Mágia - Hungarian Myth, Magic, and Folklore
Margit Tóth
(Llewellyn Publications US)
'Mágia' is a
substantial paperback book, which fills a significant gap in the folklore world. It has also been illustrated with attractive
line drawings throughout. The book
sports a brightly coloured striking cover design of a handsome stag with mighty
antlers.
Intrigued by this image I was delighted to find that it is an illustration of an origin story which goes like this. Whilst on a hunt two brothers followed a wondrous magical stag who led them to their new homeland, a lush and verdant land, after a long seven-day journey of hard riding. And, I am happy to say they never caught the stag as he disappeared into a pool of water and was never seen again. However, that night a number of beautiful maidens appeared and everyone in the party found a partner. Forgetting all about where they hailed from, they settled in to their new home.
Margit has
divided her book into five sections, The first covers 'Mythology', which gives us the
background beliefs and practices of the Hungarian people. The other sections look at 'Daily Life', 'Magic,' 'Yearly Celebrations,' and 'Rites of Passage'.
She has also
provided us with useful information in three appendices at the back of the
book.
Christianity
was adopted late in Hungary, approx. CE 1000, and was primarily a political
choice to be accepted as a European country by their neighbours. When Christianity came along the old beliefs
were essentially absorbed and deities and spirits simply renamed to accommodate
Christian beliefs – whilst still remaining in names of places and plants, in
some superstitions and prayers. Belief
in an all-powerful Goddess associated with the sun called the 'Boldogasszony' was linked with Mary,
Queen of Heaven.,who was merged with the older Goddess. She then became the kindly, protective, all-seeing,
all-knowing Baba Maria.
In parallel
many practices of the older pagan past lived on through oral transmission, and
folklore and continued, woven into daily life.
Margit’s book comprehensively covers many aspects of life. In the section titled 'Daily Life', amongst many other things, she explores sacred food and drink. Bread was considered the most sacred of foods and would be ritually blessed before eating it, and then covered to keep it pure. Intriguingly, a slice of bread was used to decorate the Christmas tree and was often considered the most important decoration of all.
The third
section entitled 'Magic' is very interesting.
The section on divination explores omens, some of which are similar and widespread
through many other countries. One
significant variance is the associations connected with left and right. In many
other countries, left is seen as negative and right is positive. However in
Hungary, if the left hand itches, money is coming, if the right,
money will be spent. This division of
left and right is applied to many bodily signs, with the left being beneficial
and right the opposite.
Love magic was extensively practised. One example is where a girl would write twelve possible husbands names on slips of paper, and fold them up so she couldn’t see the names on them. Then she would burn one each evening for the next eleven days. The final one left would be the name of her spouse to be. Incidentally, the names that could be given to babies were strictly controlled by the state, and would be mostly confined to biblical names. Hence the use of additional nicknames was essential to know who was being referred to in daily life.
Part IV of
the book covers 'Yearly Festivals'.
Even the days of the week each had a significance. Overall, the beginning of the week, which
began on a Monday, was the best for starting new tasks or enterprises. During the middle of the week, it was seen as
good for gardening and planting. Friday was a no-no day to start new projects, although it was a good day for
spell casting. Saturday was the
preparatory day for Sunday, and on Sunday non-essential tasks were banned, as Sunday was a day for religion and family get
togethers.
The fifth part of the book explores 'Rites of Passage'. After the birth of a child, both mother and child were thought to be at their most vulnerable. Looking after the baby had to be done with respect to many customs. For instance, the child had to be washed before sunset so it did not have a sleepless night. The fear was that its dreams would be washed away. When the babe was taken from its cot a doll had to be put in its place, as it was felt to be bad luck to rock an empty cot. The umbilical stump, once detached from the child, was kept in a special pouch until the child was seven years old when the mother asked the child to untie it. If they could, it was believed to be a blessing for their future life.
The book also includes a series of informative appendices, the first one is a 'Pronunciation Guide' for the Hungarian names and words referred to throughout the book. The next one covers 'Traditional Month Names' in English and Hungarian with their translations. For example, December is evocatively called "the month of dreams". The final appendix details 'Select Festivals and Holidays' throughout the year, giving their date, Hungarian name and translation.
The book
also has a glossary of Hungarian words and terms and a very detailed list of sources consulted,
conveniently divided in chapter-by-chapter format.
All in all,
this book is very comprehensive and gives a vivid look into the myths, magic
and folklore of the Hungarians.
Essential Information: Mágia - Hungarian Myth, Magic, and Folklore by Margit Tóth is out now on Llewellyn Publications US