Hungarian Folk Beliefs by Tekla DömötörReview by: G. F. CushingThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Oct., 1984), pp. 628-629Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4209013 .

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628 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW

emergence of what could be a most disruptive element, '. . . an urban, or better semi-urban, mass whose chief characteristic is its transitional nature, its ideological disorientation, sense of loss of values, insecurity about what has been left behind [and] . .. about what lies ahead; a yearning for change, without any concrete notion of what change should bring about. . .' (p. 59). This group displays, inter alia '. . . the illiberal essence, and the profound xenophobia so deeply characteristic of this upwardly mobile stratum' (ibid.). Xenophobia is all the more dangerous in that it can be so easily fuelled from the rich seams of combustible material laid down by Greek- Turkish conflicts. These form the subject of the second outstanding essay, that by the editor, Richard Clogg. He describes and analyses the contemporary phase of this seemingly endless issue and, in a sage warning not to place too much hope in the healing capacities of the EEC, draws a parallel with the relations between the North of Ireland and the Republic after theirjoint reception into the community.

Though the oustanding contributions are those by Richard Clogg and P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, they should not eclipse the others and it would be wrong not to draw particular attention to the piece on the Greek Church by Kallistos Ware.

Finally this volume is an object lesson to conference organizers. How much better it is to have a small, manageable number of scholarly essays focusing upon an identifiable theme. The end result is so much more useful than the multi-volume proceedings which pour from the periodic jam- borees so beloved of our Eastern European colleagues in particular. Canterbury R. J. CRAMPTON

D6m6t6r, Tekla. Hungarian Folk Beliefs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, I983. 324Pp. Plates. Bibliography. Indexes. LI2.25.

IN I98 I Tekla D6motor published a wide-ranging survey of Hungarian folk beliefs, summarizing the results of recent research and including numerous new discoveries. Corvina, who produced the book, did her proud; format and illustrations combined with a scholarly text to create an attractive volume. This book has now been translated into English and published in identical form, even including the same demon on the front cover. It is a most welcome contribution to knowledge. The author is an expert in the field, and many of the examples cited are from her own investigations. Other modern research is well represented. Although the results of the very considerable work done by Hungarian scholars are well-known in Hungary proper, comparatively little news of their achievements has reached the world outside; this volume should help to ensure wider recognition.

The author begins with a survey of the historical background from the pre-Christian era to the time of the Enlightenment, quoting some revealing and little-known texts, particularly from the time of the Reformation, when numerous preachers inveighed against superstitious practices. A whole chapter is devoted to witchcraft trials, the details of which frequently demonstrate that their motivation was based on fear and jealousy rather than any belief in the power of magic.

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REVIEWS 629

Most of the book is devoted to a detailed examination of particular beliefs during the past two centuries. The author conjures up a splendid procession of mythical beings, fairies, ghosts, giants and dwarfs, demons, and animals such as dragons and snakes. She introduces wise folk, witches, folk healers, and seers, some of them well-known through the documentary films made by Domokos Moldovain and exhibited outside Hungary. There is a lengthy section concerning magic, both black and white, ending very properly with the magical power of words and examples of the folk prayers collected in recent years by Zsuzsa Erdelyi. Then follows a chapter on man and his environment, nature, the earth and the universe, time and weather, and this leads in turn to the final section which deals with specifically Christian traditions such as pilgrimages to holy places. Here the author considers the growth of nonconformist groups and churches in Hungary, which may appear surprising to the foreign reader, but provides a fascinating example of the extreme conservatism of the traditional and officially recognized Hungarian churches. And it is one of the great merits of this book that all kinds of folk-belief are included, whether ancient or modern, pagan or Christian; for many customs, and notably those connected with the great festivals of the church, are a tangled mass of varying traditions. Many of the beliefs recorded in Hungary can be encountered elsewhere in Europe, but the existence of such words is liderc, translated somewhat inadequately into Latin as ignisfatuus, and taltos, with its overtones of shamanism, adds a peculiarly Hungarian flavour to the book.

Some comment must be made about the translation. Folklore texts present fearful problems; their language is usually far removed from commonly accepted norms and their vocabulary often requires specialized knowledge that no dictionary can be expected to impart. In general these problems are satisfactorily resolved here, but occasional attempts to render dialectal Hungarian into similar English merely result in something embarrassingly bogus and at times ungrammatical, such as the use of 'ye' on p. I 73 and the mixture of 'thee' and 'your' in the same stanza on p. 245. It is surely far better and certainly more convincing to provide a straightforward English version. Occasionally the omission of a vital sentence obscures the meaning: on p. I63 the process of 'measuring' is concerned only with stomach-ache in children, though from the translation it appears to be a general cure. Among other peculiarities are the consistent use of the form 'beneficient' and the translation of Gellert into Ghirardus instead of the usual Gerard.

Tekla D6m6tor's survey covers a very wide range of folk beliefs, some of which are considered all too briefly. Here, however, the useful notes and bibliography provide a guide to further reading. As an introduction to the fascinating world of Hungarian folk beliefs, this volume could hardly be bettered. London G. F. CUSHING

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