Речитатив як особливість реформатських похоронів на Закарпатті

Abstract

The present paper examines a novel aspect of folk literacy within the ethnographical research, which is an important part of the culture. The central theme is the folk literacy and the song dictation. One of the main scenes of the dictation was the Sunday worship, and the other were the funerals and the vigilances. The study presents some manuscripts from Ugocsa, which were used at funerals. For the funeral occasions, direct manuscripts were made full of funeral songs, with the title Book made and written for the funeral occasions or Collection of funeral songs. We can find nowadays more than ten manuscripts in the region. The earliest are dates from the 1880s. These were written by cantors. The manuscripts are in quadruplicate, and contain only funeral songs. Cantors chose the song from this booklet according to the social position of the deceased. At funerals the cantors dictated only from these. All of the manuscripts have a similar structure. They divided them into ten sections. The songs in the sections built around different age groups. They refer to the cause of death, sometimes the rank of the dead or to the material status. Dictation has ended just a few years ago. The inhabitants of the villages think differently about the dictation. Most of them wanted to observe the custom, because it was part of our reformed hungarianness, and part of the reformed religion. The study parallels the views of the older and young generation. The strong adherence to traditions preserved the dictation for so long in the researched settlements. Until the community identify oneself with dictation, it also practiced this mode of singing. The custom of dictation was part of our Reformed Hungarianness, and it was part of living the Reformed religion. It also morally reflected the communityʼs relationship to each other. The custom is the part of our Hungarian roots, and it is our duty to protect and defend it.