# The History and Present-day Organization of Hungarian Ethnology

Material of an ethnological character can already be found in the medieval Hungarian chronicles and charters. A 12th-century writer who signs himself ANONYMUS, educated at French universities, refers to the peasants’ “false tales and the bards’ prattling songs”, which, as a historian, he was scornful of, yet willingly or unwillingly he still used them. Chronicles and religious literature later on also preserved many ethnographical features for us. From the 11th century, geographical names in charters often refer to the devil, witches, and pagan sacrificial places, but these are incidental. We can make good use of certain of these data, but they can in no way provide the basis of Hungarian ethnology. This we can connect with the name of MÁTYÁS BÉL (1685–1749), who published his five and a half volume work, Notitia Hungariae novae Historico geographica, between 1735–42. He deliberately attempted the precise and faithful description of the eleven counties he introduced. He compared the observed ethnographic phenomena with the corresponding ones of the nationalities who lived together with the Hungarians, and often referred to regional divergences and ethnic groups. Therefore we can rightly call him the forerunner of descriptive ethnography and comparative ethnology in Hungary, though the fact that he wrote in Latin, and that a considerable part of his works remained unpublished, significantly reduced their usefulness and consequently their influence.

Among the ever-increasing literature relating to folk knowledge in the 18th century the life’s work of Lutheran clergyman SÁMUEL TESSEDIK (1742–1820) rises above the rest, especially his book entitled A paraszt ember Magyarországban, mitsoda és mi lehetne (The Peasant in Hungary, What He Is and What He Might Become), Pécs, 1786. He was the first to point out the importance of the intellectual culture of the peasantry, their social stratification, and peculiarities of life style. He carefully described their economic backwardness and superstitions, and sought to eliminate the latter by teaching practical knowledge to young peasants in his agricultural school. Similarly, GERGELY BERZEVICZY (1763–1822) was much occupied with the question of peasant culture, in connection with which he called attention to its intellectual and economic ramifications. For him the basic issue was the earliest possible ending of the serfs’ poverty, allied with the raising of their educational standards.

During the first third of the 19th century, historians and linguists consciously paid increasing attention to learning about national traditions, which in turn led to the accumulation of more and more ethnographical information. Tudományos Gyűjtemény (Scientific Collection), 1817–1841, a periodical of wide scope that was as good as any in its time, contained ethnographic essays in almost every issue. The essay by JÁNOS CSAPLOVICS (1780–1847) entitled “Ethnographiai értekezés Magyarországról” (An Ethnographical Essay on Hungary) appeared here in 1827. Here he took as a goal a complete survey of all the peoples in {16.} Hungary, who, though living alongside each other, still maintained certain diversities. He was the first to formulate the statement “Hungary is Europe in a nutshell”, implying that almost every European ethnographical question can be examined in this territory. He realized most of his aims in a larger work, written in German (Gemälde aus Ungarn, Pest, 1822).

The systematic collecting and working up of folk literature started after a number of spasmodic attempts in 1841, when the Kisfaludy Society advertised a competition for the collection of folksongs. The noted follower of HERDER and the GRIMM brothers, JÁNOS ERDÉLYI (1814–1868), published his three- volume work Népdalok és Mondák (Folksongs and Sagas) between 1846 and 1848, in which he presented selections from the vast amount of material gathered by him and his co-workers. By then the book by JÁNOS KRIZA (1811–1875), the Unitarian bishop from Transylvania, entitled Vadrózsák (Wild Roses) had reached completion in manuscript form, although due to difficulties over publication it saw the light only in 1863. In 1872 publication began of the volumes of the Magyar Népköltési Gyűjtemény (Hungarian Folk Poetry Collection), of which the last, the eleventh volume, was published in 1924. The most effective folklore researcher of the last quarter of the century was LAJOS KÁLMÁNY (1852–1919), whose seven volumes and numerous essays are still an indispensable source, especially for researchers of the South Lowlands.

Already, the research and recording of beliefs and superstitions was taking place sporadically in the first half of the 19th century, but it was ARNOLD IPOLYI (1823–1886) who systematically collected these and attempted to reconstruct from them the elements of Hungarian ancient religion (Magyar mythologia, Pest, 1854). Although his methods and conclusions are largely outdated, he was undoubtedly the initiator of one direction of ethnological research, the effects of which can be felt to the present day.

