Changes in Population of the Big Mushroom Grass (Androsace maxima) in Gyoma from 2008 to 2011

The big mushroom grass (Androsace maxima) is one of our rare loess plants which primarily grow in open loess fields or in parts of erodible loess walls which are more or less free of vegetation. In our country, few verified growing populations of the species are known. In the Great Hungarian Plain only three presences are known, the biggest of which is located in the Gyoma section of the dam of the Triple Körös river. This population has been observed for six years now and the changes in stem density have been recorded for 4 years.

The number of individuals of the population has increased steadily in the period from 2008 to 2010. Based on our calculation in 2010, the initial stem density of the species was extended to almost 70 000. Following this tremendous growth, the population produced a drastic fall in 2011: stem density has fallen back to that calculated in 2008. Despite such changes in the total number of individuals, the spatial growth of the population, i.e. the spread of the species, both to the north and the south, has been documented on the dam section examined.

In spite of the significant fluctuation of the individuals of the big mushroom grass, the population in Gyoma is considered stable and capable of spreading. We believe, the species is in good position in terms of natural protection. The plant population having its habitat in the Körös-Maros National Park, requires no intervention or special treatment for survival or possible spread.

Intermediate hosts of lungworms of lagomorphs and the way of infection in definitive host

Parasitic protostrongylid lungworms which cause nodular pneumonia in mammals occur in obligate herbivorous host such as rabbits and hares in spite of their need for terrestrial snails as intermediate hosts for their development. Only few research have been done on the lungworm diseases of hares so far and most of them dealing with the developmental stages of the parasite and the pathological effects caused by the worms. The life cycle of several protostrongylid lungworm species has been clarified with help of artificial infections of definitive and intermediate host, but some details of the mode and route of the infection of final hosts is still disputed. Researchers disagree over the question whether the infectious larval stage infects the definitive herbivore host while still enclosed in the body of the snail acting as intermediate host – or whether it leaves the snail and infects the vertebrate host as a free living form. Arguments, some supported by laboratory observations, were presented for both possibilities, but the process has not been studied under natural conditions. We have investigated the circumstances for the ingestion of larvae of lungworms in hares to reveal how they acquire their protostrongylid infection.

In an experiment with house rabbits and their lugworms, Xerolenta obvia snails were reported to be perfect hosts for larval development of protostrongyles of hares and rabbits. We proved that those snails are adequate intermediate host of protostrongyles of hares also in the natural circumstances but we were unable to feed house rabbits with such living snails when we had left the choice to the rabbits themselves. The size of X. obvia snails in (our) experiment had reached ten millimetres. We observed the snails with that size carrying fully developed larvae in their muscles but they might not have been consumed by the definitive host of worms. We could not observe the living protostongylid larvae getting out of those snails spontaneously. The larvae were unable to leave the body of dead snails too. Therefore We suppose that these snails are too big for consumption by hares or rabbits so they do not serve as infective intermediate host of lungworms but such snails are dead ends of these larvae.

We have found remnants of shells in faeces of wild hares in very small quantity. These shells were the remnants of minute species with a full grown size reaching some millimetres only. In those habitats where lugworm infected hares were living, there were much more minute snail species than big one, and the young specimens of the large sized species were also more numerous as the adults. Therefore specimens with small size appeared in overwhelming majority on these places. We could not find any minute species to be infected by lungworm larvae in nature, but we were able to infect them with Protostrongylus larvae artificially. We infected Vallonia costata and Truncatellina cylindrica snails (size 2 and 1 mm respectively) with Protostrongylus larvae collected from faeces of wild hares and we succeed to rear L3 (infective) larvae in them. Based on this experiment and the scarcity of shell remnants of minute snails in faeces of wild hares we suppose the hares or rabbits get their lungworm infection by consuming mainly minute snails rarely infected with larvae of those worms. That exceptional way of the infection may be the reason for infrequent severe lungworm infection in lagomorph populations.

The occurrence of lungworms in hares may be low in certain territories of Hungary as Békés, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Heves, and Bács-Kiskun counties because we could find only two infected animals on (our) search investigating 308 lungs of hares from these places. We conclude from the low prevalence of lungworms in hares and the high frequency of different land snails in almost all habitats of hares that the infection may be a rare event for the definitive host, because many larvae avoid the possibility to get into them. Several snail species can be infected by protostrongyles but only the small specimens can transmit the infection to hares and rabbits.

