Barna Gábor (szerk.): Ethnology of Religion - Studies in Ethnology 1. (Budapest, 2004)
Gábor Barna: Sándor Bálint (1904-1980): A Life's Work in Religious Ethnology Croatia
16 Sándor Bálint (1904-1980) which he discussed in the chapter ‘The yearly order of nature and liturgy’. He presents the beliefs, rites and religious traditions related to each day of the week. In ‘The folk traditions of religious life’ he focuses on sacred buildings and spaces. He introduces the leaders of religious life, the priest and the monk, and the lay religious leaders (such as the singers, song-writers, healers, pilgrimage leaders). His description of the local pilgrimage feast and the world of the pilgrimage places visited by the Szeged people is rich in detail. Owing to Sándor Bálint’s work, the folk religiousness of Szeged is well known. Sándor Bálint attached great importance to communicating his research results to a wider readership, so from the 1930s he contributed frequently to local and national papers. He looked forward to the publication of his A hagyomány szolgálatában [In the service of tradition], but it came out posthumously. The chapter on folk religious life consists of essays that demonstrate the thematic and methodological richness of ethnology of religion. The writings on the belief system of a village, a lay religious song-writer, the relations between patrocinium and local cult, liturgy and folk tradition, and on the historical roots of proverbs achieved what they set out to do.41 Before his tragic death he had decided to write about pilgrimages and the ethnology of the seven sacraments. Drawing on Bálint’s posthumous papers, the author of this introduction published Búcsújáró magyarok [Hungarians on pilgrimage] which explores the cultural history and the European links of pilgrimages in Hungary.42 * The other topic has yet to be researched. Some of Sándor Bálint’s studies appeared posthumously in German.41 Scholars and editors have devoted several collections of essays to his memory.44 His biography has been written.45 Several biographical memoirs have been published.46 His posthumous papers, rich thematic library and collection of sacred objects went to the Ferenc Móra Museum in Szeged and are in the care of a nine-member trust. Following the political transition a statue was erected to the memory of Sándor Bálint on Mátyás tér, by the Franciscan church in his home town, Szeged-Alsóváros. His statue stands among the greatest in the Szeged Pantheon. A street, school, cultural centre and dance group around Szeged bear his name. There are reminders, points of reference, and many in whose minds he lives on. It has been suggested that he should be put forward for beatification. Only parts of his work have been evaluated.47 His work is celebrated by exhibitions on the centenary of his birth. His birthplace will shortly be converted into a memorial museum. A memorial volume, scholarly publications and special periodical issues will remember him, a great man of Szeged, one of 20th-century Hungary’s leading professors of ethnology, the most eminent scholar of ethnology of religion in Hungary. Publications reviewing religious ethnological research will be dedicated to his memory. 41 BÁLINT 1981. 42 Bálint—Barna 1994. 45 Bálint 1994, Bálint 2000. 44 The following list is not intended to be exhaustive: Bartha 1980, Barna 1982, Tüskés (cd) 1986 and Lackovits 2000. 45 Lele Jnr 1996. 4S Rónai 2001. 47 Tüskés 1986.