Culture
History
Eating Habits
In former times, the Hungarian Slovenes were baking 5-8 loaves of flat bread
consisting of approximately 3 kg rye flour every two to three weeks. To the rye
flour some corn, barley and oatmeal were added. Furthermore, they often added some
baked potatoes to this. In worse times, in periods of bad harvests
respectively, the flour was often supplemented with dried beech crust and corn
cobs. In Szakonyfalu one also baked dried fruit
(apples, pears, plums) together with the bread. In the trough, in which the
bread dough had been kneaded, there was always some dough left. With this
remainder small breads, which were given to the youngest children, were baked.
It was the children who called this kind of bread small bread (postrüznjek). Before cutting the bread, the Hungarian
Slovenes always drew the shape of a cross with the bread knife on the under
surface of the bread. When a slice of bread had been fallen to the ground, it
was picked up, kissed and eaten. A common saying goes: “The fog of Saint Vid-Day eats the bread...”
Until the end of the First World
War, the Hungarian Slovenes primarily nourished on barley grits, sweet corn and
beans and on stews made of cabbage and beans respectively. On their menu there
were various dishes made of grit, cabbage and potatoes, furthermore specialties
made of flour and milk. Meat dishes were mainly dished up on feasts like pig
slaughter and bigger festive days. Parallel to sweet corn, the cultivation of
pumpkins and thus the production and use of pumpkin seed oil developed.
Before the Second World War, people
dished up mash meals for breakfast, potato dumplings for lunch and fried
potatoes with milk for dinner on work-days. The snacks were eaten in the field.
On Sundays and on celebrations however, mainly soup, cabbage and meat was on
the menu of the Hungarian Slovenes.
The mash and grits meals were made
of wheat flour and sweet cornmeal, whereas the pasta used in soups was made of
nothing but wheat flour. Also for the preparation of baked flat bread,
pretzels, strudel and pancakes, which were fried in animal fat, people only
used wheat flour.
Clothing
In the 19th century, the Hungarian and Austrian Styrian
use of liveries had a big influence on the liveries of the Slovenes in the Szentgotthárd region. Due to the major emigration
wave of the Hungarian Slovenes to the
The liveries of the Hungarian
Slovenes were gentrified already early. In the beginning of the 20th century,
the clothing was often made of linen, which had been woven at home. The “upper
skirt” reached the women down to the middle lower leg. Together with this
skirt they used to wear long sleeve shirts and on top of them, an apron. In Apátistvánfalva laces in different colours
were sown in two rows underneath the skirt. Then a second skirt, which could be
used up, was attached to these laces.
The lower seam of men's trousers was
broad, provided with fringes and above of these fringes, the trouser leg was
decorated with embroidery. The linen tissue, of which most clothing of the
Hungarian Slovenes was made, was mainly coloured black, brown and green. The
black colour was made of grime and both the brown as the green of boiled bark
and leaves. Also the men's shirt consisted of linen produced in cottage
industry. The sleeves were cut very largely and decorated with buttons around the
wrists. The shirt was crinkled on the front and on the back and was tucked into
the trousers.
The apron used to be the most
traditional element of both women's and men's clothing until approximately
1970. During the first half of the 20th century the elderly men wore dark blue
aprons also on feast days. These aprons covered the upper part of the body
either completely or only half of it. Women’s aprons, which were worn on
feasts, were decorated with laces on the front and tied to a big loop at the
back. During the years from 1930-1940, also women’s aprons were sewn of
blue tissue.
Until the first half of the 20th
century, young girls plaited their hair in the shape of either one or two
pigtails. At the end of the pigtails they tied a red bow. Married women used to
tie their plaits in the shape of a knot underneath their headscarves. Women
always combed their hair backwards forming buns, in order to make their
headscarves look more beautiful. Elderly women used to make a parting, whereas
the younger ones mostly combed their hair backwards in a flat way.
In-between the two World Wars the
married women from Apátistvánfalva wore
bun covers made of soft linen underneath their headscarves. The headscarf
either covered only the head or also the shoulders. It is an essential element
of the traditional clothing of the female Hungarian Slovenes. During the first
half of the 19th century women used to wear simple, long headscarves. In the
second half of the 19th century however, they already wore more colourful
headscarves, which were made of silk. At the beginning of the 20th century the
coloured headscarf made of
On feasts, funerals, while attending
church and while walking, women used to carry their handkerchiefs in their
hands. Until about 1970, female Hungarian Slovenes carried their money bound in
their handkerchiefs.
On feast days, men used to wear
hats. In Szakonyfalu very often a flower, an oak tree
leaf or a coloured feather were attached to the hats. Recruits and unmarried
men wore ostrich feathers on their hats. Still until the
The Hungarian Slovenes never
decorated their clothing with a great deal of embroidery. On the one hand they
were away due to seasonal work and on the other hand they lacked the money to
afford it. Only the spot above the fringes of the trouser leg, women's blouses,
the tablecloth and the handkerchiefs were decorated with embroidery. In the
years from 1960-1970 women used to decorate their “upper skirts”
with “cross-embroidery”.
The Slovenes from the Raba Region used to wash their laundry in troughs. The huge
wooden troughs were covered with linen, which were endued with ash. This linen was
watered several times a day. With an effluent that was located below the trough
one used to absorb the water and reused it to moisturize the ash on the linen.
Afterwards the washed clothing and bed sheets were swivelled out in a creek or
a pond and by means of a wash board they were cleaned from the remaining dirt
particles.
The flat iron and often also a roll
were used to do the ironing. Until the 1960s the bed sheets and larger cloths
were flattened with the roll and ironed coolly respectively. The clothing
however, was ironed hot with the flat iron. These flat irons were either heated
up with coal or with hot iron lifts, which had been heated on the cooker.
Family
The Slovene families from the Raba Region lived and
to some extent still live together with more than one generation consolidated.
However, this was not the extended family, which was known to the Slovene
people since the Early Middle Ages, but it was and still is an extended family,
in which also second-grade relatives are considered close relatives. If, for
example, the godparents are not blood relatives, then they are not accounted as
true relatives. For the Slovenes from the Raba Region
maternal lineage is being emphasized. The most important relatives are thus the
sisters of the mother.
The tradition of the Slovenes from the Raba Region to give each other names is significant. The
people possess, apart from their last and first names also an appellation after
the house in which they live and also a surname. The most common family names
are: Bajzek, Gyécsek,
Sulics, Skaper, Mukics, Ropos, Csuk, Szukics, Rogán, Doncsecz, Merkli, Domiter, Holecz and Császár.
The most common first names are Mária and Anna
for women and József und Ferenc
for men. The people from the Raba Region know each
other and entitle each other following the appellation of the house, in which
they live. Their surnames consist of different kinds of characteristics, which
can be nice, ridiculous and also offending. The latter is only expressed during
the absence of the person of course.
From the beginning of the 20th century until
the Second World War the toys of the children were very simple. Girls used to
play with dolls, which were made of rags. Also boys owned toys made of cloth
(like balls). The children cut the shapes of arms and legs out of cardboard,
knitted them with threads and tinkered puppets. What is more, boys carved
arrows and toy shotguns out of elder wood. Outdoors they played with balls,
brick earth bowls and they also played hide-and-seek together.
Translated from
German into English: Joël Gerber
The German text is
based on: “www.valtozovilag.hu/rx/rxmaszloven.htm”