Sarmatischer Knochenkamm – Fundort am Westrand der Gemarkung Biharugra

Im September 1999 führten wir in Biharugra entlang der 300 m langen Strecke einer neu verlegten Gasleitung eine Bodenbegehung durch. Im Erdaushub des Leitungsgrabens fanden wir Gefäßfragmente, die auf sarmatische Objekte hindeuteten. Ein wertvoller Fund neben der Keramik war ein Knochenkamm, der offensichtlich nicht aus einem Grab stammte, weil wir keine Hinweise auf eine Bestattung auffinden konnten.

Der Knochenkamm mit Buckelrücken besteht aus 7 Teilen, sein Mittelteil ist aus 4 Stücken zusammengesetzt. Das halbkreisförmige obere Stück des Griffteils und die Endstücke des gezinkten Teils an seinen beiden Seiten wurden einzeln an den mittleren gezinkten Teil angesetzt. Die Zinken sind in der Mitte ausgebrochen, an den Enden des Kamms sind sie ziemlich vollständig. Der gezinkte Teil ist trapezförmig, zum Ende der Zinken hin wird er breiter. Die Griffplatte des Kammes ist ergänzt bzw. repariert worden. Dadurch besteht die eine Seite des Griffes aus einer Platte, was für Kämme mit Buckelrücken typisch ist. Die andere Seite aber besteht wegen der Reparatur aus zwei Teilen, was die Kämme mit halbkreisförmigem Griff charakterisiert.

Außer einem einzigen Stück sind alle Keramikfragmente Bruchstücke scheibengedrehter, grauer und gut geschlämmter Keramik. Eine Hohlkehle kann an drei Fragmenten beobachtet werden, an einem der drei Stücke gibt es eine nebeneinander verlaufende doppelte Hohlkehle. Das wenige, hauptsächlich aus Keramik bestehende Fundmaterial lässt keine eindeutigen Schlussfolgerungen zu.

Zusammenfassend ist festzustellen, dass am Fundort eine sarmatische Siedlung existierte. Der Kamm, der aus einem der durchschnittenen Objekte zutage kam, kann den Kämmen mit Buckelrücken zugeordnet und in das 4. Jh. bzw. in die erste Hälfte des 5. Jh. n. Chr. datiert werden, was gleichzeitig auch auf das Alter der Siedlung hindeutet.

Römische glasierte Keramik in der Südlichen Tiefebene

Glasierte Keramikware ist ein spezieller Typ der römischen Importkeramik. Eine zusammenfassende Arbeit über glasierte Keramik in der Tiefebene des Barbaricums wurde bisher nicht vorgenommen.

Mit dem Beginn unserer Zeitrechnung verbreitete sich die Keramikglasur im Römischen Reich und gelangte auch nach Pannonien, wahrscheinlich von Osten her. Die grüne und gelbe Bleiglasur kann in Europa bei Gefäßen beobachtet werden, die von den Römern angefertigt waren. Sie erscheint an verschiedenen Gefäßformen: auf Krügen, Trinkbechern, Bechern, Pfannen und Reibschüsseln. Römische glasierte Keramik ähnelt oft der mittelalterlichen glasierten Ware.

Glasierte Gefäße, hauptsächlich Krüge und Reibschüsseln, kommen im Gebiet der Sarmaten sehr selten vor. Die grün glasierten Gefäße, die auch in den Siedlungen der Südlichen Tiefebene auftreten, können Beweise des Handels zwischen Römern und Barbaren sein. In Gräberfeldern kamen nur wenige derartige Funde zutage. In Csengele, Sándorfalva, Felgyő und Kiskundorozsma waren es vor allem Fragmente, es gab aber auch vollständige Gefäße: ein Topf aus dem 2.-3. Jh. n. Chr. aus einem Frauengrab von Szarvas sowie spätrömische Reibschüsseln aus Bordány und Jánosszállás, Krüge aus Apátfalva und Csongrád und ein Napf, der ebenfalls in Csongrád gefunden wurde.

Die meiste glasierte Ware stammt aus der späten Römerzeit, ihre Anfertigung kann in die Zeit nach 380 datiert werden. Funde, die mit den glasierten Gefäßen und Gefäßfragmenten zutage kamen – z.B. die späte eingeglättete Keramik – bestätigen die spätrömische Datierung.