Research into material culture began later and proceeded more slowly than for folklore. Although the National Museum’s Department of Ethnography was founded in 1872, it merely vegetated for two decades. It began to develop in earnest in 1896, when, for the millennium of the Magyar Conquest of Hungary, an open-air museum was opened representing the entire country and consisting of 24 farmyards and a church. Twelve farmyards represented the Hungarian population, 12 the other nationalities. After their dismantling, the objects exhibited there were acquired by the Ethnographical Museum.

OTTÓ HERMAN (1835–1914) published in 1887 his mammoth two-volume work A magyar halászat könyve (The Book of Hungarian Fishing), which has served as a prototype study ever since. This theme was further developed by JÁNOS JANKÓ (1868–1902) in his comparative study that looked toward ancient history, A magyar halászat eredete (The Origin of Hungarian Fishing), 1900.

In 1889 the Magyar Néprajzi Társaság (Hungarian Ethnographical Society) was formed to unite the ever-growing camp of Hungarian ethnographers, and from then it has remained the most universal social organ of Hungarian ethnography. Its main journal, Ethnographia, has {17.} been published continuously since 1890. Associated with it from 1900 on has been the Néprajzi Múzeum Értesítője (The Bulletin of the Ethnographical Museum), which, though temporarily discontinued during the years of the two world wars, reappeared in 1954 in the form of a yearbook. These are the two basic publications in which both theoretical studies and the results of field research appear. In the first year of Ethnographia LAJOS KATONA (1862–1910) published his study entitled “Ethnographia, ethnologia, folklore” which was abreast of the times and standards of Europe and is virtually the starting point for the principle and theory of Hungarian ethnological research.

The First World War, and the difficulties following it, impeded and retarded the development of Hungarian ethnography. Development was especially hindered by the fact that for long there was no department of ethnography at the university. Finally, in 1929 SÁNDOR SOLYMOSSY (1864–1945) became chairman at the University of Szeged; then in 1934 ISTVÁN GYÖRFFY (1884–1939) was appointed Professor of Ethnography at the University of Budapest. At Szeged, teaching relates primarily to folklore, and at Budapest to material culture.

The most outstanding event of the period between the two world wars was that an eminent editorial group assembled a digest of the ethnography of the Hungarians in a four-volume work entitled A Magyarság Néprajza (The Ethnography of the Hungarians), 1933–1937, which still gives the only and most complete overview of the subject, despite the fact that it is partly outdated. Two volumes deal with material culture, the other two with folklore.

Closely connected with ethnology is a good tradition of collecting and discussing of folk music. Collection goes back to the first half of the 19th century, but it really began to thrive in 1895, when BÉLA VIKÁR (1859–1945) began to record songs with a phonograph. BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945) and ZOLTÁN KODÁLY (1882–1967) followed this tradition. Their names became world famous, not only because of their work of collecting and their scientific recordings, but also because of their compositions based on folk music, and last but not least, because they incorporated folk music into the national culture.

Before the Second World War, GYULA ORTUTAY (1910–1978) initiated a new direction on research into folk tales, which, besides considering the achieved results, put a special emphasis on demonstrating the creative method of outstanding individual story-tellers. He initiated the Új Magyar Népköltési Gyűjtemény (The New Hungarian Folk Poetry Collection) in 1940, and 18 volumes have appeared since.

After 1945, the reorganization of Hungarian ethnology accelerated. The work began with calculating and evaluating the results of the past and with setting tasks for the future. The Magyar Népkutatás Kézikönyve (Manual of Hungarian Folk Research), 1947–48, which assessed the work completed in certain topics of ethnography, served this purpose. It is unfortunate that this excellent initiative has not been so far completed.

The greatest achievement of the new era was the establishing of two chairs of ethnology at the University of Budapest and one each at Debrecen and Szeged, since this satisfactorily solved the problem of educating a new generation. Under the direction of the Hungarian {18.} Academy of Sciences, systematic collecting and recording in all fields of ethnology began in 1950. Since that year, the results have been made known abroad by the journal Acta Ethnographica, published in Russian, German, English and French.

Before 1945, there were only twenty or twenty-two full-time ethnological researchers. Today there are one hundred and seventy. Because researchers are working in different places, synchronization of their work is important. This task is fulfilled by the Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Néprajzi Főbizottsága (the High Committee of Ethnology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) whose members include the most outstanding researchers, also representing some ethnological institutions.

