Wooden Grave Posts of the Hungarians:A Hungaricum

• 作者: Laszlo Ferenc Novák
• 来源期刊: 美中外语:英文版
• 学科: 文学
• 关键词: grave-markers carved WOODEN GRAVE POSTS WOODEN headboard as national commemorative POST TREE of life Hungaricum
• 年，卷（期）: 2019,（3）
• 页码范围: 125-140
• 页数: 16页
• 分类号: H

摘要

The wooden grave-marker cult, which has evolved in the Protestant burial ritual, is characteristic of the Hungarian folk culture. Protestantism took root in the middle of the 16th century and its Calvinist branch, that became a Hungarian religion at the age of Turkish subjection, guaranteed the survival of the Hungarian nation. Protestants did not use crosses as grave-markers;they set up carved wooden posts instead of them from the end of the 17th century. The system of decorative elements illustrates the ancient culture of the Hungarians. This is proper anthropomorphism: The primary statue set up on the grave mound symbolizes human life and a secondary manifestation of it, i.e., a sphere motif symbolizes the human head;the trunk is decorated with star-, tulip-, and ring-shaped and even jardinière motifs. These decorative carvings change the carved wooden grave post into a “tree of life symbol”. The grave post cult of Protestant folk art flourished at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The use of “wooden headboards” and the masterpieces of folk art have spread since the middle of the 20th century. The decoratively carved wooden headboards were decorated with the decorative motifs on the wooden head posts. Wooden headboards appear at historical memorial places throughout the country and they symbolize various historical events. However, they are not identical with the wooden grave posts, which are the local specific manifestations of folk art: They are Hungaricum.