Anhand der veröffentlichten Gefäße und der unpublizierten Funde in den Museen wird deutlich, dass die meiste glasierte Keramik in der Tiefebene und dort entlang der Wasserwege und der wichtigeren römischen Handelswege, besonders in der Umgebung des heutigen Szeged, vorkam. Die bisherige Datensammlung ist nicht vollständig, besonders die Region der südlichen Batschka und das Gebiet zwischen Donau und Theiß erfordern noch weitere Untersuchungen.

Slowakische Haar- und Kopftracht zu Beginn des 20. Jh. in Kiskőrös

Nach der türkischen Zerstörung wurde das Gebiet von Kiskőrös ganz zu Beginn des 18. Jh. von der Gutsbesitzerfamilie Wattay mit slowakischen Siedlern neu besiedelt. Die Slowaken magyarisierten sich allmählich in der ungarischen Umgebung, ihr ethnisches Bewusstsein, ihre evangelische Religion und ihre Sprache blieben aber bis heute erhalten. Ihre heute noch existierende Tracht zeigt keine Verwandtschaft mit der Tracht ihres ursprünglichen Wohnorts – diese Tracht entstand hier vor Ort und nahm die Formen und Traditionen der Umgebung (Batschka, Sárköz, Kalocsa, Kecel) in sich auf, deswegen kann sie den Trachten der Tiefebene mit vielen Röcken zugeordnet werden.

Das repräsentative und entscheidende Element der Tracht ist die Haar- und Kopftracht. Der untersuchte Zeitraum reicht vom Beginn des 20. Jh. bis zu den 1960er Jahren, als die Tracht abgelegt wurde. Die Zusammenfassung stellt die Haartracht der Frauen und Männer zusammen mit den Veränderungen je nach Lebensalter vor, unterscheidet zwischen alltäglichen und festlichen Formen, kommt auf die Verzierungs- und Kämm- bzw. Frisiermethoden, auf die verwendeten Geräte, Kopfbedeckungen, auf deren Zierden sowie auf das Sauberhalten und Pflegen der Haare zu sprechen, bei den Männern auf das Schnurrbarttragen und die Rasurgewohnheiten. Der mit den Haaren verbundene Glaube und Aberglaube wird in dieser Arbeit aber nur flüchtig gestreift.

Der Aufsatz stützt sich fast vollständig auf rezente Angaben und zeitgenössische Fotos. Ziel ist eine genaue Beschreibung der Haartrachtformen und Kopfbedeckungen sowie die Dokumentation der slowakischen Bezeichnungen. Zum Aufsatz gehört auch Bildmaterial, mit dessen Hilfe die einzelnen Kämmmethoden leicht voneinander unterschieden werden können.

The Base Museum of the Romanians Living in Hungary

The Trianon borderline having been drawn, a thematic research on the Romanian ethnic minority staying behind in Hungary was started from the mid-20th century, recognizing the fact that an examination of the history and the cultural and folklore characteristics of the ethnic minorities living in Hungary may not be omitted from the researches in Hungary. Several Hungarian historians and ethnographers and museologists have followed with attention the specific cultural aspects of the Romanian population of the settlements in Hungary.

With a national catchment area, since autumn 1974, the research on the history and the ethnography of the Romanians in Hungary have been provided for by the Békés county organization of museums. The decision of the Ministry, i.e. that Békés county organization of museums, in addition to being a base museum for the Slovakians, should extend its activities of the kind in terms of the domestic Romanians, may be justified by the fact that Romanians in the largest numbers live in Békés county. Another aspect is that the number of the relics and the data referring to the Romanians in the historical and etnographic collections of Békés county museum organization were scarce up to the early 1970s.

Békés county museum organization has been studying the historic past and the popural culture the Romanian communities of Békés and Hajdú-Bihar and Csongrád counties for 4 decades. A task of the organization is to collect and to continuously process ethnographic relics, historic documents and relics of spiritual culture referring to the Romanian ethnic minority living in Hungary. In addition, the organization is also supposed to elaborate and to present and to popularize at exhibitions and lectures the various fields of the history and the ethnography of domestic Romanians.