1. The Village Museum of Göcsej
Zalaegerszeg

2. The Village Museum of Göcsej
Zalaegerszeg

Among the institutes, the Néprajzi Kutató Csoport (Ethnographical Research Group) belongs directly to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The number of its scientific research workers approaches thirty. Work is carried on in three departments. The Department of Folklore {19.} has the most important projects and the greatest number of researchers. The primary goal of the Institute for the future is to develop research in this direction. The Department of Material Culture is smaller in staff, but it is the instigator of several important research projects (among them the Ethnographical Atlas). The Department of Social Culture was formed last, but it is developing fast, since its area of research has been much less explored in Hungary in comparison to the others.

The oldest and largest institute is the Néprajzi Múzeum (Ethnographical Museum). The number of artifacts exhibited there approaches 200 thousand. The following departments implement the work: the Hungarian Department collects, stores, and organizes artifacts relating to Hungarian ethnology, as well as artifacts of nationalities living together with or neighbouring the Hungarians. The International Department collects from every region which is not under the auspices of the Hungarian Department. Especially significant are its Finno-Ugric, Oceanian, and African collections. Notes referring to artifacts, manuscripts, the results of field research, posthumous papers of outstanding ethnologists, are housed in the Ethnological Documentation Department. The number of sketches and photographs there must be in the hundreds of thousands. The collection of documents referring to the history of ethnological research is the most important collection of its kind in Hungary. The Folk Music Collection preserves phonograph-cylinders, and, from a later date, tapes, records and notes dating from the end of the past century. The monumental material comprising the musical notations of BÉLA VIKÁR, BÉLA BARTÓK, ZOLTÁN KODÁLY and LÁSZLÓ LAJTHA (1892–1963) {20.} is of inestimable value, and is augmented by the collection of folk instruments. The Library is a public reference library, where the number of books approaches 80,000.

Among the provincial museums, 27 ethnographic collections contain over 5,000 artifacts each; five of them contain more than 10,000, and three of them approach or exceed 20,000 objects. Manuscripts, photographs and drawings are also included in these collections. The collecting and organizing activities of the provincial museums are directed overall by the Ethnographical Museum of Budapest. Nearly fifty researchers are working in provincial museums at this date.

3. The Village Museum of Vas County
Szombathely

4. The Hungarian Ethnographical Village Museum, Szentendre
Regional unit from Szatmár County

Among the ethnological types of museums, we must make a special note of the village museums, often called skanzen in Hungary, after the {21.} Swedish example. Between the two world wars there was only enough money to move and re-erect a few relics of peasant architecture here and there. The situation became appropriate for the building of such museums in the 1960s. A fisherman’s but and a cottier’s cottage have been exhibited since 1966, on their original site in Tihany, on the shore of Lake Balaton. The Göcseji Szabadtéri Múzeum (Village Museum of Göcsej), opened in 1967, has 33 buildings altogether, representing the rural architecture of South-Western Hungary. The Vasi Falumúzeum (Village Museum of Vas County), opened at Szombathely in 1973, has 25 buildings encompassing 7 complete farmyards arranged as though along a street, as was usual on the Western Border. In the eastern part of the country, at Nyíregyháza, several dwellings and farm buildings of the Sóstói Falumúzeum (Village Museum of Sóstó) mark the beginning of this enterprise. Besides these, certain typical peasant dwellings are preserved locally and function as local museums in different parts of the country.

The central Magyar Szabadtéri Múzeum (Hungarian Ethnographical Village Museum) is still being expanded north of Budapest on the outskirts of Szentendre, a town which lies along the bank of the Danube. {22.} Its first section was opened in autumn 1973. The scale of this great enterprise is such that according to the plans there will be 53 dwellings, 58 farm buildings, and 74 other buildings brought in and constructed during one decade. The buildings have already been chosen from the entire country. Besides traditional peasant furnishings, 24 different trades and handicrafts will also be preserved along with 33 complete workshops.

It is possible to survey a specific area of ethnology only if all the material data possible have been accumulated. It is worth mentioning such undertakings, because they illustrate well the main directions of Hungarian ethnology.

5. The Hungarian Ethnographical Village Museum, Szentendre
Farmsteads from Kispalád and Botpalád

6. The Hungarian Ethnographical Village Museum, Szentendre
House from Kispalád

The Néprajzi Történeti Archívum (Ethnological Historic Archives) contains the data from unpublished and published certificates, codices and indexes of ethnological relevance prior to 1526. The major part of these data refers to material culture, and with their aid a vivid picture can {23.} be made of the medieval Hungarian settlement, home, furniture, eating habits, attire, transportation methods and trade.

