Articles by Initial Letters
A kiböjtölés szokása a bukovinai székelyeknél
- Issue: 2023/2
- Starting page: 39
- Serie: KIBÖJTÖLÉSI TÖRTÉNETEK
- Author: Kóka Rozália
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Kóka Rozália’s column: kiböjtölés – ’fasting out’ – a folk custom involving several days or weeks of fasting and praying to rid oneself of bad luck or bad feelings, or to wish approriate punishment on someone who has wronged you. Described here are: ideas behind this custom, the phases of ’fasting out’, selection of days of fasting and the proper mediating saint’s day, the process for a day of fasting, the clear statment of the curses, their mode of completion and the role of the surrounding community. Those who assist the person fasting were family members and Orthodox priests (the practice was condemned by Roman Catholic priests). This kind of fasting was done both with the intention of helping a situation or healing illnesses; or to wish an enemy dead or to wish sickness, or harm on them: such as bad luck, seperation from a lover, financial loss, etc. Between 1968 and 1970 Kóka Rozália collected 150 stories about this custom from Bukovina Székely people in Hungary’s Tolna, Baranya and Bács-Kiskun Counties.