Articles by Initial Letters

Székely Traditions – Part 4. The inspiration for this college diploma project towards a degree in the department of education, sociology, and Rom language at Apor Catholic College in Hungary – has been this student’s desire to explore her own Székely heritage. Part 4 of her paper continues a survey of Transylvanian Székely folk traditions with descriptions of customs for: the Carnival period (approximately 6 weeks between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday), feather pulling/plucking parties, and customs around the spring name days: Gergely, Sándor-József-Benedek, March 25th, April 1st, Tibor, Saint György’s day, Saint Márk’s day (blessing the wheat), May 1st and May 12,13,14 (Szervác, Pongrác, Bonifác), and May 25th Orbán name day. These customs were presumably practiced mainly in ’former times’ and were related to traditions around subsistence farming, animal husbandry, religion (Christian) and social life in the small close-knit Székely village communities. Includes bibliography, sources. By Simó Ilona.