A Mezőgazdasági Munkaeszköztörténeti Archívum (Historical Archives of Agricultural Tools) includes descriptions and photographs of archaeological, historical and ethnological objects, and indicates the work processes that were carried out with these tools. The number of identified work tools approaches one hundred thousand.

The work on the Magyar Néprajzi Atlasz (Hungarian Ethnographical Atlas) began in 1959, based on 240 research locations in Hungary. In addition, research was carried on in 24 villages in Czechoslovakia, and 22 villages in Yugoslavia. The drawing of the final draft of the maps is in progress and the first proofs will shortly go to press. Material for the ethnological atlases of certain regions, the counties of Szolnok and Baranya, is being collected and prepared for publication by the provincial museums of these areas.

The largest joint undertaking of Hungarian folklore research is the Magyar Népmese Katalógus (Catalogue of Hungarian Folk Tales). Its {24.} research workers have already documented all the tales that have appeared in print, analysed the most important manuscript collections, and will continue to do further exploration in this area. Work commenced recently on the Magyar Monda Katalógus (Catalogue of Hungarian Legends), but the collection of already printed myths has been largely completed and the analysis of manuscript sources begun.

The Népdalszövegek Katalógusa (Catalogue of Folksong Texts) is almost complete, and extends both to printed and to manuscript sources. Because the sorted material is so bulky that its publication at present is completely out of the question, it is available for research only in manuscript form. The collection of the Magyar Népzene Tára (Treasury of Hungarian Folk Music) extends to songs and texts written down both in the past and more recently. Its extensive volumes appear in Hungarian and in foreign languages, and the publication of several is now in progress.

7. The Palots house
Balassagyarmat, Palóc Museum

8. The Outdoor Ethnographical Museum Tihany

We have mentioned only a few of the important and central undertakings of Hungarian ethnology, but there are also some others that only partially or indirectly touch upon Hungarian ethnological science. The Sámánhit Archívum (Shaman Archives) is the most important of these. It contains the photographs, descriptions, and sketches of museum objects referring to Eurasian shamanism, and includes published and handwritten collections, notes and tapes that are preserved in the museums and centres of research in Eurasia. The recently deceased VILMOS DIÓSZEGI {25.} (1923–1972), founder of the Archive, completed it with his wide-range collecting in the Soviet Union.

Two large undertakings of Hungarian ethnology affect every researcher. One is the Néprajzi Lexikon (Encyclopedia of Ethnography), which gives the definitions of fundamental ethnological concepts, and provides alphabetical description of objects and phenomena in five large and richly illustrated volumes. It was published by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Secondly, the Ethnological High Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences decided to prepare and publish the new summary of Magyar Néprajz. The first volume gives a historical survey, expounds the ethnogenesis of Hungary, and examines the stratification of Hungarian folk culture in different areas. Two volumes will deal with material culture, two with folklore, and one with social anthropology. Preparations for the six-volume work have already begun.

Hungarian ethnologists can publish their articles not only in the {26.} periodicals already mentioned (Ethnographia, Néprajzi Értesítő, Acta Ethnographica), but also in different yearbooks. The Ethnological Research Institute publishes annually (since 1966) articles mainly written by its co-workers under the title Népi Kultúra–Népi Társadalom (Folk Culture–Folk Society). The Ethnological Institute of the University of Debrecen has published the annual volumes of Műveltség és Hagyomány (Learning and Tradition) since 1960. These contain several shorter contributions, and from time to time a single study filling the entire book. The primary objective of the Néprajzi Közlemény (Ethnographical Communiqué) is to give information about collected raw material from the notes, but it also contains full reviews. The Hungarian Ethnographic Society has been publishing in six yearly issues the Néprajzi Hírek (News on Ethnography), containing the latest results of Hungarian ethnology. Every year the last issue contains as complete a bibliography as possible of Hungarian ethnology published in the previous year.

There are also several ethnological studies in the yearbooks of the national and provincial museums. Their annual numbers total about twenty.

Studies in the form of books are brought out by publishing companies. Most ethnographical books are published by Akadémiai Kiadó (the Publishing House of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), in Hungarian, and sometimes in a foreign language. The most important role in introducing and popularizing the results of Hungarian ethnology in foreign languages has been assumed by Corvina Kiadó.