Documents of the Csatáry Family in Sarkad

The members of the Csatáry family were prominent figures of the Heyduck era of the Town of Sarkad. Two of them: elder and younger János Csatáry were captains for a long time in the town. Despite that, our knowledge of the life and the operation of the Csatáry family is scarce and their biographical data have not been fully clafired either. Csatáry the elder was a Heyduck captain at the time of the Long War in Sarkad and it seems that Csatáry the younger fell on 22 November 1659 in the battle of Zajkán. With the fall of II. György Rákóczi, Sarkad ceased to be an advanced garrison of Nagyvárad Castle. Consequently, together with several local families, the Csatárys also had to escape. Their inheritors, however, in the course of the 18th century, played ever increasingly important roles in the social and administrative life of Debrecen: local jurors, senators and mayors. In 1823, three members of the family, who had emigrated to Máramaros and Ugocsa counties, requested the recognition of their ancient nobility and they subsequently submitted several relevant old family documents. The file of the authentication procedure contains 28 documents, some of which may be related to the two Csatárys, who were captains in Sarkad, and their children. The documents found in Debrecen are well completed by a file containing 14 original authentication documents which can be found in the archives of the Kolozs Monastery Convent. Thus, two complementary source groups form the bases of our present study. The history of the Sarkad Heyducks is significantly enriched by our data and, last but not least, they substantially complete the biographical data of the two Csatárys.

Data concerning the Migration to Békés, the Hungarian Great Plain in the 18th Century from Kis-Hont

At the time of the Turkish occupation of Hungary (16th to 17th centuries), the area of the South Great Plain and that between the Tisza and the Maros rivers were seriously devastated. The number of human settlements and inhabitants fell back drastically. Following the expulsion of the Turks (1686) and the oppression of Rákóczi’s insurrection (1711), a revitalization of the landscape was started. The area of Békés was taken possession of by György Harruckern, a Vienna court supplier who had attained to the baron’s rank and it was him who resettled the waste land in the first decades of the 18th century. Slovakian settlers in large numbers from Upper Hungary were called in. They settled down, among other things, in Békéscsaba, Mezőberény, Szarvas and Tótkomlós. German settlers arrived in Gyula, Elek and Mezőberény.

The settlers were entitled to come by land and to freely organize their communities’ lives and to practice their Lutheran religion. Significant settling took place from the 1720s to the 1730s. Living conditions were poor in the mountaineous area: Hont, Zólyom, Nógrád, Kishont and Gömör. For those living in the mountains, acquiring good quality land in the distant Great Plain and establishing husbandry providing secure living were very attractive.

In Kis-Hont, based on the Act of the year 1767 on Manumission of Maria Theresa, manumission conditions were surveyed in 1769 and provided for in 1770. It can be stated that even in the settlements with the best quality land, less land than defined in the Act on Manumission was bestowed per one socage (sessio). Less land than was given to those settling in the Békés area.

In the course of the manumission survey, the number of grounds with houses devastated or the number of socages deserted were also registered. As a result of the survey, it became evident that, in several cases, the socager owner of the deserted grounds had migrated to the Great Plain some decades before, e.g. some people from Felső-Pokorágy, Rimóca, Szelce, Szussány and Tóth-Hegymeg had moved to Békéscsaba.

Vicissitudes of an Air Squadron from Arad to Békéscsaba (1918 to 1919)

After World War I, airplanes were developed into a basis of a new and determinant service. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, similarly to the rest of the great powers, tried to establish combat-worthy air squadrons. The relevant pilots were trained in the troops in Arad in the hinterland. Two such squadrons were established from 1916 to 1917 which were good bases for the new Arad air-group to be established after the fall of the Monarchy.

In the troublous times from November 1918 to March 1919, the new Hungarian military leadership and the commanders and the crew of the Arad air squadron first tried to maintain a formation in good working order in that important southern part of the county. Later, when this proved to be impossible, they tried to save the valuable airplanes for the country.

With the take-over of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in March 1919, the Arad air squadron moved to Békéscsaba where, despite the difficulties, the crew of the unit did their best in order to hold on in the battles and to perform the tasks assigned to them. When Békéscsaba was lost on 26 April, they again had to move on to hand their place over to a Romanian air squadron.

The study as detailed as possible: a 90 years’ retrospective, based on archives documents, tries to reconstruct the history and the vicissitudes of the air squadron first garrisoned in Arad then in Békéscsaba.

Some Issues of the Period from 1945 to 1948 in the Békés County Press of the Independent Smallholders’ Party

The territory of Békés county was occupied by the Soviet troops from 6 to 9 October, 1944. The new invadors made it possible for the political parties, including the Smallholders’ Party, dissolved after the German invasion, to reorganize themselves. The Party’s local branches were built across the county by February 1945. From Békés county, 10 smallholders were delegated as members to the Debrecen Provisory National Assembly. From among them, István Szabó was later appointed Under-secretary of State for Defence and János Gyöngyösi was appointed Foreign Secretary. Following the elections of 1945, Zoltán Tildy, who was a pastor in Szeghalom, was first appointed Prime Minister then the President of the Republic.

