
Perhaps I should mention that the generally known comparative studies
of early medieval Hungarian history (e.g. by Tamás von Bogyay, Szabolcs
de Vajay etc.) do not agree in every details, and their views on Scandinavian
comparison need a further consideration. The same might be said on the
book of Imre Boba: Nomads, Slavs and Northmen. The Hague, 1967., in
which the author could not use the recent publications. On early „Russian”
and Hungarian contacts see the summarizing papers of an international
seminar in Budapest (December 2000): Die ungarische Staatsbildung
und Ostmitteleuropa. Herausgegeben von Ferenc Glatz. Budapest, 2002,
(Begegnungen – Schriftenreihe des Europa Institutes Budapest – Band 15)
especially: Alexander V. Nazarenko: Ungarn und Rus’ um das Jahr 1000 (pp.
191–208, with very good references to recent Russian historical literature)
and Márta Font: Ungarn und die Kiewer Rus’ um 1000 (pp. 209–218, with
very good references to recent Hungarian historical literature). It is a pity that
at the seminar there was no expert of Scandinavian studies participating.
Bibliography
Bø, Olav
1955 Heilag Olav i norsk folketradisjon. Oslo, Det norske samlaget.
Fest, Sándor
1938 The Sons of Eadmund Ironside Anglo-Saxon King at the Court
of Saint Stephen. Saint Margaret of Scotland. Archivum Europae
Centro-Orientalis IV. 115–146.
218
1940 The Hungarian Origin of St. Margaret of Scotland. Debrecen. (Debreceni Angol Dolgozatok 1.)
2000 Skóciai Szent Margittól a walesi bárdokig. Magyar–angol történeti és irodalmi kapcsolatok. Lóránt Czigány – H. János Korompay
(eds.) Budapest, Universitas Könyvkiadó.
Gyóni, Mathias
1956 Les variantes d’une type de légende byzantine dans la littérature
ancienne-islandaise. Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum
Hungariae 4. 293–312.
Györffy, György
1977 István király és műve. Budapest, Gondolat Könyvkiadó.
1987 Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza III. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó.
Herzog, József
1939 Skóciai Szent Margit származásának kérdése. Budapest.
Hoffmann, Erich
1975 Die heiligen Könige bei den Angelsachsen und den skandinavischen
Völkern. Köngsheiliger und Königshaus. Neumünster, Wachholtz.
1976 Königserhebung und Thronfolgeordnung in Dänemark bis zum
Ausgang des Mittelalters. Berlin – New York, Walter de Gruyter.
Klaniczay, Gábor
2000 Az uralkodók szentsége a középkorban. Magyar dinasztikus
szentkultuszok és európai modellek. Budapest, Balassi Kiadó.
2002 Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses. Dynastic Cults in Medieval
Central Europe. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Kropf, Lajos
1887 Kik voltak az angolszász hercegek Szent István udvarában és mi lett
belőlük? Századok 21. 783–792.
Laszlovszky, József
1991 Angol–magyar kapcsolatok a 12. században. Budapest, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem.
Obolensky, Dimitri
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Székely, György
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and Sweden. 9–36.
Székelym György – Antal Bartha
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(főszerk.) Magyarország története tíz kötetben. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó.
Vasiliev, A.
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in the Eleventh Century. Annales de l’Institut Kondakov IX. 39–
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Widding, Ole – Hans Bekker-Nielsen – L. K. Shook
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Contributors
Adamik, Tamás – Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest
Bencze, Lóránt – King Sigismund College, Budapest
Birtalan, Ágnes – Loránd Eötvös University Department of Inner
Asian Studies, Budapest
Czövek, Judit – Institute of Ethnology, Hungarian Academy of
Sciences, Budapest
Hoppál, Bulcsú – Hungarian Association for the Academic Study of
Religions, Budapest
Hoppál, Mihály – Institute of Ethnology, Hungarian Academy of
Sciences, Budapest
Küllős, Imola – Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest
Máté-Tóth, András – Theology and chair of the Department for the
Study of Religion at the University of Szeged
Németh, György – Loránd Eötvös University Faculty of Humanities
Department of Ancient History, Budapest
Pásztor, Emília – Magistratum Studio, Kecskemét
Somfai Kara, Dávid – Institute of Ethnology, Hungarian Academy of
Sciences, Budapest
S. Szabó, Péter – King Sigismund College Department of Philosophy
and Study of Religion, Budapest
Szigeti, Jenő – University of Miskolc
Szilágyi, Zsolt – Institute of Ethnology, Hungarian Academy of
Sciences, Budapest and Loránd Eötvös University Department of
Inner Asian Studies, Budapest
Voigt, Vilmos – Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest

Science of Religion in HungaRy

Transcription

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