Already at the Provisory National Assembly, the Smallholders’ Party was unsatisfied with the division of the mandates, namely because the composition of the representatives delegated by the hasty mass-meetings did not mirror actual political proportions and the representation of the Communist Party was larger than its actual social support. Following the elections of the year 1945, the winning Smallholders’ Party tried to proportionate, without success, state and administrative and military positions to actual conditions. The Smallholders’ Party was primarily affected by the so-called „B lists” and the fight launched against reaction and the relevant protest meetings were also primarily directed against the Smallholders’ Party. The Party was summoned to clear its lines and especially István Szabó, Békés county president of the Party was attacked until his withdrawal. Subsequently, the new leadership was unable to resist pressure, which finally resulted in a gradual dissolution of the Party.

The study overviews the articles of the Békés county press on the Smallholders’Party in the period from October 1944 to 1948 and examines how the Party’s points were reflected in the newspapers concerning the determinant political themes of the era (understanding democracy; predominance of the principle of private ownership and subsequent land distribution; the issues of co-operatives and nationalization; fight reaction and relation to the relevant „popular verdicts” and demonstrations). Sources of the investigation were the Alföldi Népújság (The Great Plain Popular News [Békéscsaba]), the Gyula Kisújság (The Gyula Small News), the Orosháza és Vidéke (The Orosháza and Surroundings) and the Körösmenti Parasztélet (The Peasant’s Life along the Körös river).

History of the Hungarian Double Reed Instrument

In our days, the terms ’popular’ and ’national’ often get mixed up. However, ethnography has long demonstrated that popular culture can much better be identified in differentiating the various regions. Therefore, in vain are we familiar with the fact that, e.g. the Transdanubian long flute type of instrument with 3+2 finger holes has been preserved only in the circles of the Hungarian speaking shepherds living in Transdanubia, the instrument cannot be considered a national one. As opposed to that, the double reed instrument of the Kuruts times and the subsequent single reed Schunda instrument were fully supported by national politics of the era, so national fame was attributed to them.

Taking ethnographic analogies into account, the early double reed Hungarian instrument types without keyboard, considering their structure and names, can be related to the Croatian ’taroro’ or the Sorb ’tarakawa’. Their common characteristics is the cone-shaped inner bore-hole and the bell-shaped acoustic funnel separated with an O-ring, which characteristics can also be observed on the early oboe with two keys, of the late 17th century. Since historic evidence shows that the origin of reeds of the Hungarian double reed instrument type can be dated back to the 11th century, this instrument type must have been used for several centuries. Due to this and its military function during the Kuruts times, Reform Age politics may have been excused for feeling that this instrument was suitable for expressing Hungarian national character. However, to achieve that, the instrument had to be transformed and to be developed so that it could meet the musical demands of the era, through which the Schunda single reed instrument could worthily become a Hungarian national musical instrument. It should also be noted that, concerning other viewpoints as well, due to its prevalence among the shepherds, in addition to being Hungarian, the instrument can be considered Transilvanian Romanian and Southern Slav as well. Therefore, it should be emphasized that, as to musical instruments, the adjectives ’popular’ and ’national’ can only be used when considering certain given respects.

Documents on the Life of the Békés-Tarhos Singing School (1946 to 1954) in the Bequest of Dr. Olga Gyarmath

Dr. Olga Gyarmath, 83, a retired grammar school pedgogue, a one-time teacher of the Tarhos Singing School, first the secretary then the vice-president of the Békés-Tarhos Circle of Friends, died in 2007. Acceding to her request, 500 valuable documents, part of her bequest, were donated to Jantyik Mátyás Museum in Békés. The most valuable parts of the collection are made up of the document dating from the short time of service (1947 to 1954) of the first state-run singing and music elementary school founded by György Gulyás. Based on Kodály’s principles, the school tried to support talented provincial children. We hereby wish, in chronological order, to report on some of these documents of high value. The pupils’ lists, the excercise-books, the drawings, the test-papers, the reportbooks and the credit slips illustrate the pupils’ every life, while the syllabi, the teachers’ notes, the form master’s reports, the invitations, the information sheets, the director’s instructions and the other official documents advise of the operation of the school. The most valuable piece of the bequest is a library loan booklet which contains signatures like those of Sándor Szokolay, composer, and István Csukás, poet, who were pupils of the school at the time.